Cranberries!

To celebrate not being sick anymore, and to do something in the name of FUN after a long week for Matt, we had ourselves a little family outing. Yes, it was chilly (50) and overcast, but the fresh air was good for us. 

We went to a cranberry bog! I called one place, which was closer, but they had all these rules about tours: specific dates and times (which were sold out until mid-November), a $12 fee, and a registration form. Annoying! So I found another place, whose website said tours were free and available anytime, and since this seemed too good to be true, I had to call. Sure enough, this place was a little Mom and Pop bog! Purchased in 1967 from the second owner of these cranberry-producing acres (1890s), these farmers harvest them dry and fresh for Ocean Spray. If you see these faces on an Ocean Spray label, that's them! 

They use Furford machines to pick the berries; they don't flood the land like most do. Dry harvesting is rare (2% of all cranberry farmers we were told), but more profitable because grocery stores want to have fresh cranberries for sale. The flooders' cranberries are used for everything else: dried fruit, canned fruit, etc. 

First, we found a Kent-sized Christmas tree. 

Muted colors because it was overcast - still beautiful! 

 A sensory bin!

Here's the machine to harvest the berries. It only moves forward, so turning corners is tricky. 

Once the bags are full, they drop them on the ground. Then the bags get dumped into crates.

Ready for pick up:

 Beautiful colors!

 Kent loves being the tallest.

Finally, inside the store/barn, they had a berry sorting machine from the 1900s. Kent loved watching the wheels turn and the berries bounce. 

 There were plenty of treats to buy, so we snagged some cranberry sauce.

After that, we bought a TV.