Cranberries: A seasonal favorite

Fall is here, which means it’s the perfect time of year to enjoy some delicious seasonal flavors, and one local farm grows fresh fruit which is cran-tastic!

Jack and Dot Angley have been running Flax Pond Farms since they purchased the land back in 1967.

“I have 100 acres. I have three acres of Fraser Fur Christmas Trees, and 35 acres of Cranberries,” said owner Jack Angley.

Their bogs and business are fruitful. The Angley’s and about 700 other cranberry growers own a small portion of Ocean Spray, which is a grower owned cooperative that thrives on the success of local bogs such as theirs.

The fruit that is grown at Flax Pond Farms in exclusively for taking home. “It’s the fruit that you buy in a little 12 oz. bag in the supermarket in the cooler and you take it home and cook with them,” said Jack.

Jack explains what it takes to have a successful cranberry bog.

“Water is our lifeblood. Cranberry is a wetland plant and consequently we use water not only to give it a drink, but we use it to protect it basically. ”

The Angleys use a technique called dry harvesting to keep the bogs from holding too much water and then flooding.

The bogs are not all the farm has to offer. When you step inside the screen house located at the farm, everything is cranberry!

Two different varieties are harvested at Flax Pond Farms, howes and early black, and both are great for day harvesting because their staying power allows them to last longer on shelves.