By Marriah New

Nespelem School; Ms. Sheri Edwards, Teacher

My elder is James Wesley Davis, Sr. He is sixty-seven years old, and he has lived in the Okanogan for forty-three years. He moved up to Oroville, Washington in 1964-1965 to work in the orchards, and work on local ranches. He was born in Page, North Dakota, and his family moved to Ray and International Falls, Minnesota where his mother went into the service of the St. Vincent DePaul’s there so she could care for her family. He entered the air force in 1960. He was in the air force for six years. My grandpa and Dad talked a lot about the different orchards, and different kinds of vegetables available during that time. They asked questions of each other to help me understand that time frame better so I could get answers to my interview questions. Grandpa wore blue overalls, and an over-shirt that was blue and light blue. His hands were tucked in his lap, and his face looked very surprised that I was interviewing him, and interested in his life. He took his time and explained what he could remember from back then in his life.

James ate a lot of fruits from the Okanogan, such as apples, pears, cherries, apricots, and peaches that were grown there. Then they bought the fruits from local orchards for about a $1.50 a box for apples and such. They also purchased their cherries from the people who grew them. They got their apples from Haskel and Burns Packing Company, a local warehouse that kept cold storage apples. They always washed off their apples before eating them to remove the sprays that were used to keep the bugs off the apples while they grew.

My grandpa, my grandma, and their kids ate a lot of vegetables that they planted on their three acres of land. My grandpa allowed others to help roto-till, plant, and harvest the vegetables, herbs, and community garden so their families could have fresh zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, and onions to eat. The family would plant marigold flower plants between each tomato plant to keep the bugs on the flowers instead of the tomatoes. They picked off the potato bugs and used them to fish with. They sold their vegetables in a road-side stand.
They helped raise turkeys and chickens on neighboring farms by feeding them, cleaning their pens, and collecting eggs for sale at twenty-five cents a dozen, sold to a local market.

The local families helped each other by tilling the ground, planting the seeds, watering the plants, and harvesting the food from their community garden.
Grandpa would feed the chickens and other animals and he would strain the cow’s milk by putting cheesecloth over a gallon jar and pouring the milk through it. Then he would scoop off the cream in the morning so it could be churned for butter later. The local farmers and ranchers helped the others by trading cow’s milk, meat, and chicken and turkeys for simple labor to preserve each family’s pride in themselves. They had a lot of fresh cow’s milk that they got from the local ranchers and farmers who sold it for fifty cents a gallon back then. They strained the cream off the milk to be used for butter, and to make the milk taste better.
My grandpa used to go hunting with his 3030 rifle in the mountains and brought home deer, grouse, bear, and elk for the family to eat and put up by freezing for the winter.

When my mom was little, they used to go to Fish Lake and Palmer Lake to fish and camp. They usually got rainbow trout and bass, and even salmon sometimes. My grandpa, my mom, her sisters (four), and her brothers (3) used to go to Palmer Lake and get in grandpa’s boat to go across to the other side and camp on an island over there. My mom said one time they spent two weeks there learning to water ski and ride inner tubes on a rope around the lake. They had a lot of fun. The kids would swim with life jackets while grandpa fished and kept an eye on them in the water. No swimming alone.

The local food was distributed by families who helped families. The local people would get together and create care baskets with home-made bread, jam, preserves, meat, and vegetables for families who needed the help. They would deliver them with cards that said, “Love Thy Neighbor.”
The local food changed over the seasons because there were less gardens, less wild food, and less cow’s milk. Jim’s favorite memory was when families worked together to help the family survive – each respected that each one had their part to do to be able to eat, keep warm, and survive. The kids obeyed their parents. They also treated their parents with respect by realizing that their parents’ decisions were in the child’s best interest, and didn’t fight them on important decisions.
My grandpa told me that gas prices used to be twenty-five cents a gallon and have risen a lot during his lifetime. Food prices such as milk have risen to almost triple the cost of when he was young. He told me that everything that someone charges for has gone up, such as cars, houses, land, electricity, water, etc.

The weather has gotten colder, the snow has gotten less, but the temperature drops below zero at times. It didn’t used to. The summers used to be in the 90’s and now they are regularly in the 100’s all day long. The families back then helped and played together; the family respected each other more because a lot of the decisions made were life saving, and they depended upon every member of the family to do their part, just so the family could survive at times.