Andrea Ness walks the nearly 4-acre farm. It butts up to the Westside Trail in Adair Park, separated by a chain link fence and a small gully. Walking between rows, Ness points out okra, corn, watermelon.

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“A ripe melon will say ‘punk.’ An unripe melon will say ‘pink’ or ‘pank,'” Ness flicks the smallish watermelon and cocks her head, listening. “So it’s kind of like a ‘penk,'” she said laughing. “It’s not quite like a ‘punk’ yet.”

Aluma Farm is the first farm on the Atlanta BeltLine. Ness and her business partner, Andy Friedberg, started to farm on the property last spring after they won a bid to lease the land from the BeltLine.

The farm supports itself by selling veggies once a week. But Ness said they also sell to a lot of Atlanta restaurants, like Barcelona in Inman Park and Argosy in East Atlanta.

Ness said at first the property reminded her of an abandoned, gravel parking lot.