Stranger things have happened in Washington, but this week commuters leaving Washington's Union Station have a good chance of bumping into a bog.
From Monday through Wednesday, Ocean Spray, the cranberry juice cocktail maker, has taken over the front lawn of the train station and created a makeshift cranberry bog, complete with 2,000 fresh berries and overall-clad cranberry farmers.
[READ: Lawmaker Finds Bright Side to Government Shutdown]
Despite the fact that there is indeed a Cranberry Caucus on Capitol Hill, most lawmakers were too bogged down with the shutdown situation to stop and see the cranberries — that's no matter. Ocean Spray co-owner and grower Neva Moore of Tabernacle, N.J., said she was in town to teach, not to lobby. "I'm not here for politics, I'm here just to educate people," she told Whispers. "This misconception that people have is they believe cranberries grow under water and that's not the case."
In reality, Moore explained, cranberries are short shrubs and are harvested by flooding when they are to be used in juices or sauces. Otherwise, cranberries are picked just like their berry brethren. Cranberries are only grown in a handful of states, the closest being New Jersey and Massachusetts. "It's important because there's no cranberry operations down here, so we'll bring it to them because they don't understand it," Moore said.
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| 18-month-old Rachel Salguero reaches for a bog containing 1 ton of Ocean Spray cranberries outside of Union Station Tuesday in Washington, D.C. |
Despite the fact that there is indeed a Cranberry Caucus on Capitol Hill, most lawmakers were too bogged down with the shutdown situation to stop and see the cranberries — that's no matter. Ocean Spray co-owner and grower Neva Moore of Tabernacle, N.J., said she was in town to teach, not to lobby. "I'm not here for politics, I'm here just to educate people," she told Whispers. "This misconception that people have is they believe cranberries grow under water and that's not the case."
