CRANBERRY FESTIVAL

The elusive cranberry plant. It is beautiful really, with it's enormous red berries juxtaposed against it's dainty branches and leaves. I am debating where I will be planting my own cranberry field, doesn't everyone need one?

Below is Mister Cranberry Farmer demonstrating the manual tool they used to use for picking the cranberries before they motorized. This is also where Mister Farmer informed us that although 95% of the cranberries harvested in the USA are harvested by flooding the fields. The remaining 5% are harvested using the dry method. You guessed it, they use the dry method. Oh, the disappointment. I wanted to see the wet method. When I plant my cranberry field, it will be set up to be wet harvested.

Below is Harrison trying out the manual method of picking cranberries. See, Harrison will be ready to help me harvest our cranberries.

Here is that motorized picker they use now. It rakes the cranberries and moves them up the rotating shelves and dumps them into a large burlap bag that hangs on the back. Meanwhile, the clippers in the front trim the plants so the vines don't get too unruly.

Before we move on to the next step in the cranberry harvest, we have to take a moment to hear a little bit about the question answer part of Mister Farmer's presentation. Before we moved in to the barn, Mister Farmer asked if anyone had any questions. One of the group asked what kind of pests the cranberries had to worry about. Mister Farmer had just finished telling us that the biggest pest they had were large elk that came into the cranberry fields and left large holes where their large feet had been and they also took their large elk bodies and rolled them around the field. It was at this point that I fell through a rotten board that was housing some of the irrigation and made quite a noisy crashing splash. Me, like a large elk, tromping through the cranberry field. My family was very amused, first, that it wasn't Harrison, but his mother, and second, well, I'm no large elk.

Here's the hole I made:

Here is the muddy bog on my shoe:

Here is the bruise, day 3:

Now back to the cranberry tour. The cranberries are then taken to the separator:

The vines go one way and the berries go another way

Then they are put into their crates to be trucked to the Ocean Spray Factory just down the road.

The girls admiring the beautiful sour berries

Oh, those beautiful berries.

We checked out the beach and found hundreds of beautiful sand dollars or as Grace likes to call them, flower shells. I have never seen so many. We came home with literally bags and bags of them. Very exciting.

Cute girls on their way to the beach!

The girls found lots of shells and rocks

I saw this plaque on a bench along the path to the beach, it made me laugh!





It was a lovely sunset to end our day with.


After dinner we enjoyed an illuminated parade (I hope Micah got pictures) Harrison was a candy hog, spooked a horse, was grabbed by a boogey man, and had a fire truck honk at him. You would think that his mother giving him the what for, would slow him down a bit, I guess not. Sorry.

Sunday morning Sarah ran in the Bog Jog. She ran the 10k distance and won the entire race. Way to go Sarah! (Again, I hope Micah got pictures)

Next year, I will be hunting down a cranberry bog that they flood to harvest and I hope to have my own little patch at my house.

Oh, I can dream.