Valleycation: Baldassare Forestiere Underground Gardens

I have lived in the area 28 years, and haven't been to the gardens, though I have driven past them hundreds of times and never known it.

Around 1900, Baldassare Forestiere, the second son in his family, asked his wealthy father what he was going to inherit.  When his dad told him that he would inherit nothing since he was the second son, Soon after that Baldassare  left for America to seek his own fortune.  

A hard-working lad, he found work in Boston digging tunnels for the subway.  A few winters cured him of wanting to live there, and he hopped on a train and headed west for California.  He made it to Orange County, and discovered that he loved growing oranges, but Orange County land was not cheap even back in 1900. 

So he asked around for ideas of where he might acquire inexpensive land fit for growing oranges.  Eventually Forestiere decided to settle in Fresno.  He bought 80 acres, and set about readying his fields for orange groves.

Fresno and Tulare Counties have some interesting soil types.  They have wonderful delta soil from all the rivers that flow from the Sierra Nevadas down the Fresno, Kern, Kings, Kaweah, and numerous other rivers and creeks into what used to be Tulare Lake, the largest freshwater lake other than the Great Lakes in the United States.

This is the level of hard-pan he found.

 Another common soil type is known as hard-pan.  This soil is more like cement.  As it turned out, this ambitious lad, Baldassare Forestiere, had purchased 80 acres of mostly hardpan.  Not to be discouraged, Forestiere picked up his old stand-by trade, digging, and began to dig.  During the day he dug for hire, and helped create some of the amazing canals we have in this arid agricultural region.  By nights and weekends he dug tunnels in his property.  He started out with a large underground room, and discovered that the 115 degrees on top of the ground was only about 75 or 80 in his tunnel room.  So he moved into his tunnel.  He built skylights, and planted his orchard underground.  It flourished, as did he.  By age 40 he retired, and tunneled full-time on his property.  He ended up with 5 acres of tunnels.  We only saw 2.5 of them.

Forestiere was deeply religious and found ways to insert the Trinity symbolically his home and into many the garden features.

He had his own church bell as well.  This may have doubled as a door bell.  I forgot some of the facts, and I didn't buy a book.  Moral of that story is to always buy a book!  :)

Rain came through the holes in the roof and watered the plants.  He was very economical and ecological as well.

He entertained frequently, often women (single women), and sometimes large parties.  He was handsome, and quite popular.  He had all the amenities of the that day including a radio, top-of-the-line-stove, and the ultimate in pottery decor.  He carved niches in the wall to house his gadgets.

His kitchen was just as he left it.  The items above were in the kitchen walls.

Although he died unmarried with no children, his brother and his bother's children bought the property, and kept it in the family, where it remains today.  The tunnel house is truly a work of art.  This is a tour definitely worth the investment.  Photographs definitely don't portray the  amount of tunnels that we saw, and we didn't see them all!

We drove home, and marveled at where we live, wondering how we overlooked such a treasure for so long.

What are the places in your neck of the woods that you know are there for sightseers, but YOU haven't taken the time to go see them?

Revised from TCHistoryGal.com, http://wp.me/p2jC53-1j9 

Did you enjoy your tour?

Your comments make it a better post!  :)  The pay for commenting is small, but the appreciation is great!  :)  Follows, too!  :)

Russia and the Abolition of Slavery Part I

Lecture  by Dr. Michelle DenBeste, California State University, Fresno

Notes by Marsha Ingrao

Timeline modified from Wikipedia

1682 Peter the Great begins reign

1725 Peter the Great dies;  Catherine I begins reign

1727  Catherine I dies; Peter II begins reign

1730  Peter II dies Anna Ivanovna begins reign
1740  Anna dies; Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I becomes Empress

1761 Elizabeth dies; Peter III begins reign

1762 Catherine II the Great begins reign

1796 Catherine dies

Even today some date abolition of slavery to 1762.    Russia too big to exert much control before 1863. 

