Lake Nokomis Cranberry Farm with Friends

Did you know that 60% of the world's cranberry production is grown in the state of Wisconsin?  Did you know that cranberries are not actually grown in water?  Did you know that cranberries have to be frozen for 90 days before they can yeild their best juice?  I had no idea!

Cranberries are actually the Wisconsin state fruit.  Interesting.  

So you can imagine my interest when I discovered that there was a cranberry farm not too far from our condo.  Can you say field trip?  

The first day we were here (actually on the way into town) I emailed the company and asked them for a private tour/educational field trip of their farm.  Yes, I realize it is not harvest season, and normally they do tours during the fall, but I thought that it would be interesting anytime during the year, right?

We got an email back, saying they would be happy to provide our group with a tour, and today was the day!  I guess cranberry growing is a full-time, round-the-clock/calendar job and all seasons are busy times.  Who knew?  

It was very interesting, and our guide Mike, who lives right on property, had a wealth of info.  He really gave us the red carpet treatment, allowing us to walk onto the marsh so we could get an upclose look at the vines and gain a full understanding to the whole growing process as well as the financial insight of the cranberry farming industry.  He did a great job, and we are very thankful that he took time out of his busy week to provide us with a private tour.

I had no idea I would enjoy so much about a cranberry farm.  The whole process and delicate balance was really very interesting.  The kids even found it worth while, and Elliot, although he didn't understand much, loved sitting/laying in the plants.  Plus, there was lots of sampling of cranberry foods after the tour, so the kids were even more excited!  I recommend it highly and would love to come back sometime when they are harvesting the berries, as that would be a cool experience too! 

Thank you Lake Nokomis Cranberries!  We had a great time!

Walking out onto the cranberry marsh.

Each cranberry vine sends out 8-9 shoots, growing, spreading, filling in gaps, and making a nice tight bed of plants.
They train them to all grow in the same direction, resulting in a nicely groomed bed of plants.

Mike let us get upclose and personal with the vines.  He was full of great information!

Mike told us a story about a bear that wanted to get to their many bee hives.  (Bees are a huge necessity to successfull cranberry farming.)  He found the one spot of the electric fence that wasn't electrified (where all the fence junctions came together) and dug a nice hole under it to get to the hives.  They had to put a large piece of equipment there to prevent him from entering again.  (Pretty smart bear.)

This berry is leftover from last harvest.  You can see how it is hooked to the plant.
It was soft like a grape, as it was frozen all winter under a thick layer of ice.

Behind Elliot you can see the frost alert system they have in place.
We learned that frost is the large concern for cranberry growers.
When they are alerted to frost, they have to act quickly to save their crop.

This farm has 320 acres of cranberry vines!

Elliot loved sitting in the plants.  They were squishy and soft.

Here you can see the start of the "hooks" that will produce the berries.

We were told that the gentleman running this equipment was a long-time employee; he's 86 years old and loves his job!

On our way to the farm, I couldn't help but ask Derrick to stop so I could take a few photos of the Northwoods of Wisconsin and the interesting signs we spotted along the way.  It was actually a pretty drive.

These types of signs were everywhere.

I guess they grow lots of potatoes here too, but must grow them in three or more year rotations,
so these are most likely bean fields.

Whatever they were, the deer enjoyed them.  

After the tour, Derrick couldn't resist the urge to stop at the two fireworks stores along the way.  Elliot and Eli had fallen asleep, so I stayed in the van.  When it comes to fireworks, Derrick has no restraint!

Sweet, sleepy boy!

Like father like sons!  They had so much fun picking out all the cool fireworks!