BARNSTABLE – The cranberry is the state’s largest cash crop and residents and visitors can get a history lesson of the fruit’s presence on Cape Cod.
Local cranberry grower Dawn Gates-Allen will detail the history of the cranberry industry on the Cape on Monday as part of the Tales of Cape Cod series at the Olde Colonial Courthouse in Barnstable Village at 7 p.m.
Gates-Allen is a 4th generation grower and works for the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, which is one of the nation’s oldest farming organizations.
The association works to ensure the industry survives urbanization and that vital open space and clean water will be preserved.
Gates-Allen has also been involved with the development of an online curriculum geared towards grades 3 through 5.
The curriculum includes an interactive section that allows students to become virtual cranberry growers.
She has presented the curriculum to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. and it is being used in Massachusetts and across the nation.
Gates Cranberry, based in Middleboro, currently operates 102 acres of cranberry bogs.
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