Cranberries

The bed is above water level, with ditches carrying water around the perimeter and up the center. Vines grow close to the ground.

Spent vines from prior years form a natural mulch.

Many blossoms per vine result in many berries per vine.

A view from the shop of the south beds. The closest has already been harvested, the further ones are waiting.

This bed has been flooded. The berries’ density is similar to apples, so they strain the vines to float.

Once flooded, beaters knock the berries off the vines.

The berries are now ready to be corralled by boom.

Once corralled, they are loaded via elevator to a wagon.

Fans separate cranberries from leaves and other foreign materials.

When berries were packed on-farm, sorters on-farm eliminated poor quality berries. “Only the best Ben Lear berries bounce.” This sorting now happens at the processing facility.