Life in the 17th Century

Law code of 1649 consolidated slaves and peasants into serfs and prevented them from moving around.   It happened because of the military system.  The officers were noblemen so they were paid through land and peasants land wasn't good so farmers worked for a while then moved.  Serfs were more hunter or gathers, and didn't care at first that their movement was constrained.  In western Europe there was a dual or mutual obligation. There weren't any laws, or central government.  Feudalism implied a contract.  Noblemen were obliged to take care of the higher ups, but they weren't obligated to protect the serfs from marauding invaders.  In 15th centuries the government has no control over anything.  Invaders from the north became the ruling class. In those early times people who did something for the government became a noble.  Estate owners were the military and were away serving the tsar.  Their service granted them the right to own serfs.

In the village there was an older man who was the justice.  Most village houses had some garden behind the house, and the serfs could fish, graze the animals.  About 7% of the serfs had none of this because they were household serfs, mostly the women, or skilled artisans.

Life in the 18th Century 

Peter I, the Great

Peter I, the Great, abolishes noble service.  Peter orders everyone to cut of their beards, he dresses more European.  However, he needs serfs for his army.  They had levies every year from 1705 conscripting serfs to serve in the army for life.  The townspeople had a funeral for those who were prescripted into service.  The families of the serfs that went into the service were freed.  When  Russia started loosing in war they had to change the system.  Peter I the Great decreed that army would be paid in salaries, and cost was met through taxation and conscription.  

By mid and late 18th centuries the was a battle between the state and nobles over serfs, but nobles won.  Tsars couldn't really control the nobles because if they tried, the nobles killed them.  So the Tsars controlled the taxes.  Most nobles weren't living the way they wanted to.  They were trying to win government jobs.  They were always spending too much money on the backs of the serfs who were being taxed to death.  The state would have preferred that the nobles be subservient to the state.  Most nobles were not directly involved in the oversight of the estate day to day.  The nobles left everything to the serfs.  So the serfs on a day to day basis are left alone, so they went about their lives as though they were not a serfs.  They did not try to make vast improvements on the  land.  Most peasants live in villages within multiple family units.  The estate owner has a house somewhere else.  

Catherine II, the Great

Catherine the Great was determined to get rid of serfdom but it didn't happen.


I took these notes at the Scholar Series sponsored by Tulare County Office of Education and the San Joaquin Valley Council for the Social Studies.  I am neither an expert nor a student of Russian history.  To help me understand as I rewrote my notes, I referred often to Wikipedia, and Google Images.    

More resources:

Dr. DenBeste's Power Point

http://russianhistoryblog.org/
Article about Catherine the Great on my other website, tchistorygal.com

Book Review: David Copperfield

Last year a blogging friend, Sharechair, blogged about a great Amazon offer of free audible books.  I rushed to Amazon and downloaded about ten of them.  The first one I listened to was David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, narrated by Simon Vance.

Vance transports you to 1850s England in a time before cell phones, cars, planes, or any kind of easy communication that we have today.  The wonderful fiction becomes a window to the world in that time period through the characters. and the descriptions.  If you are studying this period of history, David Copperfield,in my opinion, becomes a primary source.

I hope that English teachers across America are reading this.  With the coming of Common Core, literature, as such, is deemphasized, and informational text is taking the forefront.  This will affect the high school English Language Arts class more than any other because by high school students will be required do 70% of their daily reading in informational texts including primary sources.  For teachers who love to teach only literature, there is a low outcry.  For those of us who teach history, there won't be too much change.  History students have to read.  Now it will count as part of the day - reading informational texts, but history (and science) teachers can't do it all even if they give 100% of their time to reading.  English teachers will still need to spend about 50% of their time in informational texts.

 Primary sources are the fountain of information that historians use to discover the past - to "do" history.  As a "document", David Copperfield, is a primary source because it is not "about" the past, it IS the past.  Written in 1849-1850 in a series of articles, David Copperfield enables the reader to unravel the past.  The reader experiences the language of the time, the polite way that English people conversed tinged with dry humor and a touch of sarcasm.  Through the book the reader  can observe the life of the middle or working class, and understand how desperate life was before there were social safety nets.  They can learn about child labor, and why laws were written to protect the young.  They also learn about the limitations that women, particularly young women, endured, and how women learned to navigate the waters to provide for themselves and their children.  Copperfield illuminates a time before compulsory education.  The book traverses the world.  Several of the characters emigrate to Australia, then still a colony of England.  There they find freedom and financial success. Students should use their map and math skills to realize the magnitude of that move.

