{JEI} Autumn Fun

{JEI} is Just Enough Information.

Basically, I answer 3 simple questions and linkup my answers to Fishbowl Fortune.  Read my answers and then meet other bloggers by following this link.

{JEI} - Autumn Fun

1.  Best Fall Flavor - Apple or Pumpkin?

Boy, this is a hard one.  On the one hand I love the aroma of freshly picked apples, especially when I have 8 or 9 boxes of them strewn about the garage.  The dang raccoon ate all but one off the trees this year.  Pumpkin is just plain old delicious when mixed with cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.  And it brings back a flood of baking memories - me sitting on the counter stirring batch upon batch of harvest loaf for Christmas gifts.

And then there's candles.  Technically not a flavor; I try not to make a habit of eating candles.  I tend to opt for the spicier scented rather than sweeter scented candles.

The winner is.....PUMPKIN.

2.  The leaves are changing colors, and the air is crisp.  What are you looking forward to about fall?

What's not to look forward to?  Sweaters, scarves, tall boots, cranberry harvest, turkey dinners, hunting seasons of all kinds, hot cocoa, football Sundays with nachos.

3.  Do you decorate for the season (and which is it:  fall or autumn)?

I dream about decorating; the kind you'd see on Pinterest.  But, I don't keep a neat enough house, the kids are always messing with decorations, and I hate the way decorations look amidst newspapers and magazines, toy cars and GI Joe dolls.  I do my style of decorating which means I line up a few pumpkins on the front porch, add a couple of autumn-hued mums, hang a fall quilt in the dining room, and call it done.  

I love the sound of autumn, but I'm a midwesterner and fall has always been the word.  I switch back and forth depending on my level of sophistication that day.

This is a Link-up.

More About Cranberry Harvest

I mentioned yesterday that we're 50% done with harvest.  Yeah!  When the end is in sight, everyone pushes a little bit harder, works a little bit longer, and smiles a little more often.

My October folder of pictures is brimming to overflowing so it's about time I unload a pile of them here on the blog.

My attempt at showing the family farm side of cranberry harvest in Wisconsin.

These pictures are in order of how I took them last week; I'll give a brief explanation if needed.

First truck loaded.

Sam and Stephen figuring out the trash trailer.  Now a full week in, I bet they can't believe they ever struggled with hooking it up.

Floating cranberries - almost flooded enough for booming.

Uncle Dan and the little boys.  This is what my farm boys wait for all year, a chance at hanging out, up high on the dump truck with Uncle Dan.

The beginning of the berry cleaner.  Cranberries are forced to the cleaner by water pressure and the tightening boom.  The green paddles grab the berries and carry them to the pressure washer.

Fruit moving through the pressure washer - the leaves are getting washed away.  From here they are elevated into the dump truck.

In the foreground - berries floating
In the background - the flood is coming up and pipe is being pulled

Looking on - assessing the situation

Like father, like son - looking on, assessing the situation.

And yet another bed of floating fruit.  I guess 20 years worth of cranberry harvest pictures isn't enough.

Notice the almost black cranberries.  These are Hyreds.

And here we have the variety Stevens, and next year's bud already.

Joseph keeping track of harvest from high up on the dump truck.

Taking the trash trailer to the next bed.  Harvesting cranberries creates a huge amount of leaf trash.

Unloading the trash trailer with a 4 year old helper.

If bugs aren't your thing, stay away.  Tons of beetles, tons of spiders.

The crew raking trash.  The leaves float/are blown into the edges of the cranberry bed.  Then the crew rakes the trash into piles on the dike.

Oops!  Peter got in the way.

Somehow an extra rake surfaced.  Amber demanded I help out instead of taking pictures, which gave her the opportunity to take nearly 50 pictures of me raking trash.

Here's one for Instagram.  Shoe pic : )

Never too old or too much a boss to get out of pulling pipe.  He does it all.

More trash to haul away.

After the first few beautiful days, we ended up with a cold and rainy day.  But, that's enough for now.
You just experienced your first cranberry marsh tour from the comfort of your home.  I hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

Have a blessed day.

Maria on the {cranberry} Marsh

50%

We are half done with cranberry harvest.  Yeah!  

It also means we're half done with our sort of homeschool break.  I say "sort of" because Nick continues to attend classes at the technical college, but is taking a break from his traditional homeschool lessons.  And I've caught Amber doing some school work in between pulling pipe and raking trash.  She's dedicated!  Sam did some Easy Grammar only because I made him, and he's been reading library books to Peter and Maria in the evening.  I've shifted my role of homeschool mom to provider of tons of food mom.  Tonight's supper includes 20 Cheesy Mini Meatloaves, 1 dozen baked potatoes with fixin's and 3 dozen cookies.  Throw in an entire gallon of milk, and supper is served!

