Why are these farmers standing in that pink water? Well, that’s how cranberries are harvested! Cranberry vines grow in very wet fields called bogs. Most of the time the ground is just really soggy, but in late fall when it’s time to harvest the berries, the farmers flood the bogs with water. That makes the loose cranberries float to the top until they’re scooped up. Fresh cranberries have to be “dry-picked,” but cranberry juice and sauce use berries that went for a swim first!
Wee ones: If you have 8 berries in your left hand and 9 in your right hand, which one is holding fewer?
Little kids: If you eat 5 fresh, very sour cranberries and 5 yummier dried ones, how many berries do you eat in total? Bonus: If the cranberry vines are 24 inches tall and the farm floods the bog to 6 inches above that, how deep will the water be?
Big kids: If you stood in 2-foot-deep water to help harvest berries, how much of your body would stick out above the water? (Reminder: One foot has 12 inches.) Bonus: If a farm runs 7 bogs and each bog has 6 million cranberries floating around, how many millions of berries will they harvest?
The sky’s the limit: Packagers buy cranberries by the barrel, which holds 100 pounds of berries. If someone sells you 3 barrels and you eat 1/2 the berries yourself, then your friend eats 1/3 of what you left…what fraction of the starting amount is left in the end?
Answers:
Wee ones: Your left hand has fewer.
Little kids: 10 cranberries. Bonus: 30 inches.
Big kids: Different for everyone: subtract 24 from your height in inches. Bonus: 42 million cranberries.
The sky’s the limit: 1/3 of the original 300 pounds. If you eat 1/2, that leaves 150 pounds; if your friend eats 1/3 of that, that’s 50 more pounds taken away, leaving 100 pounds.
