By Grace Yamamoto

Kawai History

(by Grace Yamamoto)

I decided to add a little more about Dad and Mom and myself.

They were educated and were resourceful and worked hard to make a living and take care of us. Dad could read, write and speak English well enough to conduct the necessary business for his farming days.

Mom utilized all the resources she had to take care of all of her own family. Our meals were nutritious and well planned. She worked in the fields to care for the crops that were sold in the markets. When we grew old enough we all helped with weeding, harvesting and storing.

Beets, lettuce, and cabbage had to be blocked so that the plants were spaced in the rows. We weeded onions all summer with small weeding tools. George and Bill sprayed each individual cabbage plant up and down the rows for most of the summer by carrying spray tanks on their shoulders. Celery was planted by hand in the rows with plants grown in small greenhouses on the ground with glass covers, which were moved on and off to keep the plants warm, but not burned by the heat produced by the sun. Celery was lifted from the rows and stored in trenches in a field close to home. The trench was covered to keep the stalks from freezing during the winter. They were removed as needed and washed in a trough of water to clean them for their trip to market.

Lettuce was sold as they matured. Mom cut many heads off with a large knife and we filled bushel baskets to transport to Dad, who packed them in crates to take to grocery stores. When he was old enough, Bill helped with the cutting. Cabbage heads were also harvested by cutting each mature head and storing them in the cellar.

The cellar was a large structure and was the type used by many farmers for winter storage for potatoes also.

In late spring we would get up very early and pick strawberries.

These also were taken to market on the day they were picked.

During the summer and fall we had abundant amounts of vegetables and fruits for our consumption as well as for selling.

Dad grew wonderful cantaloupes. He saved seeds from the sweetest each year. They were delicious—I truly miss those melons.

When winter was over one of our first greens was the early spring dandelions. Mom used to pick and boil them much like spinach, and put dressing on them. Dad and Mom had a love for flowers. I learned names of flowers and how to grow them from my parents. We had flower gardens near the house along with vegetables.

Marti remembers following Grandpa around and learning how to plant and care for flowers. He used to grow beautiful begonias.

When George and Bill returned from the service we moved to an old two story house on Addison Ave., closer to Twin Falls town. They farmed larger farms, primarily for J. P. Marshall.

I left for Idaho State College in Sept. 1946. I arrived on campus on my 18th birthday. The male population on campus was 60 to 70% veterans of World War II. They were attending college on the GI Bill. I felt somewhat intimidated because I looked like some of their

“enemies” during the war. However, every veteran I got acquainted with was kind and caring to me. They were quite a few years older and became very good friends. They were protective and treated me like a little sister. Tough competition in classes, though. I met quite a few wonderful people in the dining hall, because we had assigned tables of 12 people each and rotated periodically. A good way to meet new people. I worked in the Blue Room in the Student Union building—a coffee shop—at first and met more people. Later I was hired by the college library and spent all the rest of the college years there. It paid enough for me to go home on the bus and other perks at school. In my junior and senior years there was a veteran who had a new Studebaker sedan, so 4 or 5 of my friends including me paid $2.00 each round trip and rode home. His family lived in Hammet, so he would take me as far as Boise and George and Bill came after me there.

Junji was in the Vocational school at ISU and in 1950 he looked me up in the College Library. We graduated that year. Dad and Mom were in Japan visiting relatives that they had not seen since coming to

America. Dad’s parents were gone, but he did see some of his brothers and his younger sister. Mom was able to visit with her mother, who lived for some years after that time. George and Bill came to my graduation and met Junji for the first time.

I was hired as a social worker for the Dept. of Public Assistance and began work in July of 1950. I resigned in October of 1951. Junji and I were married in March and I helped sort potatoes with Junji’s family through the winter. His parents had a small 1 bedroom house in town and we lived there for several years. It was a good place because there was a neighborhood grocery store, etc. and he attended ISU for a few years and worked for his dad. His folks moved to California to retire and manage an apartment complex of six or eight units that he bought.

We farmed the old homestead for one year until it sold. Brother Frank and family moved from the farm and went to L. A. area, also.

The winter that the farm was sold we moved all the equipment, etc. to Homedale, Idaho. We farmed one more year on an 80 acres that we leased, then Frank moved back and wanted to farm, so Junji acquired a

Real Estate license and eventually bought a small Insurance Agency from a wonderful man who was retiring.

We moved to Caldwell in 1958. Idaho had a teacher shortage and I had the opportunity to teach in Middleton, Idaho in 1962 and taught there for nearly 30 years and retired in 1992.

Junji sold his agency and is now working part time as an

Independent Adjuster for 2 or three companies. He adjusts farm crops that are damaged by weather or drought. It is part time and mostly seasonal and keeps him occupied and also brings in spending money.

I’m staying as lazy as I can, but still do some canning and gardening. Quite a bit of reading—if only I could retain more of it. Grace