Fall - Out and About, Sagamore, Manomet, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

 

The Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal had great cloud formations which combined with the low sun angle to create an eerie out of this world light quality.



A swan enjoying the peaceful Rabbit Pond in Manomet.



A lone roller blade enthusiast on the nearly deserted seven mile Cape Cod Canal trail. A different perspective with the sun behind me.



A quiet picnic table beckons in Ellisville State Park.

The Cranberry Harvest, Part 2 of 2, Landers Farms, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 is at this link.

The harvesting machines are gone now - off to their next site. Left behind are gazillions of cranberries - floating and corralled tightly ready to be loaded and transported to market.



The big truck at right above contains the pump equipment that will suction the berries out of the bog.



The workers keep the berries flowing into the inlet pipe (the big green one) where they are suctioned up onto the truck........



......rinsed of debris......



....and loaded right into a huge tractor-trailer bed for transport to a central processing location.



That's a lot of berries. And this one bog will fill three truck beds. Not that it matters but, it was raining like crazy on this day- regardless, the harvest goes on.



You may think that the owner's pet, Wiley the Wonderdog, is patrolling and protecting the cranberries - you would be wrong - he is trolling for frogs or other critters along the edge whose habitat has been disrupted by flooding the bog. There are enough of them to put a spring in his step and motivate him to drag his aging body alongside the bog demonstrating the excitement and anticipation of a puppy.



If Wiley could speak, he'd likely say, "I'm a gonna' catch me some critters today."

The Cranberry Harvest, Part 1 of 2, Landers Farms, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

There's something endearing about a man who brings his little dog friend along to work with him. It's equally as endearing to see this little pooch race expectantly along the edge of the bog as his human drives the big harvesting machine into the water. He wanted to be close - all the time, his gaze, attention, and focus was only on his human.



I called out to him. He turned but, only for a moment - his gaze returned immediately to his human out in the bog. He was annoyed by me poking the camera at him when I tried to get close - distracting him from his single-minded focus on his human.



I was at the bog to observe this annual harvesting ritual as a guest of the farm owners and the Plymouth Digital Photographers Club who had arranged the outing.

The owners of the farm, "recognizing the public benefits of good stewardship on private forest land, the Massachusetts Forest Stewardship Program (MFSP) supports and encourages private forest landowners' efforts to manage, enjoy, and care for their land using a long-term approach." (Source: Massachusetts Forest Stewardship Program).



For wet harvesting, these machines drive through the flooded bogs shaking the berries loose from the vines. Loose, they float to the surface to be corralled and suctioned up into waiting trucks.



Here's a look at the reels in action that rotate on the front of the machines to dislodge the cranberries from the vines.



The operator throws these orange-tipped stakes into the water to mark a completed row. Unlike mowing the lawn, these operators can't see where they just were so instead, use these stakes as markers.



Wet harvesting is about water management. Flooding the bogs for harvest involves moving large quantities around from bog to bog. Bogs might also be flooded over the winter when the ice will protect the vines beneath the surface from the severe winter cold above.



But now, it's off to the next adjacent bog.



As his human drives into the water, the pooch races back to the bog edge to pace expectantly until he returns. Such devotion. No wonder humans like dogs so much.........

Check back for Part 2 in a few days.

Blueberry Pickin' at Landers Farms, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This shiny, new galvanized bucket hung around my neck on a cord. (Thanks, Louise).  It was easy therefore, to pick the berries from the bushes with both hands and deposit them directly into the bucket thus maximizing speed and efficiency. Unfortunately for the bucket, it was even easier for the berries to go from the bush directly into my mouth - which most did.



There's always one - the early developer, the over-achiever, the one to get eaten first - there might be some wisdom in that statement.



Again, another illustration of the magic and beauty of nature's bounty.



After all that pickin' (and eatin'), it was time to walk along the surf in the setting sun of a New England summer day on White Horse Beach.

Steps to the Beach, Ellisville Harbor State Park, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Ellisville Harbor State Park offers a pleasant walk at any time of the year.......



.......and I wish I had brought a lunch to enjoy at this unoccupied table.



There were even wild roses growing nearby along the trail........



.....that leads to the beach on Cape Cod Bay.



Add in an informal rock garden......



.....and a well-defined trail.....



..... and they all add up to a nice way to spend an hour on a pleasant summer day. Plenty of parking and no access fee - two features that are always music to the ears of a retiree!

Cranberry Harvest, Landers Farms, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

It's an annual fall ritual in southeast Massachusetts - the harvest of the cranberry crop. Cranberries are second only to greenhouse and nursery products as the largest agricultural crop in the state. Massachusetts is second only to Wisconsin as the largest cranberry producer by state in the United States.

