It's a Draw

It looks like the rain is gone and sunshine's going to stick around for a few days. This winter has made it tough for us to get our outside work done. We still have plenty of sanding to do before we pull the water off in April. I hope the roads dry out quickly so we can get back to hauling sand safely. Meanwhile, our water gurus are busy with the early draw, which means they take most of the water off of the bogs that make up an irrigation system so we can install the sprinklers. Then they reflood those bogs. If we waited until April to install all of the sprinklers, we wouldn't have time to get them all installed in time to protect for frost. (I'll try to get out soon to get some pictures of the guys putting in the sprinklers.)

Our sprinklers are used for frost protection, irrigation, and heat protection. We don't have any pop-up sprinklers, although there are growers who use them. We keep them installed through the entire growing season, then remove them just before the bogs are harvested to prevent damage. Removing and reinstalling the sprinklers every year is time-consuming, and sometimes very cold and wet, but it's yet another job that is crucial to the success of our farm.

March Directors Meeting

Yesterday we had a meeting of our board of directors. Among many other things (including the Cranberry Marketing Committee meeting that I talked about earlier), we discussed the impact of proposed budget cuts at a county and state level, the New Jersey Agricultural Society's annual dinner, and weather monitoring systems. We talked briefly about setting up a meeting of our public relations committee to explore options for the sale of our award-winning film, New Jersey's Red October, which was produced by Nancy O'Mallon and has aired on NJN and WHYY (read a very nice review here). I was happy to hear that Ocean Spray is planning to send its mobile tour to the Chatsworth Cranberry Festival this year to distribute product samples (although that hasn't appeared on their website yet).

The first public event of the year where we'll have a presence is the Burlington County Earth Fair at Historic Smithville Park. It's a nice event, never too crowded, but still plenty of people there. According to the information sheet the organizers sent us, it "will be another great day of family fun, including entertainment, environmental displays, demonstrations, workshops and activities for the whole family with a theme of 'sustainable green living'." The weather has been pretty good every time I've been there, although one year it was unseasonably hot. The Earth Fair will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2010, from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm, rain or shine. If anyone has any suggestions for displays or interactive activities (especially for kids), please let me know.

Cranberries in the News

You see a lot of media about cranberries in the fall. Every year, our farm gets maybe a dozen or so requests to photograph or film the harvest.There's always something newsworthy in the industry, though. Here are links to some recent articles about cranberries at the Olympics...

• New York Times
• USA Today 
• PR Newswire 

...some recent articles about health benefits...

• Heart health 
• Blood pressure

...a couple about how agriculture has been faring in different growing regions...

• Oregon  
• Canada

...and my personal favorite:

• Cranberries at McDonald's!

Drop me a line if you run across any interesting articles that you'd like to see featured here.