Storm Preparations

Old Joe and the crew harvest berries in back of my house.

Huflington Post

Boston Globe

Cranberry Harvest in Middleboro, MA.

October 28, 2012: As Frankenstorm moves closer the cranberry harvest on our old bogs moved into my backyard. This evokes bittersweet memories of all the times Betty and I worked in torrential downpours trying to get one last truck loaded before dark.  Here more than a dozen workers spread out across 13 acres to coral the worst crop I have ever seen on this bog. Generally we'd have half the workers doing the job with which would be up to crops five times this size. (Click photos to enlarge)

 Oct. 8th
It's cranberry harvest season. I took these with my iPhone 5 when I drove by my neighbor, Larry Harju's home bogs. He is one of the largest growers in Massachusetts and his bogs are among the best tended and highest yielding. They make the bogs we used to own look like a jungle of weeds, which sadly they have become under the new owner. Harju Brothers Cranberrys have been honored as Ocean Spray growers of the year numerous times.

There are three picking machines, called water reels, in these photos. The are driven over the vines with a spinning reel which knocks the berries off and they float to the surface. Then they are corralled and pulled to a rig which sucks them out of the water, through a screener which removes debris, and into a truck.

This is about as good a crop as it gets.

Click images to enlarge.

Recent photos

Above: Summer 2012

Below: Winter, 2012