<Begin Segment 8>

MN: Now, when you have your crop, where did you sell your crops?

DM: The crop was trucked into our, we had a shed, we called it a packing shed. They were brought into the shed, and my mother and father would pack the product into the crates. And the truck will pick up the crates and haul them into the produce market in L.A.

MN: Now how did you get the produce to the produce market?

DM: There were independent truckers that came by every day.

MN: So you didn't truck it yourself?

DM: No.

MN: Now your parents, did they have a separate smaller garden where they had Japanese vegetables?

DM: We grew our own vegetables, which consisted mostly of our meals. So I grew up with daikon and nappa and cucumber and things like that.

MN: How did your mother prepare the nappa and daikon?

DM: I remember nappa, she would cook 'em with a can of mackerel or sardine. And daikon was made into tsukemono. That's about what consisted of our meals.

MN: When your mother made the tsukemono, was it salt or did she use nuka?

DM: Both. I remember we had a container dug into the ground where she would soak 'em with heavy weight on top.

MN: Did she always have to change, or mix nuka every day?

DM: Yeah, I remember she mixed them up occasionally.

MN: Did you have chickens on your farm?

DM: We had chickens which we ate. I remember how my dad used to kill the chicken by grabbing his neck, and corralling it so the neck would twist off. It was soaked in hot water, and my mother's job to feather 'em. That's how we ate our chicken.

MN: How often did you eat your chickens?

DM: Couple times a week, I think.

MN: What about perishable foods like tofu or konnyaku?

DM: In town, there was a Japanese grocery store, and in the back, there was a man that ran the fish market where he sold tofu. So I remember buying the tofu and fish and age from that department.

MN: Do you remember what that store was called?

DM: Yeah, I think it was called Asahi grocery store.

MN: What about the ofuro? Did your father build the ofuro on the farm?

DM: Every farm we had to build our own ofuro, which consisted of a rectangular, galvanized tank, dimensions were around three feet by four. And it was my job to build a fire underneath to heat the water. And that was about a daily chore for me in those days.

MN: Where did you get the firewood?

DM: We collected anything that would burn, like across from our farm was the irrigation ditch, and other side of the irrigation ditch was strictly desert. And we would go there to chop the brushes and bring in to use as firewood.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.