This is my argument for using this piece of literature as a primary source, an informational text, if you will.  In order to do this effectively, however, I would also argue that the English teacher needs to partner with the Social Studies teacher in order to teach students how to dig the historical nuggets from the "informational document" rather than merely concentrating on the wonderful story line.  Reading David Copperfield as an informational text has a different purpose, and must be read differently.  The students are now on a quest to discover what life was like in mid 19th century England - and the world.  They need to corroborate the information they glean from reading the period fiction with other non-fiction sources that authenticate the information they read in Dickens' work.

When reading informational texts, students need to read closely.  They can do a quick read for enjoyment of literature. For a typical language arts class they might read this fiction more  closely to pick the characters apart.  They might look at the way Dickens used words to describe characters, setting, and make an emotional appeal, but rarely do they go beyond that to look at the kinds of employment the characters have.  They probably wouldn't ask, "What does that employment allow them to do?"  A language arts lesson might point out the social conditions in passing, but the historian might research the various types of employment that were available to men and women of the time.  What were the educational requirements for the choices they had?  Which careers were the most profitable?  Why were the characters who were unsuccessful in England, successful in Australia?  This book is all about economics and geography.

My final argument is that taking literature out of the curriculum for students is not going to help students any more than taking history out of the curriculum.  Students need to learn how to think critically and analyze facts.  Using literature as a primary source is one way to keep both fields viable, and teach students to think for themselves.  What do you think?

Book Review: Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Attention English teachers!!!  Revel in teaching literature for informational text  and argument writing assignments  using the genre of historical fiction.  History teachers - join forces and use the same literature as background materials to introduce topics.

Widow of the South addresses California history-social studies standards in 8th grade about the Civil War.  It also addresses several Common Core standards noted in the body of the text.   It has many primary source documents, like diary entries, woven into the text.

A sample student performance task from Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, Appendix B p. 89 modified for this book:  Students explain how Robert Hicks, in his novel,  Widow of the South,  uses choice of words  to develop point of view of the three main characters in this historical fiction, a Confederate soldier, a Union Lieutenant, and a slave-owning middle-aged mother, Mrs. McGavock, living on her plantation, Carnton.

Robert Hicks includes  pictures and notes of Franklin, TN and Carrie McGavock, the widow, in the back of Widow of the South.

A Look at Perspectives:  Consider this quote.

“But hell, the Yankees had thrown away more than we’d laid our eyes on in months, maybe years. …The thing I kept thinking about (as we were marching up the pike) was the nightshirts and the pots of jam, lying there on the roadside (left by the Yankees).  They made me wonder whether we’d been fighting the same war”   Sergeant Zachariah Cashwell, 24th Arkansas. p. 25.

In Cashwell's quote, ia student of the Civil War learns one of the major reasons that General Lee soon surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.   Using this quote students practice “Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text Common Core English Language Arts Standard RL1.”   Teachers guide students to “detect the different historical points of view on historical events and find the context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used, author’s perspectives) California History Social Science Analysis Skills Research Evidence and Point of View #5”

As the reader gets to know these characters, they vicariously experience the nuances of life and come to realize how normal situations are even more complicated by war.  Read the quote below.

“Dear Mrs. M,

I cannot raise this boy.  I am tore up… I got to get away, to start something new.  I want to change…  I will send for the boy when I’m right.”

“He didn’t bother to sign it, and I never heard from him again.  I never asked John if we could take the boy in as our own son.”  Carrie McGavock p. 299.

The author’s choice of words, “I never heard from him again.” lets the students realize how desperate times were when a parent would write a note, and leave it with a child on someone’s doorstep.  “I never asked John...” allows students to glimpse a time when asking was ordinary, but these times were extraordinary.

