<Begin Segment 76>

TY: [Jpn.] I see. By the way, did you say that Araki's greenhouse was taken care of by somebody?

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, that's what I heard.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So because they told the person ahead of time, it was vacated when they returned. That's why they returned early.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. On the other hand, your greenhouse was damaged, wasn't it?

MK: [Jpn.] No, the greenhouse was not damaged. It stood there.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Well, but the bulbs... the bulbs were outside.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Every year you have to dig them out and then replant them.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] You sell big ones.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] When they reach the right size. We grow them to sell. After we sell those, we replant the remaining ones and fertilize them to grow bigger the next year.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] But before we could do it, we went to camp. We ordered the fertilizer but just left it there. What purpose...

TY: [Jpn.] It became unusable.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That's right. So the bulbs were not dug out and were left there for four years. So they were damaged.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] They get smaller and smaller. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, you told me that the person who took care of your greenhouse kept chickens there. Chickens.

MK: [Jpn.] What? Oh, yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] No matter what he keeps, what right do I have to complain? We weren't there.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes. What happened to the chickens when he vacated?

MK: [Jpn.] No, when we returned, there was nothing. He cleaned out. Yeah. He cleaned out . So there was nothing.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. Then when you rebuilt the greenhouse...

MK: [Jpn.] No, you don't need to rebuild it even if you weren't there for four years. It's only that there were no crops. We had to redo the soil and everything.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] We had to start from the beginning. It's only inside. Crops.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] What did you grow first?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, cucumbers and tomatoes are really quick.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] You only need to sow seeds and grow plants. Because the greenhouse is warm, they grow fast. They are the quickest.

TY: [Jpn.] They bring cash income right away? I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. To grow flowers, you have to start with small seeds and then transplant them, but we didn't have time to do that. We came back in August. We returned in September, August. August is the time everything is ready to harvest. August. So we couldn't grow anything that year.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then how...

MK: [Jpn.] We couldn't grow, but we checked outside and repaired the greenhouse. We waited during winter and talked about what to grow in spring. So we spent that time preparing. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] We only made preparations and had no time to grow anything.

TY: [Jpn.] It must have been difficult to manage those.

MK: [Jpn.] You know. Nothing for August. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah. By the way, in September of 1947, your sixth child Paul was born, wasn't he?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

<End Segment 76> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.