Cranberry Harvest in full swing in MA

[Hotflashjr]

I didn't have my camera with me last week when it was nice out and I was out and about checking on some of my friends at their bogs. I did today and this was the best I could get in the rain. This is wet harvesting Early Black variety cranberries. They flood the bog, the machine lightly beats the berries off the vines, and then they are racked and pumped off. The berries float because they are hollow in the middle. My friend is hoping to get 150 barrel to the acre of this piece (100 lbs./barrel) which is a normal size crop for the variety in our area.

 

[SweetFeet]

Hotflashjr,
Neat photo. Looks like you do not want to develop a flat tire in the middle of the field.
Thanks for posting.
 

[Dick2]

Can't see in the pic, but is that guy wearing waders in case the machine conks out or gets stuck in the bog?
 

[Hotflashjr]

Yes he does and it is for any reason you need to get off the machine. There are ditches along the edge of the bogs and the machines do fall in those from time to time if you can't see well in the water. They use flags to mark off areas where you don't want to go. You can see a bright pink one by the machine and a green one in the front. The green mark off the ditches in this case and the pink is marking the center line of the bog. The vines are trained to grow in a pattern around the bog and if you pick against the grain you rip them out.
 

[Hotflashjr]

That could be a pain but the machines are so light they can be pulled out from dry land without much effort. Just have to have a long rope.
 

[FBH44]

Wish us guys out in the Midwest couldharvest strawberries or blueberries like that.
 

[Sean Feeney]

Where are you on the Cape, in live in Falmouth
 

[Hotflashjr]

I live in Plymouth, these shots were taken over on the Carver/Middleboro line.