There are plots and subplots, elements of complexity, that will draw even the most reluctant teen-aged girl into this story.  Teen, Becky Griffin, for example, “had wanted to grow large quickly so that she would have to spend the spring and the summer answering the questions.  I loved a boy and a boy loved me, she planned to say…”  Teen aged pregnancy is not uncommon today, and would be a rich field for developing a homework assignment to develop an argument.  Students could research the difficulties that Becky Griffin faced with the difficulties faced by young teen-aged mothers today.

Using the next quote teachers could build an homework informational writing assignment.

“She sat down heavily on the stool I had assumed had been meant for me.  …  She had been silent for days.  …  Were we strangers?  Impossible, and yet what did I know of her, really? … she had been mine…”

‘Do you want to leave?  Leave here?  Carnton!’

Me is what I meant. (Carrie’s self talk)

Silence.

‘You can if you’d like.’ …

‘Don’t have anywhere else to go. …  Ain’t nothing to be done about it.  I’m too old to be running from crackers with ropes. …’” p. 394

How did slaves feel about being freed?  Students might compare the way different slaves felt about their new freedom, and the ramifications of that freedom.  There is primary source evidence in the form of oral histories recorded before the last of the slave generation passed away on websites online in the National Archives.  How does this slave compare to other oral histories?  How might her responses be compared to Steven Oates, Fires of Jubilee, the story of the South Hampton slave revolt?

The toughest boy in class will have to work hard not to be touched by the grim glories of war. as he reads the point of view of the Union soldier.

“I was proud that such an army, a vibrating mass of butternut gray and sharp metal, screeching that strange wail of theirs, was arrayed against me and my men.  I was proud that we were worthy of that.  …  Why did they keep coming?  By the second hour of fighting… when a rebel appeared on top of our entrenchment waving a flag or a rifle around, we’d yank him down and make him a prisoner rather than shoot him. …  The dead and dying were packed so tightly that the men were charging right over them, shattering legs, arms and ribs.  It was the sound of bones snapping.”  Lieutenant Nathan Stiles, 104th Ohio p. 85.

What did the Union soldier mean when he said, “I was proud that we were worthy of that”?  Why did he “yank him down and make him a prisoner?”

On Wednesday, November 30, 1864, the townspeople of Franklin, TN, a population of 2,500, had to contend with 2,500 Union and 6,700 Confederate casualties from that 5 hour battle.  "The body of Co.F.S.S. Stafford, of the 31st Tennessee, was found dead standing upright, wedged up to his waist in corpses."  p. 407Research becomes a natural by-product of reading this novel for the student and teacher who has never been to Franklin, TN, or seen the trenches of a Civil War battlefield.  Even unfamiliarity with Civil War artillery or the structure of the military might spark curiosity easily satisfied at the click of a mouse in order to “Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration Common Core ELA Standard W7.”The Civil War changed the United States forever.   Textbooks make blanket statements that students take for gospel without examining them for their veracity.  Historical fiction puts heart into sterile statements, and engraves those opinions into the hearts of the students.

To read the entire novel, The Widow of the South, would take a long time for eighth graders who are just starting to read complex, full-length texts.  BUT that being said, it is so compelling that many of them might want to read it.  I would recommend this as background reading for both history and language arts teachers to build your own perspective on the Civil War.

Related articles

• 17th Ohio soldier (Garner) Dec 1st diary entry (battleoffranklin.wordpress.com)
• Common Core Standards are a 'heavy lift' for districts, educators (eschoolnews.com)

Creating Documentaries for Social Studies Teachers and Students

by Sara Sutton

Sara Sutton retired this year as the Supervisor of the Impact Center at Tulare County Office of Education.  She created most of the documentaries for the new Tulare County History of Agriculture Museum.

Introduction

Whether you are a student doing a History Day project, or an adult child interviewing your parent about their life, learning to make a video is more than showing the world your raw footage, even though we see those all the time on You Tube.  Quality video production even goes beyond cutting and pasting pictures into an automated video program. Since all the tools we need to make a professional video are at our disposal, all that is left is learning the art of putting it all together.

