Visit Cranberry Bogs in Massachusetts
You'll be hard-pressed to find a more photogenic crop of cranberries that ripen and drop in fall. In Massachusetts, the cranberry harvest coincides with the fall foliage season and provides a double dose of visual splendor. According to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, 400 of North America's 1,000 cranberry farms are concentrated in Massachusetts: most are south of Boston in Plymouth County and on Cape Cod.
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Any drive in this area during the Massachusetts cranberry harvest, which usually begins in the last week of September and runs through October and sometimes into November, is likely to offer views of cranberry swamps, as growers work hard to nurture and pick the state's top agricultural crop. There's a good chance, too, that you'll find yourself driving behind dump trucks full of red berries.
The Pilgrims discovered cranberries growing in swamps near their settlement in Plymouth and introduced them to "Crane berries" because their spring flowers resemble the shape of a bird's head and beak. From their Native American neighbors, the Pilgrims learned to use cranberries not only for food and medicinal but as a natural dye.
Cranberries are one of three fruits native to North America that are now grown commercially. Like blueberries and Concord grapes, cranberries are in greater demand worldwide as knowledge of their nutritional properties has increased.
If you want to set out on a driving landing tour to visit the cranberry swamps of Massachusetts, here are some of your best bets to see the harvest in progress and buy fresh cranberry and cranberry products.
If you want to make sure you don't miss the harvest activity on this small cranberry farm, which has three berry-producing bogs, book in advance with one of the Mayflower Cranberries' harvest viewing tours, available on select dates in October and November. If you'd like to wear a lighter hip and get into a bog to help with the harvest, you can opt for the two-hour Mayflower "Be the Grower" experience. It's expensive, but it may help you appreciate your daily work! All of these experiences sell out long before the harvest season.
Mayflower Cranberries also own a farmer's shop and sell fresh berries anywhere in the United States.
Flax Pond Farms is an ideal place to learn a little bit about the history of cranberry cultivation in Massachusetts. Inside the shop at Flax Pond Farms, you'll discover an antique Bailey Cranberry Separator dating from 1924. Kids watch an explosion watch the cranberries pass a "bounce" test for quality down filming and into a conveyor belt, where they can be manually sorted by color and size. You can observe the device in operation in this video.
Outside a swamp tour, you might meet farmer Jack Angle, who has been growing cranberries on 35 acres since 1967. Wet harvesting was a novelty in the late 1960s, but without a reliable source of water, critical to the process, and Angli, his wife Dott and their team set up Families and neighbors who work hard "with the dry harvest".
While picking cranberries with a robotic dry harvester is labor-intensive, it has an advantage. Cranberries harvested by flood swamps are only suitable for processing juice concentrates, dried cranberries, and other consumer products with an extended shelf life. Cut cranberries can only be sold as fresh, whole berries.
Cranberries are rich in antioxidants and nutrients, and those who have tasted Flax Bond Farms products return year after year. Some people who visited these swamps on bus trips even called to order cranberries picked up mail for delivery. While most of the farm's crop is marketed by Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray the world's largest cranberry cooperative—2,000 pounds can be sold annually from the family's lovely farm shop, sampling hot cranberry tea.
When radiant red cranberries rise to the surface of a flooded swamp, it's just a sight. When swamps are flooded using a sprinkler irrigation system, naturally floating cranberries loosen from their vines and fly to the surface. The wind pushes the berries toward one corner of the swamp, and a lever is used to flip the cranberries toward a pump truck or conveyor system on the shore.
You don't have to be on a guided tour to observe a wet cranberry harvest if this happens: just respect private property, stay out of swamps, and don't drink cranberries without permission. After all, these are working farms: no attractions. The Rocky Maple Bogs in Wareham is well worth the drive if you want to stumble upon a scene like this during cranberry season.
The cranberry beaters, sometimes called "eggbeaters," that you may see on the move do not cut the cranberries. Her paddlewheels stir the water, and she calls out to the reluctant cranberries to release the vine. Once the swamps are flooded, cranberry harvesters must work around the clock to get their products out of the swamp and off to the processing plant before the berries spoil.
If you don't want to leave your cranberry harvesting experience to chance, Makepeace offers guided tours on select dates during the season. View the schedule online, or call 508-322-4028 for more details.
Whether or not you book a spot on this tour, make Makepeace Farms stop on your cranberry swamp driving tour. This farm market is the best place to shop for cranberry food and souvenirs, as well as other delicious locally produced food and drinks including fresh cranberries, granulated dried cranberries, cranberry granola, cranberry salad, cranberry chain, and Richards' famous garlic dish. The seasoning is made in Carver, Massachusetts, at Cranberry Barn Kitchens.
Learn about growing organic cranberries on a tour of Cape Cod's largest organic swamp. Starting in April and available daily during the fall harvest season, these kid-friendly and accessible tours require reservations. Before you leave, buy sweetened dried cranberries and organic cranberry sauce at the farm stand. Fresh cranberries by the pound are also available during the harvest season.
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Cape Cod Cranberry Bog Tours
You'll get an agricultural education on walking tours offered by this cranberry farmer, who has bred 75 acres of rusk on Cape Cod for more than a quarter-century. Make reservations in advance for daily picnics from mid-June through mid-December to view dogs in bloom, cranberries on the vine, and, eventually, the harvest.
Visit cape cranberry farms during harvest season for tours and to shop for fresh fruit and farm produce including Bogside Honey. Owner Annie Walker quit her job supervising a Broadway production in 1994 to tend this swamp, which was owned by her grandfather. Dennis is the first city in America where cranberries - a local wild fruit - have been successfully grown.
