9 April BSSJ: Collecting At Whitesbog Cranberry Bog

After the BSSJ Air Layering discussion & workshop, several of us journeyed East to Whitesbog, located East of Browns Mills, New Jersey. Our host was Jay Walter Burton, who guided us past many awakening cranberry "bogs", to a prime collecting area.
Several BSSJ members had visited the area last year, and staked out some trees to collect.
We pushed quite a bit deeper into the natural bogs...wild living sphagnum and Blueberry everywhere..tall ceders, wild Oak...and total quiet and peace! How relaxing can it get!
Here is the long road we came in on, probably 1.5 miles from the main road...
We discussed with JW Burton where some nice collectible plants might be found....
The swamps / bogs were like an Easter Egg Hunt (some locals were actually driving all the way back to where we were to ask about some Easter Egg Hunt that was happening somewhere nearby???)...anyway, found some nice old knobby wild Blueberries, probably 40-60 years old:
These are now home and in nursery pots in dappled sun...will see how they pop out over the next few months.

One of our crew REALLY had a good time collecting. Andrew is lucky, as he is the one responsible for washing clothes!
Here is some of the saw mill waste boards that were used to provide solid footing over the more boggy areas:
We left tired and satisfied with our finds. JW was excited we took the initiative to come out and explore. We found that he is a man who enjoys the peace and solitude of the Pine barrens... as do we....thanks JW for a totally relaxing afternoon! I hope we can come back and explore more of your wondeful part of the Universe!

Flex