Seasonal goodwill extends to kiwi harvest

KNOTTS ISLAND, N.C.

The weather was cold and blustery for the recent kiwi harvest at Watkins Bee Farm and Kiwi Orchard in Knotts Island, N.C.,  but the activity was heartwarming.

Family, friends and members of the Tidewater Beekeepers Association gathered to help Carol Watkins pick kiwis from the vines that her husband, Floyd, had  lovingly tended until his death last summer.

More than 30 folks with buckets and ladders went up and down rows of vines, picking and packing kiwis in  foam boxes. By the end of the day thousands of the brown, egg-shaped fruits were ready for Carol Watkins to sort and deliver to locavores, who wait all year for this most unusual Hampton  Roads harvest.

Though kiwis are a semi-tropical fruit, they can thrive here because the area has a growing season that is just long enough to allow them to ripen.

The fruits, with their bright lime green centers and tiny black seeds, must be picked after the first frost when their leaves are dry and dropping off, but they also must be picked before a hard freeze.

This year it was tricky because the weather stayed warm so late, and then frigid weather arrived so quickly.

Watkins had to postpone the first harvest scheduled right after Thanksgiving because the leaves were still green, and then had to quickly reschedule the next one when the temperatures were forecast to drop way down.

“After Thanksgiving, the leaves began to drop,” Watkins said. “And then it went right into winter quickly. When I looked out and saw the snow on the ground last night, I said, 'Don’t tell me that!’”

But the temperature stayed steady. And the next morning the kiwis, unharmed by the weather, were ripe for harvesting when the hardy kiwi pickers bundled against the wind and cold arrived to go to work.

Scheduling problems certainly didn’t appear to keep the beekeepers from turning out to help Watkins, whom they had known for years because of Floyd’s beekeeping activities.

Floyd, who was a member of the beekeepers association, also owned Bee & Wasp Eradicator of Tidewater Inc. He kept bees at the kiwi orchard to help with pollination and also had honey for sale.

Beekeeper association president Frank Walker  organized the harvest. He even kept a fire stoked in an old oil drum for folks to stand around and warm up.

“Frank has taken over, and he planned everything,” Watkins said. “It is awesome.”

Walker responded: “Where else can you pick Australian fruit?”

Though kiwis originated in China, they were introduced to Australia years ago, and now they are both a popular commercial and backyard crop there.

In the early 1980s kiwis were introduced at what is now the Virginia Tech Agriculture Research and Extension Center on Diamond Springs Road in Virginia Beach. Several innovative farmers attempted to grow the exotic-tasting fruits, Floyd Watkins among them.

For years  he was believed to have been the only commercial grower in the area. Today, his legacy is Watkins Bee Farm and Kiwi Orchard in Knotts Island, where 60 kiwi vines grow and there are numerous beehives.

The  kiwis were always sold by special order, and this year orders can be placed with Watkins at  (757) 563-2275. Orders may be picked up at the Virginia Beach Farmers Market . Judging from the crates and crates of fruits on picking day, she will have plenty of kiwis to go around this year.

“This is a tribute to Floyd,” she said, looking around at the crates piled high with kiwis.

“This is a tribute to you, girl,” Walker responded.

And thanks to the Tidewater Beekeepers and others, kiwi lovers will have their fruit for the holidays, a thought that would make Floyd Watkins beam.

 Mary Reid Barrow, barrow1@cox.net