The following article written by Laura Sorkin appeared in the Friday, November 20, 2009 Edition of The Burlington Free Press - At the end of this article, you will find a link to my visit with Bob back in 2006, along with some photos I took:Fletcher farmer finds cranberry niche
Lesnikoski runs Vermont Cranberry Co.
By Laura Sorkin
Free Press Correspondent
FLETCHER — Every farmer eventually gets around to finding his or her niche crop. Even for those of us who grow diversified crops, there is a particular fruit or vegetable that will do really well in our location and is the one we want to be known for.
Bob Lesnikoski set out in 1997 to give cranberries a try, and his operation has been such a success that today he is referred to by all as "Cranberry Bob."
Lesnikoski picked a good niche because, as it turns out, growing cranberries requires specialized equipment and manipulating your soil into a condition that few other crops would appreciate. In other words, you can't just decide to throw cranberries into your crop rotation between broccoli and corn. It is all or nothing with cranberries, and Lesnikoski has gone for it all.
The Vermont Cranberry Co. in Fletcher consists of three beds that comprise a total of 2.5 acres of cranberries, each a different variety to space out the harvest season. Lesnikoski runs the operation with help from his wife, Betsy, and their 21-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son. The youngest son, 16, is the juice pressmaster and lead cranberry dryer.
I visited the farm in mid-October when the harvest was well under way. I was impressed by the neat, perfectly rectangular beds full of dark green plants loaded with berries. Cranberries are native to North America and typically can be found growing in highly acidic, boggy areas. To mimic these conditions, Lesnikoski trucks in sand from East Fairfield and levels it absolutely flat. He then builds low berms around the edges so he can flood them evenly later in the season.
Though flooding is part of his growing process, the majority of his berries are harvested from dry fields. Despite the lore and imagery of Nantucket growers wading waist-deep in water, berries harvested from flooded fields can only be used for juice and will not keep well as whole, dry berries. Once the harvester has been over the entire area, then he will flood the fields, letting the remaining berries float to the surface, where they will be gathered and stored for juice. The water will be released after the second harvest, but he will flood the fields again in winter to protect the plants from cold damage.
Lesnikoski invited me into the bog where his 1970 Darlington Harvester had already raked the cranberries into a catch bin. Though the harvester had already been over the area, it typically leaves about 20 percent of the berries behind that pop and squish when you walk on them. I cringed with each fatality, but Lesnikoski walked on saying, "You get used to it."
Lesnikoski is largely a self-taught grower who has learned from trial and error over the years. "Mistakes you make one year, such as with pruning and soil amendments, can have consequences for years to come," he said. Looking around at the weed-free, healthy plants, I could surmise he had the process down pretty well.
The Vermont Cranberry Co. produces a few value-added products you might have been lucky enough to come across. They make three sauces: cranberry barbecue, cranberry horseradish and cranberry jam. They also produced about 2,500 pounds of maple sweetened, dried cranberries last year, the demand for which is explosive. Lastly, they press what he calls "single strength" or pure cranberry juice that he has sold to Pennycluse Cafe, Pete's Eats and Champlain Orchards. The largest percentage (about 30 percent) of his total crop goes to the Boyden Winery for their very popular cranberry wine.
Though he sells out of all of these products and the fresh cranberries every year, Lesnikoski is reluctant to expand much beyond what he is accustomed to handling himself. A year like this one can make a farmer cautious of success. It was a tough season weather-wise with many late spring and early fall frosts and even a touch of hail that left minute dents on some of the fruit.
Still, when I caught up with him he had just hand-sorted and delivered 85 crates to his distributor, and he expects to sell out some time after Thanksgiving. He has plans for construction of one more bed next year but otherwise seems like a man very content with what he has. That's what happens when you find your niche.
Laura Sorkin runs Cave Moose Farm in Cambridge. Have a question about your food or growing issues? E-mail her at
laurasorkin@hotmail.comBack about 3 years ago, I went up and saw Bob at his place of business on The North Road in Fletcher and took a few photos of my own – He gave me a couple bags of cranberries and for the first time in my life we had fresh cranberries for our Thanksgiving dinner – really easy to fix – If you want to see what I put up 3 years ago, click on the following link:
