Jill's Journal: Sometimes not everything works out perfectly. One thing we desperately wanted to show the girls during our time in Plymouth was a cranberry harvest. This is such a unique crop, which started as a Native American fruit and is native to this area of Massachusetts. The low-growing vines grow in bogs and thrive in sand. Over 90% of the crop is harvested wet. The bogs are flooded with about 18 inches or more of water and the vines are “beaten” to loosen the red berries. Cranberries contain pockets of air, so they float to the surface and are easy to gather.
We saw plenty of cranberry bogs, but try as we might, we never caught a flooded bog or harvest. We’re just a little too early for the major harvest, which is just starting and peaks in early- to mid-October. Apparently there’s 14,000 acres of cranberries around the Plymouth and Cape Cod areas alone!
This is what we saw just about everywhere:
This is what one of these magnificent harvests is supposed to look like! By the way, each bog has a moat of sorts around it. The lakes and ponds in the area are so prolific that there’s no problem “borrowing” water for a bit.
This is what one of these magnificent harvests is supposed to look like! By the way, each bog has a moat of sorts around it. The lakes and ponds in the area are so prolific that there’s no problem “borrowing” water for a bit. 
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