At the end of the road, a sign points to cranberries on the porch at the Rezin farm.
THE “FRESH CRANBERRIES” SIGN grabbed our attention along State Highway 21 just east of Tomah in the heart of Wisconsin cranberry country.
So my husband slowed the van in a flash and turned onto a side road to North Tomah Cranberry Co. operated by John Rezin & Sons. Randy loves cranberries. Me, too. As juice or in pie. You won’t see me scooping cranberries onto my plate at Thanksgiving.
We’d never been on a cranberry farm nor purchased just harvested cranberries. So we were excited—or at least I was to photograph a true Wisconsin cranberry farm.
Farm fresh cranberry pricing
Teresa Rezin waits on customers.
Teresa Rezin met us on the farmhouse side porch before we could follow the “RING DOORBELL FOR CRANBERRIES” signage.
Cranberries bagged in various sizes await purchase.
Randy snapped up two pounds of berries for $4, later wishing he’d bought five.
Beautiful fresh cranberries for sale.
The next customer purchased 30 pounds—for cranberry wine. I wish I could have followed that woman home to learn about cranberry wine making. I’ve sipped and savored cranberry wine from Wisconsin.
One of the many cranberry fields.
Randy pushes aside leaves and stems to reveal the cranberries on the low-lying plants.
Just-picked cranberries.
Instead, under Teresa’s direction and welcome, Randy and I headed over to the cranberry fields for a quick look at how cranberries grow. I had no idea. None. I expected waist high bushes ripe with red orbs. Instead, we discovered cranberries clinging to earth-hugging plants.
In the distance lies the farm site; to the right the cranberry fields; and to the left, the lake/water for flooding the fields.
A water channel and cranberry fields to the right.
The “lake” across the road from the cranberry fields.
A gravel road separated the cranberry field from a small lake size body of water used to flood the cranberries at harvest. This we deduced on our self-guided quick tour.
Cranberries and fish.
For $3.50 a day, fishermen/women can fish here, too. Northerns and bass, maybe more. I didn’t ask. What a smart dual usage of water.
We didn’t press Teresa for an educational tour. So our knowledge of how a cranberry farm operates is still minimal.
But at least now I know cranberry plants grow close to the ground.
Loved these cranberry crates on the farmhouse porch.
FYI: North Tomah Cranberry Co. berries go to grower-owned Ocean Spray, located just down the highway from the farm. The Tomah processing plant produces 31 million pounds of sweetened dried cranberries and concentrate annually, according to Ocean Spray.
BONUS PHOTOS:
The direction Teresa pointed us for our brief tour.
A water pump.
Another “lake” by the cranberry farm, this one with a beach.
The farm site just to the north of the “lake” pictured above.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
And here I thought cranberries were grown (mostly) in Canada or New Jersey. We are all still learning.
And I’ve always thought most cranberries are grown in Wisconsin. This was really a highlight of our trip to Wisconsin last weekend (other than seeing our daughter). Our first visit to a cranberry farm. There is always much to learn.
I thought the plants were taller also!!! What a fun find!
I told Randy the next berry I want to see are blueberries on bushes. How big are those bushes? I’ve no idea.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://gardenersnet.com/fruit/pics/bb4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://gardenersnet.com/fruit/blueberry.htm&h=250&w=216&sz=29&tbnid=Ks0QqJd52O508M:&tbnh=125&tbnw=108&zoom=1&usg=__3nxhx7dy6Xn3JDMPUCEBeoFZGP8=&docid=ZZVrrRlCc0BlOM&sa=X&ei=vdlfUputNuXP2wX1zICIAg&ved=0CDAQ9QEwAg
Thanks. Should have thought to look here. Google to the rescue.
My BFF–Mr. Google.
LOL
If you want to see blueberry bushes “in action”, take a trip to Rush River Produce where you can pick your own blueberries. (www.rushriverproduce.com) They have several varieties of blueberries that ripen at slightly different times. In general, the bushes are roughly waist high. To pick them, I sit on a 5 gal. plastic bucket.
