<Begin Segment 9>

TI: You mentioned that, how you used to work out in the fields with your older brother Mike and your, I guess your mother. Describe that. What kind of field work did you do?

MY: Well, everything that was done out in the field was by hand, you know. So you had the hoe, the fork, or the shovel. And then we had some blackberries out there, so that meant pruning them and putting them up on a trellis. So...

TI: Now, were these crops primarily for the family or were these for...

MY: Well, it was for the cannery. So it was only probably three acres or something like that, but you know, it was all hand-done. So it was a time-consuming job. Like I tell the kids, I says, "Well," I said, "you know nowadays you go out and buy a head of cauliflower, very pretty and nice and everything," and I said, back in those days, they would plant the cauliflower and then they would have a piece of tarpaper, about maybe two inch square or four inch square. And it would have a hole in the middle and it would have a cut in here to put it around the stem of the cauliflower. And then you had to go around putting lime, I think it was. You didn't want to touch that, it's hard on your skin. And they took a teaspoon and spread that around each plant. Can you imagine?

TI: And that was to prevent, what, slugs and things?

MY: Bugs.

TI: Bugs to get on there? And then the tarpaper was to keep it nice and white?

MY: Well, the tarpaper would hold the lime, and that would keep the bugs off of the plant.

TI: I see. And that had to be done with each one?

MY: Uh-huh, we had to do that with each one. And it was cauliflower, and they had to go around and, I don't know how long after they planted, but they have to go down through each row to see if there's any sign of a bug in there. And so then when you see a bug, then you break the leaf over, break it so that it covers that. And that retained the whiteness of the cauliflower.

TI: I didn't realize that that took so much work.

MY: Yeah. You know, you don't realize it until you start studying and hashing it out, or somebody asks you a question. I don't know.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.