Just this morning, Pine Island Cranberry had the pleasure of hosting a tour with the Burlington County Military Affairs Committee! BCMAC acts as a liaison between the Joint Base military commanders and the civilian community “to promote a mutual understanding of one another’s mission and to assist and support the military wherever possible”. Stan Fayer and MaryAnn Rivell brought us a fantastic group from the Joint Base, and we kept them quite busy!

Once everyone arrived, CEO Bill Haines gave everyone a brief overview of the farm and family histories, complete with a photo gallery put together by Bill’s wife Nadine.

After that, it was off to see the real star of the show: New Jersey’s red October!

The group learned about picking with the Gates Harrow and how it gets in and out of the bog, and then they were able to get a bird’s eye view of the gathering process from the top of the bog side cleaner.

Next, they were able to go into a bed that hasn’t been picked yet, learned a bit about different cranberry varieties, and got to try out an old-fashioned dry scoop.

The final stop was at one of our recently planted bog to hear about how our young beds are renovated.

We had high standards to live up to: Pine Island was pinch hitting for our next door neighbors Lee Brothers, who do a phenomenal job with this tour! It turned out to be a great day; the weather was wonderful, and everyone had a good time, especially Bill:

“The BMAC out was one of the most enjoyable tours we’ve ever done. It’s really nice to have a group of people who are genuinely interested in what we’re doing, and it was a pleasure to talk to them about our history, the current harvest, and where we plan to go in the future. They were interested, asked a lot of good questions, and it was great to have them.”

Thanks to Stan, MaryAnn, and everyone who came out to see the prettiest sight in New Jersey this morning!