MEET THE SQUAD™

Harvest Time with the Bog Squad™

Frog, Turtle, and Crane help our farmer families bring in the cranberry harvest every year, collected from our very special bogs, and are just a few of the diverse creatures that flourish in the bog ecosystem.

Do Cranberries grow on trees?

CORRECT! Cranberries grow in the wild on long-running vines in bogs and marshes.

INCORRECT. Cranberries grow in the wild on long-running vines in bogs and marshes.

What’s a bog?

A bog is an area of soft, marshy ground with acid peat soil, usually near wetlands, where the cranberries grow on long-running vines. An acre of cranberry bog is supported by four to ten acres of wetlands, woodlands and uplands.

“I love to float, just like cranberries do.” - Turtle

Turtle is very responsible and always helps our farmer families at harvest-time. But when the bogs are flooded in early autumn, he’s the first one in to test the waters--and they’re always fine.

Do Cranberries Bounce?

CORRECT! Cranberries have Small pockets of air inside them that cause them to bounce and float in water.

INCORRECT. Cranberries have Small pockets of air inside them that cause them to bounce and float in water.

A fruit that floats

Each cranberry has four tiny air pockets that allow it to float on the surface of the water. Many people think that cranberries grow in water, since they often see them floating on top of the bogs. This is actually Wet Harvesting. The night before the berries are to be harvested, growers flood their bogs with up top 18 inches of water, then use tractors called water reels (or “eggbeaters”) to churn the water and loosen the cranberries from the vine, so they rise to the top.

Once the cranberries are floating, the farmers gather them together, load them onto trucks, and shipped off to become delicious Ocean Spray® products, like Growing Goodness™ that fill your grocery aisles.

“WHEN IT COMES TO CRAFTING, THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!” - CRANE

Crane loves to make things: inventions, origami, but especially new Cranberry recipes. She even influenced the new Growing Goodness™ flavors. She’s not afraid to try new ideas, and still has hope for her cranberry-powered go-kart. In the meantime, she’s created a fun activity you can try at home:

Coloring-Activity

How do Cranberries start?

CORRECT! Cranberries start with flower.

INCORRECT. Cranberries start with flower.

A name for the birds

Did you know that the cranberry is named after the crane? It’s true. Cranberries grow on vines that can be over 100-years old and produce a flower that looks like the head and bill of a crane. Early German and Dutch settlers noticed the similarity and originally called the fruit “crane berry.” The name stuck, eventually shortening to how we know it today.