Week 141: Spreadsheets and Watermelons

Week 141: September 7th-13th, 2025

I have always been a fan of spreadsheets. There is something about seeing data and information organized in a specific, sortable and filterable way that really pleases me. I especially like when the spreadsheets use fun colors and or intricate formulas. Because I used spreadsheets throughout my education and my whole professional life up until now, you would think I would be sick of the little bastards in my personal life, but I am not.

I used to put spreadsheets together for my friends when we were on a mission to find and compare product options such as the best little black dress, or professional heels, or nail products. I've created spreadsheets during my grueling search for a new apartment and for tracking the jobs I applied to since 2023 (307, to be exact!) and have recently been using a spreadsheet to track a project I was hired to do as an independent contractor for The Haute Suite.

I've used both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, but since I do not have a personal Office 365 subscription or whatever, for my everyday needs, I use Google Sheets. It is a great tool mainly for its easy accessibility and convenience.

My most recent spreadsheet endeavor is a Google Sheet titled "Watermelons." As many of you know, I absolutely love fruits, and watermelon is at the top of my favorites list. During summertime, I can eat two full-sized watermelons within a week.

This summer, we started getting our watermelons at Costco, because they're the most economical choice ($5.89 each, regardless of weight!). My sister has said the watermelons from H Mart are pretty good too, but Costco is more convenient for me since it is down the street. I noticed that Costco offers watermelons from multiple farms. Some have recognizable stickers slapped onto them, and some do not. So, in an effort to compare farm produce quality and to have an excuse to eat more watermelon, I created the "Watermelons" spreadsheet to compare each harvest.

When picking a watermelon, I usually look for a rounder-shaped melon with a good yellow-white field pot but I've found with experience that picking a good watermelon is mainly about vibes. Yes, there are tips online (see below) that you can follow (and I am likely subconsciously following them), but sometimes you just know. The watermelons I get good vibes from are often the best ones.

I do stick to picking rounder, yellower field spots and this has proven to work. But, I notice a big variety in size, color and shape between different watermelons from different farms. I decided why not start rating these melons from different farms on their taste and texture?

The most common farm stickers seen at Costco are Yosemite Fresh, Las Palmas, and Perry & Sons. I have also tried HarvesTime, Hagermelon Northwest Grown, Melon Corp and Moon Dust Farms. All but one of them have been PLU #4032, which is a red, seedless watermelon. The one outlier was PLU #3421, which is a mini red, seedless watermelon.

My ongoing Watermelons spreadsheet

As you can see, I record the Name from the sticker, the Farm & Location, Taste and Texture ratings out of 10, when the watermelon was Purchased, a Photo of the sticker, and any Notes I had. I'll admit the Notes column could use more work, as only one (HarvesTime Simply Fresh, row 10) says anything other than the PLU code.

Overall, the most consistently high scoring watermelons we've had are from Yosemite Fresh. The farm that produces these watermelons is Van Groningen & Sons, Inc. and is located in Manteca, California.

Some other notable observations I've had:

• The watermelons from earlier in the summer (July and early August) scored lower than ones from hotter months (late August and September). I wonder if this has something to do with each harvest and the temperature or weather patterns.

• Almost all of the watermelon farms are located in California. Just two, Hagerman Canyon Farms and HarvesTime's Eagle Eye Produce (Harvest Mark), are in Idaho. The mysterious Melon Corp just vaguely states "USA", though I could probably find more information on their farm locations with further digging.

• The most commonly stocked watermelon at Costco is Yosemite Fresh, so it is likely for me to pick one of their melons out of the large bins just due to sample size. I haven't given Las Palmas, Moon Dust Farms, Perry & Sons, Hagermelon, or HarvesTime more than one chance to be scored and rated. My data may be a bit skewed.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share this silly love of watermelons and spreadsheets with you all. Let me know if you also happen to have any strong opinions on different watermelon producers or cell formulas in spreadsheets. I would love to chat.

See you next week.

P.S. This week I also I went back to Black Dagger Salon (see Week 114!) and got a much-needed trim!