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Coquille Cranberries History |
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Our
bogs were planted in 1995 and certified in 1998 by Oregon Tilth, one of
the most stringent organic certifiers in the world. Our bogs are
located on the Southwest Oregon Coast just west of Coos Bay, Oregon.
The bogs are on Coquille Tribal land near the mouth of the Coos River
and about a mile and one half from the Pacific Ocean. Our bogs were
farmed organically from the day of planting and not transitioned from
"conventional" chemically farmed bogs. Our vines are Stevens Hybrid
variety from Wisconsin. The Stevens variety is somewhat sweeter than
other types of Cranberries and is larger in size. Because of our nearly
ideal coastal growing climate, our fruit tends to have much more color
than fruit grown in other parts of the U.S. and Canada and is typically
a dark purple at full ripeness. |
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About Cranberries |
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Cranberries are typically grown and farmed in beds averaging about 1.5
acres in size. Theses beds are engineered to be flat and are often terraced
to conserve water during flooding. They are called bogs because one
technique for picking them involves flooding the beds at harvest time and
allowing the fruit to float to the surface where it is gathered by various
techniques. Cranberry vines actually need to be dry and well drained during
the active growing season of the plant from about April until November on
the Oregon Coast. They typically grow best in soil that is comprised
mostly of sand. The vines resemble a thick ground cover and are about
8-10" deep. The vines begin growth in the spring and bloom in April and
May. Each vine puts out small buds on parts of the plant called uprights.
During the bloom the flowers are susceptible to frost. The vines are green
in the spring and as the fruit ripens in the fall and the vines go dormant
again, they turn a beautiful shade of magenta. |
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Harvesting Our Bogs |
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Our
cranberries have recently reached full maturity and production. While
growing organically is more costly and labor intensive than
conventional farming, our experience is that this method supports
healthy vines and more flavorful fruit. The berries reach good size and
a deep, dark color in early Fall. We carefully harvest our vine-ripened
berries with hand operated machines for the Holiday season and the
seasonal fresh fruit market. The berries are cleaned of vines and
leaves and immediately refrigerated to preserve quality and freshness.
Most of our berries are sold as fresh fruit; however, as our bogs have
matured and production has increased, we also flood harvest some of our
bogs for juice and other processed cranberry products. |
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