Cranberry Harvesting in Richmond

I wanted a little coloring in the style of National Geographic, so 10 minutes of driving - and we will be transported briefly to New India. Well, as in India - in eastern Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver) on the opposite bank of the Fraser River. Here, the crops ripened on the cranberry fields, which in itself is not a reason for celebration (although in some towns it is an occasion, and even what) if it were not for the spectacle of how it is harvested - when in Vancouver you see the spilled red berry sea?

Correction: the Red Sea in Vancouver happens for one more reason - because of the flowering of bacteria.

Cranberries (born cranberry) - a marsh plant, but in agriculture is grown on dry soil in lowlands irrigated by canals. Berries grow the size of a large rosehip, and then there are two ways to collect them: dry - go through and pluck all the bushes, and smart - flood the bushes to hell.

The fact is that cranberries have one important feature: they have an air cavity inside, so this is one of the few berries floating on the surface of the water.

In mid-October, cranberry fields in the Fraser Valley are flooded to a depth of about half a meter - just above the level of the bushes.

Further detachments of mercenary force go to the waist in the water with threshers.

They beat bushes to knock down berries from them.

For some reason, mercenary force in Richmond necessarily has pronounced national features: +1 to racyness.

Please note that workers are wearing life vests - as you know, you can drown in a glass of water.

Last year, one worker drowned at a cranberry harvest in Richmond.

The berries knocked from the bushes lie in a continuous layer on the surface of the water.

It remains only to collect them.

The same workers with the help of booms - floating barriers - cut off part of the berries and tow them to the most convenient shore for lifting.

In parts, they drag more and more berries to the loading point.

So that the berries driven to the shore do not spread, they are also barred with bon.

From here, the conveyor will raise the crop to trucks.

Unlike dry picking, berries collected in the swamp are not suitable for long-term storage and must be immediately processed or frozen.

Over 90% of cranberries in North America are harvested in this way.

And of the total Canadian cranberry harvest, 95% falls on the Fraser Valley in British Columbia - about 17 million kilograms on an area of 1150 hectares (11.5 sq. Km)

At the same time, the total area of all cranberry marshes in North America is only 12 thousand hectares (120 sq. Km)

In English, the name "cranberry" the plant received for the shape of the flowers, reminiscent of a long crane (crane) neck with a long beak.

The crane did not wait, but it caught a heron on a red background.

The cranberries taste sour and somewhat reminiscent of apples (I caught a couple of zhmen from the swamp).

In general, it is one of the most nutritious berries, rich in vitamin C, potassium and iron, organic acids and antioxidants.

One of the specific properties of cranberries is the ability to enhance the action of antibiotics several times. It also has bactericidal and antimicrobial properties.

These berries are a natural analogue of aspirin.

Some cities in British Columbia celebrate cranberry harvesting, such as Fort Langley, where a cranberry festival takes place every weekend on Thanksgiving.

According to legend, cranberries could form part of the Indians' gift to the pilgrims on that same historic Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

If you want to see the cranberry harvest in Vancouver with your own eyes ...

When?

From mid-October to early November. We arrived on Saturday, October 18, at the Maybog Farms field, but it was collected, although a 2-minute drive away at No. 7 Road - work was in full swing.

By the way, workers also work on weekends - so it’s not necessary to go to the fields on a weekday to see the collection process.

Where?

Here are the addresses that I dug up: