Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Mary Hamano Interview
Narrator: Mary Hamano
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: May 14, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-hmary_2-01-0018

<Begin Segment 18>

MH: And since there were so many people that were farmers, that were sent to camp, they gathered all the people that were experienced with farming. So there was a place down there where they can have a mess hall, and eat there, and work at the same time. So they raised eggs, chickens, and have eggs. And we had pigs to eat at all the other stuff, whatever. And eventually, the farm started. And when harvesting time come, they recruited all the young people who wanted to do the harvesting for the crop that we could have to eat. And I volunteered one time, and it was an onion patch. And I've never done any farming. So had no idea what we were supposed to do. So I went along and there was another young lady there. Evidently, she might have been a farmer's daughter, I don't know, but she was pretty well experienced, 'cause I didn't know what to do. And she would, there's a gunny sack and we'd just put all the onions in the gunny sack and then we stack it up and somebody comes and sews it up. That was alright, but I'd never done anything like that. Squatting on the ground and back-breaking job. [Laughs] The next morning I was sore all over, I just couldn't believe that. I ached so much that I couldn't tell my parents that I ached a lot. And you know, being a young girl, it sounded ridiculous to say that I act like an old person, you know. And I kept it quiet. And then the next day, we went out in the field again, and they took us to the daikon place, where all the daikons were. And there were big daikons. You could see the heads that big. And, but they didn't have any tools.

MA: Any tools to... okay.

MH: Pitchfork or anything to loosen the dirt up. And the dirt over there is very heavy and it's got a lot of clay in it, I think. And when it dries, it's really hard and is hard to loosen up. So you need a pitchfork or something, a shovel. They didn't have nothing ready for us. So that, then they took us to another area where there was celery. And the celery also, they didn't have the tool. There were, we were, they had a trench made. We were supposed to dig up and put it in this trench and then cover it and sweeten the celery up for later on to use. But they didn't have any tools.

MA: So how did you end up harvesting the daikon and celery?

MH: We never had any, we couldn't do anything right away. So we just ate lunch and came home. And then, and then also they had harvesting, potato harvestings and beet harvesting. They were out of the area. They came to recruit young people and different farmers out of the district there, where there was a place called Holly. And there was a place called Olney Springs, Crowley. They were neighboring cities, little cities in the Rocky Ford area where there was beet sugar topping had to be done. So a lot of young men went to work there. And I assumed they got paid for little whatever they did. Eventually I got a job in the mess hall. First thing they said, we need people to work in the kitchen and do things like that. So we signed up and I became, I waited on table and my brother worked in the kitchen, as a cook. He never cooked before, but he, but cook's helper, I guess they call it. And the cooking was all done by coal stoves, so it was very hot in the summer. And rice cooking was very difficult, because they had to steam rice instead of cooking it right on the stove. So when they were able to get rice, it was very, very good in a lot of ways. But we ate a lot of potatoes and a lot of fish early, but then eventually, the rice start coming and we had a better choice of food. Then the farm start bringing their veggies from below.

MA: So how did your, how did your parents occupy their time at Amache?

MH: Well, my dad was a shoe repair. So they had a, I have a book there. Had a co-op, but they had a co-op. And they had a shop there. There was a barber shop, shoe repair, tailor, and a dry goods stuff. And they had, they had other things, too. And it wasn't, it became very easy to do shopping because you can buy your own thing without going out to Granada. Because when you hear about it, it's, everything's gone by the time you go anyways. So eventually, they had what you call a co-op store there where you can, like a canteen, you can buy anything, whatever was available there. Shoes, you could buy shoes and clothing, magazines, and things like that.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.