Harvesting the Cranberry Bog (South Haven, Michigan)

   The timing for my visit to Michigan was around a tour to this cranberry farm.  I wanted to see them harvest the cranberries.  This is a picture of one of many bogs.  The cranberries grow in these bogs that are filled with water when it is time to harvest.

      This tractor like machine drives up and down the bog while the rake like thing in the front knocks the cranberries off of the plants.  This cranberry farm sells approximately 1 million pounds of cranberries each year to Ocean Spray.

      A close-up look at the cranberries in the bog waiting to be suctioned into the truck.

      Look at the wheels and the front and back of this piece of machinery.  It is so different from anything I have ever seen.

      It is amazing that the cranberries float to the top of the water after they are knocked off of the plants.

      Pulling the cranberries into one corner of the bog....

      It was a chilly morning and rainy but I was happy and excited to be on the tour of the cranberry bog!

      After the cranberries are suctioned up out of the bog they are washed off.

     This is a picture of the cranberries back at the warehouse going in for packaging to be sold.  I love cranberries!  It was so fun to go there for the tour and to sample all the goodies made out of cranberries.  I brought home some cranberry preserves that I am excited to eat!  I'm so grateful that my sister took me here for this fun tour!