Thanks for the tip, Jim. I’d love to pick blueberries next year.
I’ve picked blueberries (u-pick-’em places) in 4 states. The bushes were from waist height to over head height except the wild growing bushes we found in upstate NY near Troy which were quite low growing – backbreaking to pick them. And since they were wild they were also rather small in size.
That’s interesting that the size of the bushes would vary so much. I expect that depends on type of plant, soil, climate, etc. Next summer I am going to make a point of finding a place near me to pick blueberries.
Tomah is such a beautiful area of Wisconsin. I have yet to get over that way for the big cranberry festival. Fresh cranberries are wonderful; we have them every year for Thanksgiving.
Yes, it is beautiful. I believe the big cranberry festival is in Warren, near Tomah.
What a fun little stop, so I guess they flood the fields to make the berries float to the top to be harvested, that would be fun to watch. I’m not a cranberry fan but they sure are pretty! Love the last photo, beautiful farmscape 🙂
Yes, as I understand the process, that’s it. I don’t like plain cranberries either. But I like them in juice, wine, muffins, desserts…
I want some of that cranberry wine!
There’s a bottle of cranberry wine in my fridge, purchased in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Cranberry wine! Yum! 😀
Here, here.
Wow! I didn’t know that cranberries were grown in Wisconsin!!! I am orginally from New England and in Massachusetts cranberry bogs are a huge business!
How fun to buy them by the bagful! So jealous! LOL
Thanksgiving to a Yankee is not Thanksgiving, without the cranberries…no matter where we end up living!!!!!!
Brings back all those memories from my childhood. First we would go and get our fresh turkey and then the cranberries! 😀
The photos are wonderful! Thank you for sharing Audrey!
OK, then, I did not know cranberries grow in Massachusetts. We’re both learning something today.
My son, BTW, moved to Medford, Massachusetts, in August where he attends Tufts University. Are you originally from Massachusetts? (I don’t think I’m ever going to learn how to spell the name of that state.)
No…neighbors! I was born and raised in Rhode Island! I grew up on Narragansett Bay! 😀
The Algonquin and Wamponaug tribes gave many of the names to MA, foods, roads and beaches in this area…they were the first to greet my ancestors. They never would have survived without them. You would enjoy the history of the area.
I am 14th generation American. Congregationalist.
I know he will enjoy living in this beautful part of the country! Tufts is a great school! I know he loves Boston! Cobblestone streets, historical cemetaries and beautiful historic architecture! Great seafood!!!! I miss that especially! 🙂
I truly miss the saltwater and air…nor’easters blowing in and the sound of the halyards clanging and the fog horns…sigh… 😀
You will love to visit!!! If you haven’t already!
Here’s a famous epitaph you will find on one or many of the old slate tombstones!
“Think of me as you pass by,
As you are now…so once was I.
As I am now, so you must be…
Prepare in life to follow me.”
I used to love to take etchings from the old stones. Fascinating history!
I am learning so much from you. What a wonderful epitaph.
Yes, the son has already asked when we are coming out to visit. We sent him off on a plane to start his studies at Tufts. Cheaper than hauling him and his belongings out there. He loves Tufts thus far and we’re grateful for that. It’s difficult to gain admission to Tufts and we are most thankful for the outstanding financial aid making it possible for him to study at this respected university. I miss him, though. We’ll next see him at Christmas. Just too costly to be flying back to Minnesota for Thanksgiving.
Have fun traveling to New England Audrey! It is best to go in the spring or fall when everything is beautiful! Summers are wonderful too! I sure would love to lie on a sandy beach and eat clam cakes and chowda! LOL Tufts is a top notch school! 😀
I love that you mentioned “chowda,” because that was on the menu at Tufts early on. I know that only because I read somewhere that Tufts serves some of the best food on a college campus. From what my son tells me, they are fed some foods you typically would not expect at a university, such as lamb.
I’ll keep those time frames in mind should we decide to travel East. I think fall would be my top choice given how much I love this season.
