One disadvantage we have is that, much like the foliage, the bogs are flooded and harvested from north to south, and we live in the far southern part of that equation. That means that our bogs aren't being harvested like the ones in other regions.
Of course, bogs tend to be large and difficult to manage, and they have to sort of draw a grid and work section-by-section. It takes time to cover all of those acres, so we will be able to get all stages of the cranberry harvest cycle just by stumbling around town.
Today, we'll roll through Carver, Wareham, Plympton, Duxbury and Buzzards Bay. There are bogs all over our reading area, and we'll try to pop in on the more scenic ones as the harvest season progresses.
Our light was sort of rough, as you can see. We get the kid off the bus at quarter to four, and we had to make our way out into Bog Country, aka Carver.
I'm not that into Creationism, but if I was, it wouldn't be hard to rationalize God making Carver right after He figured out that cranberry sauce was tasty... or perhaps even after He realized that you need cranberries to make a Cape Codder. He probably got to it very early in the Earth-making process.
"I'd better allot some space for cranberries... right abouttttt... HERE!" (points at map, about where Carver will one day be)... and it was Good.
I have no intention of digging up this information, but I would guess that there is more acreage devoted to cranberry farming in Carver than there is to housing the whole population of Carver.
Somebody- be it God or John Alden or whoever- really liked cranberries, because southeastern Massachusetts is literally covered in bogs.
That works for us. Gas is cheap, and so is Cranberry County Magazine.
As I said before, the light was less than ideal. I'd do better with a 11 AM start time. Notice here that the trees are lit wonderfully, but the bog was very dark. I was shooting with late-day sun and tall trees behind me. This is what you get.
This is sort of a warm-up for future articles where they are actually harvesting berries via flotation. We dipped all over Carver and her neighbors, and most bogs aren't being flooded yet around here. I know the guy in Buzzards Bay told me "after Halloween."
Only part of one bog on North Carver Road in Wareham was flooded and had floating berries, and that is the one you'll see splattered all over this article. The bog above is still getting ready to drop.
By contrast, this bog below (in Duxbury) was flooded by her reservoir. We'll come back and check her out later.
You need all of that water for the bogs. Most and maybe all bogs are built near a copious supply of water. They sort of pump it in and out of the bogs as they need it, either to feed the cranberries or to protect them from the cold.
I don't know how they did it before the Industrial Revolution, and this may have required the efforts of 100 men and a bucket line for all I know. Now, they just use pumps.
Those little houses that you see on cranberry bogs usually contain the water pumping equipment. One of the structures may be an outhouse, so don't drink any water from them until you talk to someone who works there.
We want you healthy.
Here are the little houses. It's a bit blurry. The shot REALLY sucked before I got into the editing, and I don't edit photos very well.
The reason that you flood bogs, besides doing so to loosen the berries for harvesting, is to protect them from freezing temperatures.
Otherwise, everything gets all icy. This is a bad thing to have happen to fruit which you plan to harvest.
We did have a freeze the other morning, and OF COURSE the team went out to find a frozen bog for some ice pictures. We are up at the dawn and driving for miles and miles to get you shots like the one below.
OK, it's across the road from where I live., and I stared at it for 5 minutes before "taking a picture of it" occurred to me.
They may have already harvested that part of the bog, or else that could be an Epic Fail. I'm not agricultural enough to know for sure. They are always very kind to my photographers and I, so I'm hoping this is No Big Deal.
That bog (Mann Farms, in Buzzards Bay) has some sort of project going on that merits having a giant crane out there. We'll sneak out there for a pictorial when the dice come up that way for the column.
Eventually, they flood the bog and let it freeze. Then, they put a skim coating of sand on it.
I knew at least one kid in my school days who thought that bog owners sanded the ice to keep kids from skating on a Liability Ice Arena. No. They're actually just giving the vines a fresh coat of sand.
The sand goes on the ice, the ice melts, and the sand settles into the bogs all uniform-like. Gravity handles the distribution process well enough. The sand method was invented on Cape Cod by a man who noticed that cranberries grew really well in areas that the ocean had covered with sand after a storm.
Therefore, bogs keep mountains of sand handy for the winter, just like the Highway Department does.
We worked until the sun set, so we'll give you some cranberry bog sunset shots.
Here's the one I took:
Here's the one I edited:
We'll be back with more soon, and I promise to put Jessica and Sara on the camera next time.
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