Harvest time at Clearwater Cranberries
The Oregon Environmental Council worked with the Farr and McKenzie families to launch Clearwater Cranberries, a collective that grows cranberries in a way that protects salmon habitat in local rivers.
This weekend, I saw first-hand where fresh cranberries are grown in southern Oregon not far from the coast. Clearwater Cranberries growers Randy and Gretchen Farr invited food buyers to witness the harvest, and I tagged along to take pictures (you can check out my photos here and here).
The sun was out and a warm breeze blew ripples in the flooded bog. Cranberries grow on low-lying vines in beds of sand and clay, where they turn bright red in the sun. When it’s time to harvest, the beds are flooded knee-deep, and the vines agitated so that berries float to the surface for collection. Water is re-used from field to field and then collected in a storage reservoir. Gretchen and Randy invited us to don waders and work in the bog, herding cranberries to the conveyor that lifts them into bins on a truck. Randy gave me my own supply of fresh cranberries to take home.
The Oregon Environmental Council worked with the Farr and McKenzie families to launch Clearwater Cranberries, a collective that grows cranberries in a way that protects salmon habitat in local rivers. They recently achieved Food Alliance Certification, which means that they meet standards for environmentally friendly, socially responsible practices. We’re helping to connect these growers to markets in the region that value a sustainably produced product. Randy pauses in the bog to shoo away a bug. He explains that since they started carefully monitoring pests and treating them with more targeted techniques, they are seeing a wider variety of friendly insects in the fields.
On Saturday, it was Scott McKenzie’s turn to play host to visitors at his harvest. Scott’s sons and daughter worked the cranberries in driving rain and wind, as their dog watched from the truck bed, soggy and morose. Later, when Scott showed us the spot where he learned to fish for salmon and then taught his kids to fish, it was clear why these farmers use techniques that protect water quality. The clear streams and wild landscape of the south coast are part of a family tradition.
