How an Ontario cranberry farm takes the ‘plunge’ to stock your Thanksgiving table

// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/YCZXO5ZM3FCV5OVCMYNTWOG6NA.JPG?auth=98ed9d2c1c9910c70f9d761a82c222eb3d0f3da8973ba971e49e31a9591099a5&width=1920&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/TFHTMER2YBA6VEJTBZ6QEBFN7U.JPG?auth=3c3df542ce1a157f1e8e171066f8c15eafa74bf33e3f740a4121bf65cbd80c36&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.video = ""; window.tgam.meta.caption = "Evelyn Delacretaz, 10, took ‘the plunge’ on the first day of cranberry harvesting at Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery in Bala, Ont., a cottage-country community about two hours north of Toronto."; window.tgam.meta.credit = ""; // custom header layout parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = false; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position = "bottom"; // top, centre, bottom window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position = "centre"; // left, centre, right window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = false; window.tgam.meta.two_column = false; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = true; window.tgam.meta.full_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = true; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = "#430a0d"; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = " #6b0b0f"; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = ""; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = true; // custom header display overrides (optional): window.tgam.meta.display_head = "Must love bogs"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "When Thanksgiving draws near, this cranberry farm in Bala, Ont., gets busy as visitors from around the world wade hip-deep into the fruit"; window.tgam.meta.label = "The food we grow"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Reporting and photography by Christopher Katsarov"; window.tgam.meta.byline2 = ""; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "Special to The Globe and Mail"; In Southern Ontario, two weeks before Thanksgiving, autumn leaves have barely begun to turn. But other signs of the season are afoot. At Muskoka Lakes Farm & Winery, one of Ontario’s oldest cranberry farms, it’s the first day of the harvest. Visitors from as far as the Dominican Republic, Texas and New Zealand have come to take part in “the plunge,” wading into a pool of freshly harvested berries – a seasonal ritual.