Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Yoshimitsu Suyematsu Interview
Narrator: Yoshimitsu Suyematsu
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Ontario, Oregon
Date: April 22, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-syoshimitsu-01-0003

<Begin Segment 3>

TI: Okay, we'll get to that later, but I'm curious, so when you have a strawberry farm, tell me what kind of chores you had to do for a strawberry farm.

YS: Well, see, when they cleared it and then they went, go to plant it, all the Japanese come out there and they work together, see. So you kind of, when, the ground, you mark it out and you mark it sideways, and then the older guys come with, well, we call it pipi, they pipi it and then they plant strawberries. The ladies, they'd go along to each hole and put the plant in, and then the younger ones put the, what they call nye...

TI: The fertilizer?

YS: Yeah, we put fertilizer. But they put the nye, the strawberry plant out, and then each lady puts 'em in the hole with a wooden thing, they plant it so far apart. But you go ahead and mark those all out. And then, like I said, the person come along with a pipi, and that mark, and they put a hole there. Then they put the, younger guys put the plants out way ahead of time. Then the ladies come along and put 'em in the hole and push the dirt and plant it.

TI: And how many people would be working together?

YS: Oh, probably... twenty or thirty people, probably.

TI: So whenever a farmer was planting, everyone would just come to help?

YS: Yeah. They'd tell you they're gonna plant such and such a day, and most of 'em that's free go and helps them. That's the way they got started, I guess, was the idea. Because I know, we were younger, we put the plants out or whatever you do. If you're older you go along with the marker and mark that. Because the owner usually goes and marks it down the row, they you come along with a site marker and mark it, and then like I say, the person comes along with pipis and they punch holes. But that's the way they started.

TI: And how long would that take?

YS: Oh, probably go for the day. Usually, sometimes if there's more, I guess they go a little longer. But usually it's for the day.

TI: And so twenty people, how much could they plant?

YS: Oh, probably... they plant quite a bit.

TI: Like over an acre?

YS: Oh, yeah. Because there are probably twenty, thirty people. I imagine there was twenty or thirty, I think.

TI: And then at the end of the day, what would happen?

YS: Well, that's what I mean. You feed 'em at noontime, and then I forget if every evening you feed 'em again or what. That was their way of thanking you, I guess, is to feed 'em.

TI: Now on Bainbridge Island there was also a Filipino community that were, like, workers. Were they part of this also, or was it just Japanese?

YS: No, mostly Japanese. The Filipinos worked for the Japanese.

TI: That's interesting. No one's described this to me. This is interesting how they did it. Now, a strawberry plant, how long would a strawberry plant last?

YS: Oh, probably three years or maybe four, sometimes four years. Just depends on how good it is. But it's mostly about three years. I think your second year is usually the best.

TI: Okay. So it sounds like, so you're constantly... so first you have to clear the land and then you have to prepare the land, then you plant. You have then a couple years, two or three years, and then you have to kind of re-plow.

YS: Yeah, got to work and do something else with it. We had vine berries, too, and peas, we used to raise peas.

TI: So would they have to rotate the crops?

YS: Yeah, yeah, they kind of rotated the crops.

TI: And then for the harvest time, with all the strawberries, what would happen?

YS: They'd get Indians from Canada and bring 'em in. Well, that's quite a deal, too.

TI: Now why would they go all the way to Canada?

YS: Well, that's the only place they could get 'em, I guess.

TI: Now how about, so when I was a kid in Seattle, in the summertime, they would have buses that would come into the city and pick up all the kids, and then we'd go strawberry picking and we'd pick all day.

YS: Auburn or something like that?

TI: Yeah, up, like, Fall City.

YS: Yeah, Fall City or Kent.

TI: So that was common. I think some people went to Bainbridge Island, too.

YS: Yeah, I imagine they did. But that's what we used to use, mostly Indians and Filipinos. But that's quite a deal because you have to get 'em, ship 'em money, and if they don't come, you lose out.

TI: And then when you pick the berries, where did the berries go?

YS: We usually took 'em to cannery in Winslow, and they run it. Then some of it, if it goes to market, it used to go on a scow, you know, you just slide it down on a scow and the tugboat would take 'em. Because there was no vehicle for those ferries back them days. It was just a passenger boat.

TI: Oh, I didn't know that. So no cars.

YS: No cars 'til I forget what year it was, then we got ferries. Then after that, you could haul your berries to Seattle. But up to there, it was all, like I say, scows.

TI: And they would, like, go to Seattle to the farmer's market?

YS: Yeah, yeah, something like that.

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