😀
By the way…when my Dad was a teen, he would hitchhike to the bogs for work in the summer! He said it was a time when everyone had holes in their jeans…before it became fashionable! 😉 He also worked on his uncles dairy farm! He said that it was nice and warm and he didn’t mind it at all! 😀
You are hilarious. Holes in the jeans before that became fashionable.
What type of work did your dad do in the bogs?
Picked cranberries Picked them in 6 quart pails! He is 92! 😉 They grow on vines. Not in water like you see on tv! Will have to tap his memory some more! 🙂 He worked hard as a young boy. Joined the navy when he was 17 years old. Retired stockbroker today! Life has interesting twists and turns!
“The name “cranberry” derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, “craneberry”, so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. European settlers adopted the Native American uses for the fruit and found the berry a valuable bartering tool.”
(When we were kids we tried to make pemmican! LOL I would like to try it again!)
American whalers and mariners carried cranberries on their voyages to prevent scurvy!!!!
I love anything with cranberries!
This is great, to hear all these details from you about cranberries.
It does sound like your dad was one hardworking man (boy).
He sure was! He instilled this in all his children! All seven of us! 😉
When we were young and went to visit Rodney, Barb and Deb F. they took us out on a cranberry bog. Very squishy under foot. It was a long time ago so you must have forgotten.
Either I forgot or I wasn’t with; sometimes I didn’t get to go along as someone had to stay home and do chores.
Great Captures! There are 3 things I would love to learn more about and 1) how cranberries are grown and processed, 2) that same with rice and 3) how to make cheese. Happy Thursday:)
It sounds like you need to travel to Wisconsin to learn more about cranberries and about cheese-making. And rice, if you’re referencing wild rice, would be northern Minnesota.
I should check if Ocean Spray gives tours of the processing plant near Tomah.
What a great post! I didn’t even know that they grew cranberries in WI. Very interesting!
We are all learning, aren’t we? So much educational info in the comments.
Great post which thought to me that cranberries can be cultivated also. I never thought it.
We’re all learning…
I love that area! What a beautiful post!
Thank you. Yes, a beautiful area which I need to explore even more by turning off the highway.
when will you stop selling cranberries for this year?
Betty, I’m sorry. I can’t answer that question for the North Tomah Cranberry Co.
Are you coming to the St. Paul Farmers Market with your cranberries this year?
Lloyd, you’ll need to contact the grower directly as I just visited the farm, wrote about it and cannot answer your question.
Will you be coming to St. Paul Farmers market this year sometime? Look so forward to getting the largest bag of fresh cranberries you have.
Thank you
Judith, I can’t answer your question as I just wrote this story. You may want to contact this cranberry farm.
Still available cranberries to buy
Hi, I’m in St Pete FL and just bought bought cranberries at Publix supermarket, a huge company. Some were Ocean Spray which told me nothing about where they were grown but some bags were from Tomah, WI. My Dad is from Wis Rapids, I grad from Eau Claire and it felt so good to see the word Tomah WI on the bag. I never knew cranberries were from WI. and it is really a treat to see these photos. Now I am going to look at a map and see where Tomah is. The cranberries even on Dec 11, 2020 are still good and I am going to freeze many bags of these after i pick them over. I’ve been in FL for 50 years but WI still feels like home.
Thank you, Donna, for taking the time to share your Wisconsin cranberry story all the way from Florida. Tomah is located along I-90/94 in western Wisconsin.
Does Tomah Cranberry
Farm have fresh cranberries to purchase now?
Gale, I’m sorry but I can’t answer your question. I wrote this post many years ago. You would need to reach out to the farm directly.
Hi, We hoped to buy cranberries from you today. We are headed to Cashton. On our way back, do you have any cranberries? 3 five pound bags?
Carol Bezin
Carol, I am NOT the owner of the cranberry farm. I am a writer and photographer who visited this farm many years ago, then blogged about it. I suggest phoning the business to get answers to your questions.