<Begin Segment 11>

Off camera: My only other question is, do you guys know how famous the Delta asparagus were? Do you guys know how famous they were? They were just, this area is known for, so it became famous for its asparagus.

GH: Well, Knott's Berry used to be all asparagus.

Off camera: Yeah, it became famous for its asparagus.

JS: So Clarksburg, but also Isleton, Walnut Grove...

SH: Whole delta.

Off camera: The whole delta, asparagus was --

GH: And then lately, lately they've been having festival in Stockton.

Off camera: Yeah.

GH: 'Cause they have a lot of asparagus in Stockton there.

Off camera: But my question is, did any of the Japanese farmers become known for growing a certain kind of asparagus, or it was just, you talked about white asparagus, but in some of the Japanese, some of the Japanese farmers you speak to, they kind of would grow some variety or some way to kind of have a bit of an advantage.

GH: Yeah, green asparagus, that's, you had a crew and we packed it, and then we'd pack it and put it in crates, and that's how we'd ship it to the market.

Off camera: Sure, sure, but was there any kind of special --

SH: Special kind? No, probably --

GH: No asparagus is just white and green.

Off camera: Sure, yeah, but maybe you grew it thinner or fatter or... you know, however, however...

DG: More tender.

GH: No, we only grow white and green.

Off camera: White and green.

SH: But now you see a lot of just like chopstick kind, so that must be a variety too.

Off camera: And those ones back then were the, really the...

SH: Big fat ones.

Off camera: Big fat ones.

SH: Yeah. Juicy ones.

GH: Do you know that in Clarksburg used to be all asparagus, but it's all gone.

DG: Not there anymore.

GH: Mostly used to be, until about four or five years ago, used to be tomatoes.

JS: When did it switch to tomatoes?

DG: After the war, according to Wayne Maeda.

JS: Yeah, to --

GH: Tomato, you grow it every year, same crop, same roots or... some of 'em root for twenty years, same crop year after year.

DG: Tomato?

GH: No, asparagus. Tomato, every year you put the new crop.

SH: Yeah, tomato became popular after the war, I think.

DG: That's what Wayne Maeda says.

GH: We grew quite a bit of tomatoes after the war.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.