Scattered throughout southeastern Massachusetts are thousands of acres of working cranberry bogs. It has been a very challenging year for growers with the extreme drought conditions in this part of the state.



This bog is partially flooded and the initial harvesting has begun as the water continues to pour in.



Wiley the Wonder Dog enjoys the event as much as the people. As the water rises, the moles, voles, frogs, and similar creatures are active along the edge and Wiley gets to chase them. Captivating fun for a pooch.



Sometimes, he even goes all the way into the water. Dogs - you gotta' love 'em! They don't care if it's cold, or wet, or raining, or sunny - they are all in - there is a lot to learn from a dog.



The owner (above at left) confers with her farm manager on the ripeness and quality of the berries.



The operator of the tractor/mower-like equipment rides through the flooded bog and the reels in front and on the side arms of the machine stir the berries loose from their vines. The berries then float to the surface for harvesting. (There is a dry harvest method also - this is not it). After harvesting, the water will be recycled into an adjacent bog to repeat the process.



Here's a close-up of one of the side reels. The thin, white, wooden, pointy stakes you see on the harvester machine are used by the operator to mark the rows so he knows where he has already finished.



The generous owner is also a photographer and permits others to wander about to capture the harvest. This visit was arranged by the Plymouth Digital Photographers Club.



The cranberry sauce I enjoy on my plate came from a place similar to this - maybe even this place. I like knowing that.

Ellisville Harbor State Park, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This pleasant path in Ellisville Harbor State Park follows alongside a marsh until reaching the beach. It is a 100-acre coastal property, which includes an 18th century farmstead, beachfront, salt marsh, rolling meadows, and red pine forest. It's also one of the most scenic public spots on the South Shore coastline.



The leafless trees and low sun have that decidedly winter look.



But regardless the season, one can always find kids playing in the sand.



And parents hoping they keep their shoes out of the water!

The Cranberry Harvest, Landers Farms, Ellisville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

It is a practice that plays out annually in thousands of sandy bogs in southeastern Massachusetts at this time of year - the cranberry harvest. The State of Massachusetts is second only to Wisconsin for total cranberry production within the United States.  For most of the year, we drive by countless bogs visible from the roadways.  The bogs seem still, no visible change is apparent, it's not like a corn field where the stalks grow noticeably higher all summer - but come fall, the bogs see a flurry of activity as the crop is harvested.  If harvesting using the the wet-harvest method, the bogs are flooded for just that purpose.

I had the opportunity with the Plymouth Digital Photographers Club to visit and observe one such harvest recently at one of the bogs owned by the Landers Farms. 

This is the view from atop the suction/vacuum truck.  It wouldn't fit in the frame so I had to tilt the camera. But I'm getting ahead of myself..........

It all started with Beau. Before the trucks arrived to load the berries, Beau expressed interest in the dry harvest method which uses the comb-like scoops shown above to separate the berries from the vines.

Beau was insistent that his incisors were the model for the tines in the scoop and demonstrated that point to us. But we are here today to observe the wet-harvest method so, Beau, better luck next year. 

The process began long before I arrived -  flooding the bogs, then running a tractor-like machine down the rows to separate the berries from the vines so they will float to the surface.  Then, using the machine above, a floating boom is unrolled and carried through the water to encircle the berries to create a corral.

The harvest crew does a lot of raking, pushing, and pulling to get the berries tightly corralled and ready to be vacuumed/suctioned out of the bog and into a transport truck.

For two months or so, this crew travels from bog to bog, farm to farm, spending their days, rain or shine, wading through knee/thigh-deep water to harvest the crop.

Beautiful outdoor spaces like this become their daily workplace.

But t-shirt weather is coming to an end soon as the season progresses.

Anchoring the inlet head of the vacuum/suction hose.

Nice rabbit ears.

It looked like difficult and physical work dragging the boom and slogging through deep water.

Eventually, the berries are tightly corralled and ready to be picked up.  The red truck at right above will move next to the bog and the crew will hook up the vacuum/suction hose.

Part of the crew took a moment to pose for a picture.

The berries are ready, the vacuum/suction truck is positioned, and the crew enjoys lunch on the hillside while waiting for the transport truck to arrive to haul away the berries.

Making shadow puppets is another way to wait for the truck to arrive - if you are a clever old man like me. 

Eventually, the 18-wheeler transport truck arrives and the pumping begins.

This truck will hold about 500 barrels of berries - not quite enough capacity to hold all that was within the boom - another truck will have to come back later today or tomorrow to finish.

The transport truck is almost full after pumping most of the berries from this four acre bog.

A good crop and a perfect fall day draws to a close.  Everyone is done work except for Beau.........

......he continues to "inspect" the cranberries - either that or maybe someone put a dog biscuit in the box?........