Cranberries off our marsh north of Wisconsin Rapids, sold three ways: dried, pressed, and fresh by the box in October.
Three Prices to Start With
01 DriedA new batch most weeks, October to April
Small Batches, Nineteen Hours on the Trays
Joan dries in batches of about 60 pounds, tray by tray, at the back of the barn. The sweetened berries get a light coat of cane sugar and 19 hours on the trays, and there is a fresh batch most weeks from October to April.
If you want less sugar, buy the tart bag. Same berries, no sugar at all, and 26 hours on the trays to get them right. You'll find both kinds and the 2 lb bag on the price board, and they are the one thing we ship.
- Batch
- About 60 lb
- Sweetened
- 19 hours
- Tart
- 26 hours
Shipping is $9 flat anywhere in the lower 48 and free over $60. Orders go out Mondays and Wednesdays and arrive in 3-5 days.
02 JuiceGlass bottles, pickup and Thursday delivery
Pressed From the Soft Ones, Sold in Glass
Berries that come off the bounce board too soft for the fresh box go to the press. Pure cranberry juice is unsweetened and sharp, $11 for a 32 oz bottle or $60 for a case of six. Cranberry and apple is the gentler one at $8.
Every bottle is glass, and every clean one you return to the barn is $1 back. Bring the bottle back with the cap off. The caps go in the coffee can by the door.
Glass doesn't travel well, so juice is pickup at the barn or Thursday delivery within 25 miles of Wisconsin Rapids only. Delivery is free over $40, otherwise $6.
03 FreshLate September to Thanksgiving week
Off the Flood and Over the Bounce Board
Fresh berries come off the flood in late September and run until Thanksgiving week: $4 a pound loose at the barn, $28 for a 10 lb box and $55 for 25 lb. Bakers and canners can book from September 1, and it's a $20 deposit to reserve a 25 lb box.
Every berry goes over the bounce board Pete built in 1999 from the door off the old milk house: seven oak steps, and a good firm berry clears all of them. The soft ones don't make it and go to the press. There's more on how harvest works out on the beds.
Kept unwashed in the bag they came in, fresh berries last about 4 weeks in the fridge and a year in the freezer.
04 The marshNorth of Wisconsin Rapids
Thirty-Eight Acres, Seventeen in Vines
Joan and Pete bought 38 acres of tired marsh in 1998 and spent three winters rebuilding the beds before they brought in a crop worth selling. Seventeen acres are in vines now, split into four named beds, with a reservoir pond that floods them in winter and again at harvest.
Their son Eli runs the harvest. Joan still does the drying and keeps the barn shop open on Saturday mornings, and if you ask her about the year she will tell you about the flood. Read Joan on flood week.
- Acres
- 38
- In vines
- 17
- Named beds
- 4
Barn shop hours
Thursday to Sunday, 9 am to 5 pmHarvest season, from the last Saturday in September to the Sunday before Thanksgiving
Saturdays, 9 am to noonThe rest of the year. Closed every Saturday in January.
All hours are farm time, Central.
Where
Wisconsin Rapids, WisconsinOn the marsh north of town, in central Wisconsin
We don't post a street address. Write to hello@craenta.com with what you want and how many, and the directions come with your pickup.