Page 77 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000
P. 77

We learned that cranberries grow in soil – not in the water. They

                   like sandy, well-drained, acidic soil similar to blueberries. There is
                   no pit of seed in the berry. They are bitter. In processing, they use

                   two  cups  of  sugar  for  every  three  cups  of  berries.  A  new  plant

                   takes 4 to 5 years to put out its first berries. It is an evergreen and
                   lives  under  the  ice  in  the  winter.  They  flood  the  fields  only  at

                   harvest time in October so the berries will float above the plants
                   and the harvesting machine can pick them off the top of the water

                   without hurting the plants. Once a plant begins to produce, it will
                   put out a crop a year for decades.


                   During the winter, they spread a layer of sand on top of the ice so

                   that when the ice melts, there will be fresh, rich soil added to the

                   fields.  When  needed,  they  water  the  plants  during  the  summer
                   with an irrigation system from a neighboring small lake. You can

                   see Lake Superior from the fields. The wind was fierce. What must
                   it be in January!!??


                   The farm has 5 fields each the size of a football field. They harvest

                   four  18-wheeler  truckloads  full  of  berries  each  year.  They  are
                   shipped  by truck  to Wisconsin  (the cranberry growing capital of

                   the USA) for cleaning and freezing. They then are shipped through

                   the Great Lakes to New York for processing. That’s how they end
                   up on our tables at Thanksgiving.


                   We’re off to the west tomorrow to visit the north shore of the UP

                   (Upper Peninsula). Late to bed and early to rise makes one tired.















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