The Crimson Harvest

Fred Allen drives a harvester, or water wheel, to thrash the cranberries off of the vines in a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Cranberries float on the vines in a flooded bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts USA on October 12 2010. Every year in October cranberries are harvested off of vines that in some cases can be over 150 years old, for use in sauces, juices and as dried fruit.
A cranberry harvesting machine, or water wheel, sits on the dike between cranberry bogs early in the morning at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Fred Allen drives a harvester, or water wheel, to thrash the cranberries off of the vines in a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
A crew member uses a boom to gather fruit in a flooded cranberry bog for collection at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew member Bob Bennett stands knee deep in a flooded cranberry bog of gathered fruit at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts
Cranberries already thrashed from the vines, float on the surface of a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew members stand in the 'Heart of Cranberries' as they gather the fruit for collection by a water pump at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew member DJ Shaw uses a boom to gather fruit in a flooded cranberry bog for collection at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
A crew member Miguel Carabella walks through the gathered fruit in a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew members stand in the 'Heart of Cranberries' as they gather the fruit for collection by a water pump at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew member Bob Bennett stands knee deep in a flooded cranberry bog of gathered fruit at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
A frog hides in the cranberries at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
After cranberries are thrashed from the vines, crews use booms to gather the fruit to one section of a flooded bog for collection at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Fred Allen drives a harvester, or water wheel, to thrash the cranberries off of the vines in a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Fred Allen drives a harvester, or water wheel, to thrash the cranberries off of the vines in a flooded cranberry bog at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.
Crew member Bob Bennett stands knee deep in a flooded cranberry bog of gathered fruit at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts
Crew member Bob Bennett stands knee deep in a flooded cranberry bog of gathering fruit for the berry pump at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts. The tractor trailer truck behind Bennett holds approximately 50,000 pounds of fruit.
Cranberries fall from the separator into a truck after being collected at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts USA on October 11 2010. As the fruit is siphoned from the water flooded bog, the leaves and other debris is removed by a wash in the separator.
Crew member Bob Bennett shows an ideal cranberry while standing knee deep in a flooded cranberry bog of gathered fruit at the Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester Massachusetts.

Every fall in parts of Massachusetts as the leaves change from green to orange, red and yellow, the annual cranberry harvests begin. Millions of the marble sized berries are either combed from vines in dry harvesting or thrashed from vines by a paddlewheel in flooded bogs.

Cranberries are native to North America and southeastern Massachusetts is considered to be the birthplace of the commercial industry that contributes over $1.7 billion to the Commonwealth's economy yearly. There is nearly 12,000 acres of cranberry bogs in Massachusetts, and many of the farms offer public tours on Saturday mornings in the month of October.

Here on Gate Cranberry Company Bogs in Rochester, 'wet harvesting' takes place; the process of flooding a bog with water, causing the vines laden with fruit to float to the surface. A crew member then pilots a specialized tractor, called a water wheel, that thrashes or slaps the vines on the surface to dislodge the cranberries.

After the vines are thrashed, crews use long booms to corral the cranberries to one location of the flooded bog, while wearing waders in the cold water. The berries are then pumped from the bog with a large water vacuum process, and then loaded into large tractor hopper trucks to be taken to a processing plant.

After harvest, the bogs are dormant and growers start their off-season maintenance of cleaning, pruning the vines and bog repairs.