Densho Digital Archive - Emi Yamamoto Interview (denshovh-yemi-01-0009)

<Begin Segment 9>

MA: So when your father started doing independent farming, where was his land? Was it...

EY: It was on Buena Vista, you know where Buena Vista Ranch, Larkin Valley, where they had the flood this year.

MA: Right.

EY: And then Larkin Valley, and...

MA: And he was doing strawberry farming.

EY: Uh-huh, yes. And he was in sharecropping first. That was by the beach, La Selva Beach right there. And then when we found the, well, there was five growers, five of us farmers got together and leased the big ground. And then we shared the acreage, divided up the acreage. And then they put the well in and all that, and leased the ground to us. So we pay so much an acre, we rented that place.

MA: Oh, so was he part of this group of people, then, who...

EY: Yes, there's a five-family, we did that.

MA: And the five families went in together?

EY: Yes. We all had our own acreage. Somebody had five acres, somebody have three acre or four acre. It was, the whole place was leased. And that's how they did it in those days. All the Japanese people decided to be on their own, and so they leased the ground.

MA: And they did it in groups, it sounds like?

EY: Yes, more or less groups. Well, you have your own acreage divided. And then you put your own berries in. From there, it's individual, but the water, irrigation water and those things have to, all five families have to agree to pay their due, due and everything else. And other expenses that comes out for the farm there where we leased.

MA: I see. So you split some of the costs of, of that?

EY: That, yes. And we did that way 'til the war break out.

MA: And the people working the land, was it mostly families?

EY: Yes.

MA: Did you hire any other workers to help?

EY: Some, if you want... well, main season time, when it's, well, they hire some workers.

MA: And who were the workers that they would hire? Were they Filipino workers or other Japanese?

EY: Other Japanese, uh-huh. But we did mostly ourselves.

MA: Families.

EY: My sisters, you know, when summer vacation comes, I got a, my brothers and my sisters, and they all pitched in.

MA: And when is the main, was the main growing season for strawberries?

EY: Well, the season starts around April, and it lasts 'til a little before... little bit of October. That's six months, mostly.

MA: And what would the family do during that offseason, like in the winter?

EY: Well, there's cleaning up and keep the weeds out. Even if the berries not producing, you have to keep the farm up, clean up all the weeds that come up. And watch for the flood or anything, when we have heavy rain, just to keep up the farm. Because the berries last two years, two to three years, those days.

MA: And then you would have to move.

EY: Yes. Because they didn't have no fumigation. Right now, they have fumigation, they could use the old ground by fumigating and replant it in the same place. But now, those days, you had to go and always find the virgin ground.

MA: When did they start using the fumigation system?

EY: Oh, that starts after the war was over, when they put the plastic tarp to put the gas in, and cover it. You see all the berry fields, that's what they do.