SAVING SEEDS

In this photo (by Silvia Maggiotto), I am taking out the seeds from a big squash.
Why?
Not for baking them with salt for the aperitif.
The reason is: to save them.

This is part of what Max gathered  in his garden one day at the end of august.

ALL the produce in the photo, plus the "not visible" that is under the table - eggplanst, zucchini, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes, pears....- , comes from "original  seeds". No hybrid. Certainly not G.M.O.

His one has been a family of farmers since generations ago.

They have been planting the seeds which were kids of other original seeds since the beginning of their activity as farmers... so far in the time as Max's father cannot tell when it started. 

This summer the weather has been perfect for the harvest of vegetables and fruit.

Max had amazing varieties of melon, too. Fantastic melons, that, honestly, I had never tasted before.

We can easily find vey good melons at the supermarket: they are nice and orange. The are all tasteful and sweet. They are all the same size. They have all the same color, outside and inside. They have all the same taste. And the same texture. They are what the market requires.
At least, someone years ago decided that this is what people want, regarding melons. An uniform,consistent melon. Something round we can recognize as a melon.

I have no idea of how many varieties of melon exist. Or better, how many used to exist.
Max has got some.
All of them extraordinary.
The pulp of a variety is as watery as the water melon, sweet and thirst-quenching. 
The pulp of another variety is pale, the color of the butter, and as soft as a mousse. It is like to have a sorbet in the mouth.
Another one is oblong, with a sweetness that turns toward the lemony. You get never tired of it. 
They are now precious marvels. A real treasure.
The treasure that only "Philosophers of the Earth" like  Max decided to save.