<Begin Segment 9>

DG: Can, could you tell... did people treat you differently? Could you tell... did anything happen that showed you that they were not going to help you?

AS: No, they just... I remember the grange. We wanted to go into the grange. Filipino and Japanese were ousted. Now, that's wrong. So I kinda kept that in my mind. And now that we could join it again, and I just, said, "Are you interested in lettin' me join?" I said, "I'm not going to join." You know, I'm kinda hard-headed, you know what I mean? You don't blame me do you? Hmm?

DG: No, I think that's admirable. When, I think my grandmother was a member, wasn't she?

AS: What?

DG: I think my grandmother was a member of the grange. Was, did my...

AS: I don't know if she was gonna join the grange or not. I remember, I, I looked into it, and... I, I knew the hires up in the grange. And that was one of the names that he turned me in. And I says, "Oh, yes. All the things are driving up here." Get what I mean? So I found out he is still against us. You know, I thought maybe they might change their mind at the end. But there was a lot of people that were on our side, that I mean were good people. I mean, really good. You know, you don't hear about that because there are so... you know what I mean, you hear about all the bad ones but you don't hear about the good ones.

DG: Tell me about what did they do to help you or support you?

AS: Oh, they, they fought us every way they can. Even the... you know, here, after we left, they still was fightin' for us. You know, for, you know what I mean? Other people cared less. You know what I mean, I mean... some of 'em care less. They don't give a damn what happens to you. Are you the third generation?

DG: I'm actually fourth.

AS: You're the fourth?

DG: Because my, my grandma, Shigeko, was born here.

AS: Oh. Your grandmother?

DG: Yeah. Shigeko Kitamoto was my grandmother.

AS: Oh. You should put more of your... you know, Shigeko in there. I mean, she never got a thank-you note or nothin', but she was one of the better farmers, that... you don't know it, do ya? But she is one of the best ones. She started a lotta things that nobody even thought of thinking about. So you gotta be on her side. I mean, I'm not tryin' to, you know... I don't, sure, I'm a farmer all right, sure, but I'm not as good as her. She started a lot of things that I never even thought of thinking.

DG: Where did she learn that? I thought it was from the grange. It was... do you know where she got her ideas?

AS: What?

DG: Where did my grandma get her ideas from?

AS: Oh, well, I don't think she got everything from me. She, we did talk on the phone a lot, you know, I mean, and she learned things that I knew and I learned some things that she knew. So, I mean, well, who started all this raspberry stuff on Bainbridge Island? Nobody had raspberries on Bainbridge Island. You notice that? Well, you probably didn't know it. But I, I know what happened. Henry Maybaum up there, he, he was the biggest raspberry grower up there in Kingston. And he thought a lot of Mrs. Kitamoto because he used to combine their order to ship back east. And he thought a lotta her, because she took care of the whole thing, you know. Frank didn't take care of it, she did it. She made... how do you think I got started?

DG: In raspberries?

AS: Yeah. After she had it for about ten years. Then... I got one of her workers, and I learned a lot from him because he learned it from her. You understand? I mean, he, he did a good job for me on the raspberries. Because he, he did it for Mrs. Kitamoto for many years, learned it all. I, I'm just new at it. I didn't know what was goin' on. He'd, he'd tell me what to do. So I learned it from him. I learned it from that Filipino, and that Filipino learned it from your mother.

DG: And...

AS: She's probably one of the first Christmas tree growers on Bainbridge Island, too. She's... I think I was pretty close, right... even with her or maybe a year behind her. I don't know, I've forgotten now.

DG: She told me it was your idea. You told her she should do Christmas trees.

AS: [Laughs]. Yeah, you should write up on her. I'm, I'm serious.

DG: No, I'd, I'd like to hear more about her and, because she's gone now and I, I was young when she was still farming. And I took for granted how she got there.

AS: I think one of the Narte boys will tell you, too, about a lotta things about her.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.