<Begin Segment 22>

TI: And so after Japan, you come back to Ontario.

YS: I stayed up at Bainbridge a little bit, and then I came back.

TI: Okay. And during that time, how did the family, your brother's farm and everything, did that all get kind of back to normal?

YS: Yeah, well, see, the oldest brother stayed there, and then other brothers, one went to post office, another one was farming in Kent. They passed away.

TI: And the Kent farmer, was that strawberries also?

YS: Yeah, he had strawberries, too. And then the one worked for the post office.

TI: And then you came over here.

YS: Yeah, I came back here, and so I've been here...

TI: Ever since?

YS: Ever since.

TI: So that's from, like, 1950?

YS: I came back from the service in '48.

TI: So that's sixty-five years or something. And so you met your wife here?

YS: Here.

TI: Now your wife, did she grow up in this area, or did she...

YS: No, she was from Yakima, Toppenish area, I think, Toppenish.

TI: So how did she get to Ontario?

YS: Because they got, from Heart Mountain, they come out here.

TI: And what's your, your wife's name is?

YS: Joan.

TI: Joan? And what was her maiden name?

YS: Hirano, H-I-R-A-N-O.

TI: And she was from Toppenish?

YS: Yeah.

TI: Yeah, so a lot of people from that area went to Heart Mountain from Yakima area.

YS: But she come out here pretty early, I guess. They didn't want to stay there or something, then they come out here.

TI: And so when did you get your own farm? How did that happen?

YS: 1952, I think it was, the year I started farming.

TI: And so tell me about that farm. How big was it?

YS: Well, I just had potatoes and 20, 30 acres, and it was real good that year.

TI: And so when you have a good year, what does that mean? Does that mean you can buy more stuff?

YS: Yeah, you could buy more stuff, buy a pickup or buy a car or whatever.

TI: Did you buy more land, too, or did you just...

YS: No, I just bought a car and stuff.

TI: And so did you keep that same farm all these years?

YS: Yeah.

TI: And so always, like, 20 to 30 acres and doing potatoes?

YS: Yeah, I grew potatoes, and then after that, I started growing onions and corn, beets, oh, twenty years ago, I guess, I must have quit, and my son took over. And, of course, he quit now, too. He's got some hay, but he's working for Simplot.

TI: Now I'm curious, out of, like, ten years, how many of those years would be good years and how many year would be bad years?

YS: [Laughs] Well, you're lucky if every third year might be pretty good. Sometimes it's two years in a row. It just depends on, some other part of the country. If they got failure, then...

TI: Then that's a good year for you if someone else fails?

YS: Yeah.

TI: And a bad year would be when the prices are bad, or they're...

YS: Yeah, or they're just not very good price.

TI: Interesting.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.