blackberry winter
n.— «It’s only April 9. It’s early and for most crops in the garden things can be replanted.…There may be some delay in when the crop is harvested, and yield may suffer, but freezes at this time of year are not uncommon. In fact we even have a term for it: “blackberry winter.”» —“Arkansas vegetable growers evaluating freeze damage” by Mary F. Hightower Delta Farm Press Apr. 11, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When Kentrell from West Memphis, Arkansas, worked for a granite company, his co-workers who were about to put two pieces of granite together would say I’m going to pull a seam. But why would they use the word pull for the action of pushing...
Old Edward’s sayings or Old Edderd’s sayings are homespun bits of wisdom that were dispensed on the radio show Lum and Abner. The show, which ran from 1931 to 1955, featured the fictional characters of Lum Edwards and Abner Peabody, who...
The phrase was used as the title of Margaret Mead’s memoir, first published in 1972.
there are 3 othwr “winters” that I have heard of. one is dogwood & I do not know the other two. all corespond to planting time & frost warning.
I thought Blackberry Winter was when RIM’s servers went down and you couldn’t get your email anymore 😉
My Grandmother (b. 1870 d. 1955) always spoke of Blackberry Winters when an intense change of season happened out of its normal order in our home of upcountry SC and North GA.