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LT: Well, when you worked, when you lived in Auburn, and your family had the strawberry farm, you had a responsibility. Can you talk about how old you were and what your responsibility was?

MN: Well, we lived in Auburn from the time I was six years old until I was twelve. So I just did whatever I needed to do. We had a strawberry stand where the pickers would bring in the strawberries and I'd sell them, then took care of the house afterwards, did the cooking and stuff, helped Mom.

LT: I'm trying to imagine a six-year-old taking on all those roles.

MN: Well, I was probably older than that by the time I was selling.

LT: So what did it involve to be at the strawberry stand? Can you tell us what you were selling and how the strawberries were packaged and how much they cost and what you did?

MN: I can't remember too much, I just, they bring in the crates all filled up with the boxes and people would come from town and buy the crates, and I'd just sell 'em.

LT: How much did they cost?

MN: I don't know. It was pretty cheap.

LT: Okay. And about how many did you sell a day?

MN: I don't know that either. I didn't keep track.

LT: Okay. So then after you spent time at the strawberry stand, you went home and you started dinner for your family.

MN: Yeah, whatever, like making rice and stuff like that.

LT: Well, at that time, you didn't have a rice cooker. So what kinds of things did you do to prepare the rice?

MN: We had to wash it and measure it and put it on the stove.

LT: And then your mother came home and helped you finish up?

MN: I guess. She must have made the okazu.

LT: And what is okazu?

MN: It's a dish that is full of everything, meat and vegetables and things.

LT: When you were in first grade and you moved to Auburn, you moved into a new home for your family, the Neely Mansion. Can you tell us what it looked like?

MN: It was a big, two-story house, white house, and it was surrounded by cherry trees and apple trees.

LT: Okay. And it is now known as a historic home in the Auburn area. What about inside? How many rooms and what were they like?

MN: There was four rooms on the bottom and four rooms upstairs, and all us kids slept upstairs.

LT: And were there fireplaces?

MN: Yeah, each room had a fireplace. It was built in the middle of the four rooms, on both sides, and we didn't use it very much, it's just there.

LT: And your father also built something outside.

MN: Well, we didn't have a bathtub, so he built what they call a furo bath. And they had one room for a washing machine, and then there's a room for the toilet, it's automatic, and then the bath. We had to burn underneath the bath to get the water hot.

LT: So can you help us to understand what it is like to use a furoba at the end of the day? How do you take a bath using a furoba?

MN: Well, we have to wash ourselves right beside the bathtub, clean us all up before we got in there, and then we just soaked in there and came out.

LT: So how many people could soak in there at one time?

MN: Well, I think us kids, four of us could have gone in, the younger ones. And then I guess, I don't know, maybe my dad's brothers and things, if they were there, they probably... my uncle and my dad. I don't remember too much about using the bath, though. We just took a bath every night.

LT: Okay, sounds like an interesting experience. And so the Neely Mansion is now a historic home in Auburn, and there is a Neely Mansion Society, and I understand that they are also working to keep the furoba, and it's called...

MN: The Hori Furoba.

LT: The Hori, okay.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.