Local fresh cranberries?

[thunderbug84]

I'm trying to eat more local food and I'm trying to find some fresh cranberries. I know that New York and Maine produce a lot. Any suggestions on where I can find them closer to Boston? Thanks!

[pierce]

Last year I bought local cranberries by the pint at City Feed in JP for thanksgiving, but I have not looked recently to see if they have them again.

[mangorita]

I got some at A.D. Makepeace in Wareham, MA this past weekend. They have a market where they sell the berries and other products. This past weekend they had their annual Cranberry Harvest Festival. They give cranberry bog tours on Saturdays in October.
http://www.admakepeace.com/

[macca]

I usually buy mine at Wilson FArms in Lexington.

[rchudy]

they have loose cranberries and by the bag at Russo's, as well as fresh olives.

[gardgen]

I went shopping at Shaws and the ones I bought were from Wareham, MA

[gimlis1mum]

Our CSA, Farm Direct Coop, gets them from Cranberry Hill Farm, I think. Check out http://www.organiccranberries.com/ for ordering info. And FYI, cranberries don't have to be grown in bogs - they do just fine in your yard. I put in a small plant last year and am eagerly awaiting my first home-grown harvest.

[Gio]

I'm so interested in your cranberry plant. How much yield do you expect from one plant? J/W... I never thought of growing cranberries in my home garden.

[gimlis1mum]

My plant is not doing too well, so I'm only expecting enough berries for a batch of muffins :-( I think I should have put it in a sunnier spot. The plants are low-growing and spread to 2-3 ft, supposedly. Look for American Cranberry; you can mail order from RH Sumway and Stark Bros.

[Science Chick]

Never heard of NY and ME cranberries....I thought MA was the major US producer. Anyway, I bought some lovely ones yesterday at Verrill Farms in Concord. They were ~$2.79/lb IIFC.

[tdaaa]

Ocean Spray is actually a local MA cranberry farmers cooperative. Most local grocery stores carry them... you may have heard of them as well.

According to Wikipedia, Wisconsin is actually the largest producer, with Ma second.

[thunderbug84]

Thanks! Thats definitely worth checking out. Although, if possible, I'd love to be able to get it straight from the farm where they are grown... any ideas?

[macadamianut]

They do not grow on farms they come from cranberry bogs that are harvested in plymouth and cape cod. Ocean spray would be your best best.

[BobB]

I've never seen them, and I used to spend a lot of time in a town whose major crop was cranberries. Even there I've not seen them sold at farm stands and the like, only in supermarkets.

I think it's because there just aren't any mom & pop growers - or if there are they are few and far between. It takes a fair amount of land and the ability to flood the fields for harvesting (did you know that cranberries are harvested by flooding the fields and agitating them so that the cranberries float to the surface where they are skimmed up?)

Then again, I haven't seen every farmer's market out there so maybe there is one somewhere. But frankly I don't think this is a type of fruit that would be significantly better fresh-picked than what you get in the typical Ocean Spray bags.

[Science Chick]

The ones I got at Verrill Farms were loose and sold by the pound. I was intrigued, since I've only ever seen them bagged. I called them today and they said they were from a farm on the Cape.

[Allstonian]

I've seen loose, unbagged cranberries by the pound at Russo's as well - haven't noticed them yet this year, but I wasn't looking. They're usually outside the main store, at the beginning of the section where they have carrots, cabbages, potatoes, onions, and winter squash.

[tdaaa]

http://www.cranberries.org/resources/wherebuy.html from the cape cod cranberry growers association

http://www.localharvest.org/search.js... From local harvest, a listing of other massachusetts farms that sell cranberries.

Hope this helps... remember that cranberries freeze really well.

[trufflehound]

The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2005, up 5 percent from 2004. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 367 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (170 million). Oregon, New Jersey and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 18 million to 52 million pounds. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>)