Video Lesson 04: Cranberry Harvest

This post is about my second favorite fruit after the blueberry, the cranberry. This fruit has been gaining in popularity in France these last few years. For the most part, the fruit is little known here that even its true French name, le canneberge, appears to have been taken over with its English name. This is a seasonal fruit that is harvested in the fall just in time to grace Thanksgiving and Christmas tables in the United States. Found in sauces, relishes and salads, this fruit is a traditional side dish on the American holiday table. It is also used in all sorts of desserts from muffins, sorbets, cakes and cookies. This very tangy fruit is also hailed for its health benefits. Cranberry juice has been shown to have elements that help prevent tooth decay and the formation of kidney stones. The juice is also effective agains bacterial infections in the urinary system. The fruit is under active research to study its possible benefits to the cardiovascular and immune systems as well as its anti-cancer benefits. In this post, you will watch a video on the harvesting of cranberries in Nantucket, Massachusettes. Due to the length of the video, there won't be any comprehension questions, just vocabulary to help you better understand what is being described.

VOCABULARY (for every 2 minutes) PART 1 00 :01 – 02 :00 Mother Nature – Dame Nature a crop – une récolte barrel – baril average – moyen, -nne market price – prix du marché to work or break even – rentrer dans ses frais to run - diriger bog – tourbière vine – vigne, arbrisseau mainland – territoire continentale swamp – marécage level – plat dig (preterit ‘dub’) – creuser ditch – fossé to level off – aplanir whaler - baleinier scurvy – scorbut PART 2 02:00 – 04:00 berry – baie ripe – mûr to pick – cueillir to ripen – mûrir to flood – inonder to knock off – faire tomber to float – flotter boom – barrage flottant to corral – enfermer dans un corral, attraper, rassembler to suck – aspirer to ship out – expédier schedule - horaire to work out - résoudre good rapport – bons rapports goal – but dumped - déchargé PART 3 04:00 – 06:00 peat – tourbe peat moss – sphaigne to be 2 feet thick – faire 2 pieds d’épaisseur madmade – artificial sponge – éponge moisture – humidité health benefits – bon pour la santé to screen – filtrer trash – déchets weed seeds – graines des mauvaises herbes to germinate – germer PART 4 06 :00 – 07 :02 fertilizer – engrais wild cranberries – des canneberges sauvages to turn into – transformer involved – impliqué to keep going – faire continuer to be a ball – être amusant (idiomatique)