Burlington County Earth Fair 2010

With the exception of 2009, the American Cranberry Growers Association has had a booth at the Burlington County Earth Fair for a few years now. The booth was never as busy as it was yesterday! I seriously underestimated the amount of interest there would be in our "Bog in a Cup" project and in our recipe books.  The 720 packages of sweetened dried cranberries disappeared in four hours. The recipe books, "Burlington the Beautiful" magazines, and festival information sheets were all gone by lunchtime.

I brought enough materials to build 35 mini-bogs, and they were gone 90 minutes after the Fair opened. I hope some of the families who brought bogs home with them will let me know how well they grow--especially the family of the Boy Scout who was looking for indigenous plants for a badge (glad I could help!). I had a lot of fun with the kids!
I met Jon Runyan and invited him out to see the harvest. He looked skeptical when I said we have waders that will fit him. I met a couple of people who work with the Rutgers University Ag Extension and a couple who work with the Whitesbog Preservation Trust. Visit the Whitesbog blogs if you're interested in history: Whitesbog Village and Whitesbog: The Life and Times. They've inspired me to devote a couple of future blog posts to some ACGA history.
I always enjoy talking with teachers and nurses and hearing their perspectives on our materials. One teacher in particular gave me some great insights into the design of our activity sheets--very helpful, as we're in the process of designing a booklet to compile them!
Of course, my favorite part is always showing people something they didn't know about cranberries. Quite a few people enjoyed looking at the plants that I brought, as they had never seen them before. There were a few people who thought cranberries grow in water. Some people had never tried sweetened dried cranberries--but after tasting them, they came back for seconds! Several people told me they love putting dried cranberries in salads; one person likes them with sunflower seeds. How do YOU like to eat cranberries?