01 *RESCAN October 25, 1979 - CranberryingCRANBERRYING
s e) nature
-by Paul fitoWenburgh-
An old friend of mine, George Wells,
called me the other day and asked if I'd
gotten any cranberries yet this year. "No'-',
I replied, we had planned to go to Montauk
but we just couldn't fit it in."
"Well, if you go remember i have two old
cranberry rakes that work just perfectly."
Then I - ernember(( 'when Barbara and 1
picked cranberries last year by hand in
,mnlht'r locality, hm(• tedious it was and how
❑]1111 his suggestion sounded to toe.
.\fl(•r Inrn(' chatter George wound up by
:saying. -Well, Ihal's 1oo bad. bec,.ltse the
cranberries tl M re arv• the be: i 1(e seen
tir;1 Iona. 10II£2, IiI)] ' "III:i: gill ii• 1 :erm)se
II(•ii ( :(11rt,e ti,I•' :, ,'� ;� 1111erril • :, :ire �'n1Id. ;Hui
Ie 11111:. 111,:1 "Inns loo:.' line •• ii1 it.. i 1 -.]] ,.
111•' :',r• 1o1,11I_- ,■■■1. „1111111;11 - •11;111;..(•(1 Iti5
>15511 We (1e11• 141(1110, 11, 1'e i, i( ;I.onlauk
1"•.'e il;IIi is \v:ol Inc Illy •. ,1111: I to eh :ull�,r.
Inc 1 11111 11s1 111111 ,i 11110 :011e !Tell and
nnlhtiny!, lilt( the Uclnbcr we:1111c•.r i 1(1]11 m-
In•ie(1 now here nn Long lsJnn(I 'then il
h,Ippem(•(4. Wa1'I(I, hazy 1,111 weather -- nn
rind to speak of and we were ready to go
East End I'orks ('onapared
Lune I) was packed, a quick trip to pick lap
the rakes ;It (1eurge'1 place, the (1o{; in the
car and we were of 'flee rule over ryas
ple1ds11111 as (Ve pnsscd 111(11y,h the lovely
lowvtts of the:sou1111 side. I 111011011 to myself
as we drove along., how !Hitch larger in area
the South (''nrlc is 111;111 the 1N01,111 1' 0( 11. An(I it
•o11firme11 the 5 1 11 1 1111 1(111 h(• :;orm'one Thal
WV 1101(' on the Norl h Fork have more people
per s(Iu;lre 11111(` Than Ihev 1/■5e 114,1n' th( re.
liulh forks are feeling the pressure of people
from the west. Bow d hope we meet tht•
challenge with good planning 111111 foresight.
it wasn't long until we were ill Aulagan-
sell and then out into the open country of
pine, 11(vu'herry and 0;11111. 'Thal':; Ilge Tong
stretch of highway 111111 1'1111, e1151 ■11(41 we51
1,:151 l Zither Hills State Park, and it is in Ibis
east 11(11 we 11(1e going rranherryiig. it.
11'05 years (III('(' I'd heel) there ,Inc! the
location was 0 bit fuzzy in my mind. First 1
thought il 4(05 here, then there, then here.
and then 1 had to adroit I wasn't quite sure
where it was. 'Phis was getting to he
embarrassing so we went up to the begin-
ning of the road and started all over again in
hopes that a new clue would catch my
memory and my reputation would be saved
-- but no luck. t
Malting The (lest Of Defeat
Rather than go Home defeated we 'loth
decided we should go oul to 11w Point and
make,a day of it out there. 111■, how i110011 uk
has grown! Again I thought of the pres-
sures on this beautiful area. Where will it all
Bend? The little village I once knew now
stretched out to the west along both sides of
the road where 1 remember only sand dunes
and beach grass years ago.
When we got to the Point we found no pets
were allowed and, not wanting to leave the
dog in the car, we headed for another area i
knew was less trodden and more open. iI
was the road fishermen use to go down to the
north shore of the Point. That road has to he
the bumpiest on Long Island. We finally
wound up out on :1 stony parking area that
1(,1,1:(11 over Blc:'k island Sound and it was
here ((' :' decided to park ;Intl walk.
1'•raeh buggies were all ever. and it almost
seemed as It they had invaded the area, as
their tracks were everyv 11,c. i saw no one
catching any fish but shiny new cars and
trnrlcs
4)41(441 with fishing poles of all sizes
mkt description,.
it 1(05 111•rler1 weather and an ideal low
title tar :1 stroll along the beach to the south.
,Sh;.r;1 (yes soot, Nicked up mussels that
a, r: in111ed;11•II in 111" rocks below high tide
a(!;.
and so c,./• ]roc: •led to collect some
in nn old hat 111:11 50111>' into good use. We
both lovo Inusseh and here we picked a
n11•s5 worthy of ,:my 11(5,4 We also found
p111>50)Icles w;• 115,1 t;;'(11] 10:(1 were good to
eat and su collected a 1,l1111 + t liw'm Ine ft's
been said that after }eti 1,1111 them you pick
them out with a straight pit) or bent safety
1,111 and dip them in melted butter. Sounds
great! We'll have to icy Ctem.
we hated 10 r ` .ve bat therd was much to
do at home: so back to the car we headed.
tiff 11
Lost Cranberries 1. ourid
As we approached the cranberry area
again I made one last desperate recollec-
tion. We'd' try once more right here -- you
wait in the car. For those who keep trying
there are the rewards. We had found them.
Others had been here before us but there 1i
were plenty of berries scattered about that
they had missed.
Now to try that ancient cranberry scoop.
Bow did it work? f slipped the long fingers
under the plants and then lifted the rake up
and sure enough the berries pulled off as if
by magic ;and as I looked in the bright red
shapes were collected in the hack. Once in a
(Only I'd get over - ambitious: dip loo deep
and pick up clumps 01 sphagnum moss or
other debris. Oh. flow clever those oldtimers
were to invent such a gadget! Once again I
have to how to Yankee ingenuity. Soon we
had filled our bag - 00 need to take more.
By now the sun was low and backlighting
the scrub grass to show the beautiful fall
yellow in all its splendor. Time out for a
. e ocroBER 25, 979
picture. Scarlet. red berries, an antique
CRANBERRY RAKE
Photo by Paul tiBaaleubaart;ie
and provided it's not all Hack Inppel 111111
cranberry rake and lase afternoon sun. ticky- tacked with houses. A tremendous
What a wonderful world we live in! responsibility rests on someone's slloadde,.
And like all the natural world, it's there and no one person can do it ;III. The( will all
for us to enjoy, provided we make the effort. need your help,
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