Anyway, the post's title is Maria on the {cranberry} Marsh, so I should get on with that.  

She's three.  She's full of opinions.  She's got killer vocabulary skills.  She's not at all afraid to throw her weight (all 29 pounds) around with demands of all sorts.  Oh, and she wears dresses every day.  Still I take her for daily walks on the cranberry marsh.  Here's a sampling of her shenanigans.

The first harvest walk of the year.  She's so excited.

Taking cookies to the crew; she just has to have one.

"Are you weddy to go, yet?  Cuz I am."

"See me, Mom?  I'm up high."

Just before this picture, I told her to stay clean because we had to go to town.  Then the wooden dowel fell in the mud, and apparently, needed to be cleaned off with her dress.

"Mom, yook what the stick did to my dress."

"Brothers!  Wait for me!"

"They didn't wait for me; I'm disgusted."

"I can dwive.  I'll show you."

"Nicky, can I rake trash with you?  Mom, likes it when I call you Nicky."

Walking in the Rain

Add caption

"I'm not too cwose.  Really I'm not."

For those that stayed all the way to the end.  Wow, that's dedication.  Here's a pretty autumn landscape for you all.  Have a great evening.

Greek Style Yogurt Cranberries

I have huge aspirations of sharing the variety of cranberry products I run across here in cranberry country, but time has a way of slipping away.

I do, however, have one product I'd like to share with you all today.  

YOGURT COVERED CRANBERRIES

I happened to try the Great Value product from Walmart, but I've seen other versions as well.  Each brand calls them something a bit different, but in essence they are yogurt covered dried cranberries.

These Greek Style Yogurt Cranberries are bound to be as classic as the classics.

Similar to yogurt covered raisins, but only yummier - because they're made with cranberries!!

Did you know the cranberry is loaded with antioxidants - cancer fighting, cell repairing substances found in fruits and vegetables.  The cranberry ranks #3, right after wild and cultivated blueberries.  With over 8000 antioxidants in 1/3 cup, cranberries make a healthy addition to any lunch box.

Just a note:  there are fewer antioxidants in dried fruit compared to fresh fruit.  But, not many people, especially kids, can handle a mouthful of fresh cranberries.

This is a newer Great Value product; I can't even find it at Walmart.com, but there are plenty of other companies that make similar products.  I've linked to a couple options below.

8 ounce pouch

10 pound box

I have a challenge for you.
How many whole cranberries can you fit in your mouth?
Can you chew them all and swallow without drooling?

Give it a try.  My record is 10.  One of my family members can do 20.  Now that's a mouthful.

Have a VERY BERRY fun day.

Cranberry Harvest...{bringing up the water & pulling pipe}

Take a look around the October archives from past years.  I definitely love sharing cranberry harvest pictures and descriptions of what's being done.  This year isn't any different. 

 Today's cranberry harvest lesson answers the question:

Do cranberries grow in water?  I've answered this question before.  That was years ago; it's time I answer it again.

Do cranberries grow in water?

NO!

Cranberries grow on vines rooted in sand covered beds or bogs.  A cranberry bed is basically a 2-5 acre rectangle carved out of the earth surrounded by a ditch.  During the growing season the soil is kept moist, but not saturated.  Cranberries do require plenty of water, however, they like good drainage.  Cranberry beds, when it's time to harvest, are flooded.

Flooding involves moving water from our reservoir, through the flooding ditch, to the cranberry bed.  Cranberries float, which is the reason they are harvested in water - they're easier to pluck from the vine when floating.

Here, boards are being stacked in the bulkhead to dam up the water.  The full ditch utilizes the power of water pressure; it helps the water stay on the beds being harvested.

Stacking up bulkhead boards again.

Once a shallow flood is achieved, it's time to pull the pipe.  The pipes transport water for summer irrigation and spring and fall frost protection.

The pipe pulling crew.  For as hard as they work, they still know how to have fun.  Everyone jokes about how loud they are; their voices can be heard over all the tractor engines.

First the pipes are carried to the edge of the cranberry bed.  Then they are lifted out and lined up along the edge of the bed where they'll lie waiting until spring.

The pipes also create a good line of hurdles.

Reaching across the deep ditch.....anything for a cookie.

Just a gorgeous sea of red, floating in water, waiting to be corralled.

What else do you want to know about harvesting cranberries?