Okay, I know that I have been talking a lot about cranberries lately, but it is the season. We took another canoe trip down the Great Meadow this afternoon to pick again. We couldn't have picked a day more different from our last trip on the meadows two weeks ago. That was the day that Hurricane Sandy rolled up the coast and wreaked havoc on New York and New Jersey. We felt the effects of the storm with high winds and heavy rain.
When Al and I canoed on the Great Meadow that Monday morning, it was raining and windy, but not unbearable so. We were prepared for the worst, but avoided it by starting and finishing our trip early in the day. That day, we picked 2 gallons of cranberries and were quite pleased with our success.
Today, we headed out in the early afternoon of an unseasonably warm November day. Temperatures were in the 60s and the sky was clear, with a light wind. Still we donned our waders because the water was high and the cranberries are most plentiful in the inundated areas. But picking was much more pleasant. Our hands soon adjusted to the cool water and we picked for at least 2 hours without any discomfort.. Okay, I take that back--we did have to stretch every once in a while because bending over to pick is hard on the spine.
As often as we could, we sought out areas where the cranberries were out of the water or at least in less deep water so that we could kneel down to pick. Al had brought a large basket, but we picked into plastic tubs which we then transferred to the basket. Tubs float--a basket wouldn't. The basket was helpful in draining off the water, however, so it served its purpose quite adequately. While we picked, we wondered about how commercial cranberry farms manage to keep the "weeds" out, such as the leatherleaf, sweet gale, and grasses that we regularly encounter on the meadows. We wondered what those farmers might use to harvest the cranberries more efficiently and how they get them to float. We tried stomping about to loosen the berries from the plants, but that is only mildly effective. We tried using a sieve to scoop the berries, but that didn't really work either. The best method for our purposes was just to rake them off the plants with our hands.
At any rate, Al and I were very pleased with our efforts--a beautiful full basket of cranberries, plenty for both of us and enough to share with friends, including the man working on the house at the end of Bancroft Road. We met him before we headed out, and he was packing up to leave when we finished. He was delighted to receive a portion of our abundant harvest and we were happy to share. After all, what could make a successful day picking cranberries just a little bit better? Sharing the joy, of course!
And don't fret if you haven't gotten out there to pick yet. We saved some for you too.
Natural highlights, aside from the sheer beauty of the day and the place were few, but we did see a new muskrat mound and a freshly built beaver lodge, with a well stocked cache of alder and service berry branches. We also observed the effects of the hurricane in sedges and grasses twisted and swept through the high waters and wrapped around the roots of other vegetation on the edge of the stream. We witnessed the early setting of the sun over the Great Meadow, a reminder that the long dark nights of winter will soon be upon us.
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