I feel very fortunate to live in Rochester for many reasons, but one is the natural beauty of the town. Every season presents scenes that make daily drives special. It might be flowering trees in spring or snow-covered ones in winter or the summer sun on sky blue ponds. Personally, I feel that autumn beats out the other seasons. Driving down almost any road in Rochester presents a palate of red, orange, and gold leaves, which, glowing on sunny days, make ordinary trips magical. There is something special about rounding a curve to find a floating carpet of red to magenta berries on a flooded bog. Fall in Rochester is definitely cranberry season with trucks filled with the red berries rattling down the roads, hoses swooshing berries from bog to truck, and the rosy-red beauty of wet harvesting.
Years ago, we had an exhibit exclusively about cranberries and their significance in Rochester history. While preparing for that display, I had the opportunity to talk with several local growers. For some, their bogs were their primary source of income, while for others their cranberries were a second job to both supplement income and provide a chance to be their own boss; to work on the land, and, in some cases, to carry on a family tradition.
During these conversations, I came away with some insights and information on the growing of the berries. My first question, one that had puzzled my husband over the years, was the meaning of the flag colors in the bog. That answer, a surprise, was that the color rarely meant anything, but was simply the flag that was available. I was intrigued to learn that much of the equipment used in the bogs has been created by the growers over the years.
At first, berries were picked by hand until scoops, perhaps modeled on ones used to pick blueberries in Scandinavia, were introduced. Some other bog tools like dibbles, turfing axes, and harvesting rakes were made by the growers to suit the unique needs of cranberry harvesting. We have examples of some of these at the museum. As time passed, wheelbarrows were a big improvement over handcarts or horse-drawn wagons for bringing berries off the bog. But even the typical wheelbarrow had to be reworked. Whether with one wheel or two, they had a large, flat surface to transport multiple wooden cranberry boxes. Then came bog buggies, made from rebuilt Model A Fords, with the rear end made into a flat bed for bringing the berries to shore. When we had colder winters, growers sanded their bogs by spreading the sand over the ice-covered bogs, and when temperatures warmed and the ice melted, the sand was deposited.
Some of the other things I learned are that there are different types of berries with different properties and uses, and pretty much all growers are looking for varieties that produce a greater yield. Also, wet harvesting is a more modern harvesting method, becoming more common beginning in the 1960s. Lastly, I was told by more than one grower that being a cranberry grower is hard work but that growers are members of a community that support each other. Other growers are always ready with a helping hand or the loaning of equipment.
By Connie Eshbach