Choosing the Interviewees

• Resources for interviews can be found from community groups who are given a few months to find their best representatives.  It is better to have subjects that a group can recommend  rather than individuals you do not know, but who recommend themselves.

Capturing the Story

• Interviewees are given the subject and several weeks time to think about their personal experiences relating to it.
• The interviewee is asked to share his or her own personal thoughts and memories. Letting them choose their own subject and timing works best. Let them be aware they can stop and "do over" any part they wish. For the most part let the camera roll uninterrupted. You never know what gems are coming.
• Only if they become stuck are they asked questions to stimulate more memories. Asking yes or no questions yields unusable yes or no answers, and sounds like a therapy session which it very often is. Not asking questions is what makes the interview honest and real.
• Be prepared to relax and listen. They will sense this.
• Positive feedback from the interviewer between segments or stories is encouraging and keeps the material flowing. Be careful not to talk over their speech but if you do, stop as soon as is politely possible, and ask them to repeat for a clean take.

Compiling the Story

• If you have several interviewees log them all and then after studying your notes choose your predominant and pertinent themes.
• My personal style has been to edit by themes. Statements and experiences of the same aspect or subject are grouped together in the editing timeline. This reinforces the subject with several witnesses speaking about the same topic or aspect of the topic, building credibility and retention for the audience. The viewer has an active experience of piecing together the reality of the history and forming their own experience with it.
• While editing, become personally involved enough to know your material well.  Be aware of and calculate the emotional responses it evokes.
• Word your narrative so subsequent statements by the interviewees reinforce your points.
• Use narrative sparingly and avoid the temptation to tell the story yourself instead of letting viewers draw their conclusions from experiences related by the interviewees.
• I choose short and interesting introductory statements to place as attention grabbers at the beginning of the video. I let these tell viewers what the video is about. Engaging music helps the viewer anticipate an entertaining experience. I choose some deeper thoughts and summary type statements by interviewees for the closer accompanied by music that is sometimes the same as at the beginning.

Technical Issues While Shooting the Footage

• Home or studio interviews are conducted with technical details such as audio, video and lighting properly addressed. (Beware of filming in front of windows, etc.)
• In a studio they sometimes can be more open. They may feel their opinions and thoughts are valued by being spot-lighted there. They are removed from daily distractions and become more philosophical. They are not having to represent their homes and lifestyle but only their thoughts and memories. Great care is taken to create an informal, friendly atmosphere. People respond positively to unconditional acceptance.
• I usually don't have the interviewee speak toward the camera. Instead they face a person is sitting off camera slightly to the side who is positive and highly attentive and responsive, giving direct eye contact without giving any audible feedback.
• A pleasant backdrop or green screen gives you flexibility with visuals. People respond differently in a studio than they might in their home.

Technical Issues While Creating the Video

• Process all your footage into the computer.
• Watch the entire raw footage, stopping and starting while you log it by time code and type notes on the content of the interview. These records will save you lots of time later. An alternative is to have someone writing notes during the interview but this is not so helpful if they can't read and note the time code off a monitor at the same
• Good editing techniques keep the viewer focused on the content of the video instead of distracted by unnecessary action. Don't use crazy transitions which contrast and detract from emotion and sincerity.time.
• Text titles are important for names and profiles but shouldn't be constantly on screen.
• I always add low volume background music. Pay careful attention to the mood it evokes. Subjects or segments may have a theme. The music should not distract and should not include lyrics. Moderate tones without punctuating instrumentation work best.
• When I need to cover history that is not covered by the interviewees I place short narratives and images at intervals between segments. I may use this opportunity to segue to new areas of dialogue.

Legal Issues and Protocols

•  Have a release form ready for them to sign.  Show lots of gratitude and thanks for the interview.

Other resources:

http://www.nhd.org/CategoryDocumentary.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Good-Documentary-Film

http://www.slideshare.net/acarvin/documentary-making-101