For Big Sandy's Pearson family, growing this year's cantaloupe crop required even more work and care.
Fire investigators believe that on May 1 an arsonist torched the ranch house built decades earlier by their family from timbers cut in the nearby Bear Paw Mountains.
Standing in the suits and dresses they were to wear to their oldest son's wedding that day, the family watched for hours as the accelerant-fueled fire burned hot enough to destroy even the stone fireplace and an old cast-iron stove.
Despite the tragedy, the family pushed through with planting and harvesting melons that are now being sold at farmers markets and grocery stores in Conrad, Fairfield, Chester, Havre, Lewistown, Great Falls and, of course, Big Sandy, where a fresh crop arrives daily.
"People come up to us at the market and hug us," said Gay Pearson, who was born on the ranch 40 miles southeast of Big Sandy and later raised her four kids there with her husband Ron.
"It's overwhelming the support we've had," she said. "People will buy a melon and leave a few extra dollars to help us out. I think about it, and it just makes me cry."
The fire couldn't have happened at a more devastating time.
Just a week after the wedding, their youngest son, Skylar, who had the idea of growing melons at age 9 as part of a school project, graduated from college.
It also was a critical time for the farm and ranch — cows needed to be branded and melon plants that had arrived by freight train needed to be picked up in Spokane and planted.
"It came at a really tough time," Gay Pearson said.
Neighbors and strangers came to help the family, with people clearing the rubble and burned trees.
The phone company ran a line from the former house to a mobile home where the family continues to live. Other people worked to get the family water and power.
College kids from California and New York, whom the Pearson parents had never met, came out to help with branding cows.
Funds from an ice cream social organized by the Christ Lutheran Church, as well as donations, helped buy a new washer and dryer and replace all the groceries the family had stockpiled in anticipation of wedding guests stopping by the home and summer help arriving to pick melons.
With their children all grown, the Pearsons relied on neighbor children to plant young seedlings, uproot weeds and pluck melons.
Gay Pearson said the children, particularly brothers Halston and Kayden Beck, cracked jokes, all the while working hard to get a job, which normally would take at least 10 days, done in just three days.
"They were a ball of fire," she said. "They really helped keep everything light and fun, which we really needed this year."
Skylar, now 24, was able to put off starting a new job on the Rocky Mountain Front in order to help the family through melon season. He stepped into the role of marketing the melons, delivering them across northcentral Montana.
Just this week, two Big Sandy women came out to help harvest in time to take cantaloupe to the farmers market in Great Falls.
The ladies carried and tossed about 2,400 pounds of melons — enough to fill 1 1/2 pickup truck beds. Some of the melons weighed as much as 20 pounds each.
With help, the family also fixed up an old bunkhouse for people to stay at while working on the out-of-the-way farm. Guests now have to share a shower with the family, whereas the 2,400-square-foot farmhouse that burned down had enough room to house weather-ravaged rafters who floated by on the Missouri River.
For now, the bunkhouse and mobile home will have to do.
"We've kind of been in shock, just living day to day," Gay Pearson said. "It's been so devastating for the whole family. We don't have a plan for the future."
She thinks that once the family's schedule slows in the fall, they will look at whether they want to rebuild. She can't imagine leaving the beautiful spot that has been in her family for generations and that she hopes to hand down to her sons.
But knowing that whoever started the fire is still at large makes it harder to move forward, she said.
The case is in the hands of the state Criminal Investigation Division, which continues to interview people, division chief John Strandell said.
Unfortunately, as in many arson cases, much of the evidence linking someone to the crime was destroyed. However, officers did find a boot print and a tire print.
The house was uninsured because it was old and required some fixing before the insurance company would cover it The family had been working on the projects as they could afford to.
College kids from California and New York, whom the Pearson parents had never met, came out to help with branding cows.
Funds from an ice cream social organized by the Christ Lutheran Church, as well as donations, helped buy a new washer and dryer and replace all the groceries the family had stockpiled in anticipation of wedding guests stopping by the home and summer help arriving to pick melons.
With their children all grown, the Pearsons relied on neighbor children to plant young seedlings, uproot weeds and pluck melons.
Gay Pearson said the children, particularly brothers Halston and Kayden Beck, cracked jokes, all the while working hard to get a job, which normally would take at least 10 days, done in just three days.
"They were a ball of fire," she said. "They really helped keep everything light and fun, which we really needed this year."
Skylar, now 24, was able to put off starting a new job on the Rocky Mountain Front in order to help the family through melon season. He stepped into the role of marketing the melons, delivering them across northcentral Montana.
Just this week, two Big Sandy women came out to help harvest in time to take cantaloupe to the farmers market in Great Falls.
The ladies carried and tossed about 2,400 pounds of melons — enough to fill 1 1/2 pickup truck beds. Some of the melons weighed as much as 20 pounds each.
With help, the family also fixed up an old bunkhouse for people to stay at while working on the out-of-the-way farm. Guests now have to share a shower with the family, whereas the 2,400-square-foot farmhouse that burned down had enough room to house weather-ravaged rafters who floated by on the Missouri River.
For now, the bunkhouse and mobile home will have to do.
"We've kind of been in shock, just living day to day," Gay Pearson said. "It's been so devastating for the whole family. We don't have a plan for the future."
She thinks that once the family's schedule slows in the fall, they will look at whether they want to rebuild. She can't imagine leaving the beautiful spot that has been in her family for generations and that she hopes to hand down to her sons.
But knowing that whoever started the fire is still at large makes it harder to move forward, she said.
The case is in the hands of the state Criminal Investigation Division, which continues to interview people, division chief John Strandell said.
Unfortunately, as in many arson cases, much of the evidence linking someone to the crime was destroyed. However, officers did find a boot print and a tire print.
The house was uninsured because it was old and required some fixing before the insurance company would cover it The family had been working on the projects as they could afford to.
"I hope there's justice," Gay Pearson said. "I feel there will be, but it'll take some time."
