Jim Carson

susan dennis wrote on (July 16, 2004 12:56 PM)

U-pick blackberry farm??? That's hilarious!!! We should use it for terrorists and child molesters and people who honk. I love that.

tedder wrote on (July 16, 2004 1:32 PM)

Why pick fresh berries if you are just going to freeze them?

And why do you spell "picnick" that way? To get around the (false) racist origins of the word?

Director Mitch wrote on (July 16, 2004 3:05 PM)

I always thought "picknick" was French in origin, so this spelling is just a way to boycott the French since Freedom-nick just doesn't sound as good.

Blackberries - are these the same as the ubiquitous Due-berries of Texas? These grew like weeds, are hard to pick, but pretty tasty. Since they were prolific, you would see cars parked along side the road near public areas with people picking them at their leisure.

carson wrote on (July 16, 2004 3:10 PM)

> Why pick fresh berries if you are just going to freeze them?

Lots of reasons:
1. It's fun.
2. Gets the kids out of the house, seeing something different.
3. Berries are $1.20/pound at the farm, $3.29 at Trader Joe's.
4. These are very large blueberries.
5. If I eat all of them, I turn blue, just like that girl in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
6. Quick blog material.

Initially I went in, intent on filling up the bucket with what we could reasonably eat. Each time I turned, I'd see another bunch of very ripe blueberries daring me to pick them. When the bucket was full, I dumped them in another, larger container and went back for more.

suw wrote on (July 17, 2004 7:10 AM)

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

picnic n. & v. 1 an outing or excursion including a packed meal eaten out of doors. 2 any meal eaten out of doors or without preparation, tables, chairs, etc. 3 (usu. with neg.) colloq. something agreeable or easily accomplished etc. (it was no picnic organising the meeting). - v.intr. (picnicked, picnicking) take part in a picnic. picnicker n. picnicky adj. colloq. [French pique-nique, of unknown origin]

It is thusly clear that the spelling 'picnick' is a backform from 'picnicked/picnicking' which has a k (same as panic -> panicked/panicking).

Picnic isn't a racist word at all - two links that explain it better than I can here:

http://www.takeourword.com/Issue032.html#Sez%20You...
http://www.takeourword.com/et_n-p.html#picnic

Debbie wrote on (July 18, 2004 2:34 PM)

The blueberries in the grocery stores here are puny and scuzzy looking. Maybe we'll look into picking some ourselves. Charlotte would love it.

Hans wrote on (July 19, 2004 5:27 PM)

You have reminded me of a book we had when I was a kid (my mom probably still has it somewhere).

If you haven't, get yourself a copy of:

Blueberries for Sal
by Robert McCloskey

carson wrote on (July 20, 2004 8:41 AM)

> Blueberries for Sal

Yes, I've read that one! It's very old and was a Randolph Caldecott honor book. (The award is given to "the most distinguished American picture book for children." Emphasis is on illustrations, which is fine for my kids' ages.)