Memories by Bo Villegas – Woodlake, CA Year 1942 to 1957
(My grandfather, Pedro Aleman Villegas brought his family to Woodlake in the early 1900’s, some of the first Hispanic settlers in Woodlake. Pedro and Antonia had six children: David, Juanita, Bonifacio, Casimior, Estefania, and Juan; baby Virginia died a few days after birth).
As our family settled in Woodlake, CA My dad Bonifacio and Mom Carolina had five children: Emily, Bo, Jerry, Susie, and Sam. We lived at The Diamond K Ranch (later owned by the Raymond Brothers family), Woodlake, CA Road 204 and Ave. 340. Diamond K Ranch was a vineyard of about 100 acres of Emperor and Almeria Grapes (90 percent Emperors, 10 percent Almeria’s). We worked on this ranch were sustained as farm labors. During those years, my job was to help in the harvesting of these grapes. Picking, field loading grape boxes onto trucks, (we were called swappers), irrigation, ground cultivating (D-4 Caterpillar), applying sulfur onto vines, pruning, tying grapes vines, etc. The below photo of emperor grapes is what I remember the abundance and size of emperor grapes grown on this ranch. The soil was sandy loam and rich in nutrients. It was not unusual for one emperor vine to yield 10 grape boxes (grape box size number 10). I know because I picked and loaded many of emperors.
Emperor Grapes were once a major variety, representing a quarter of California's table production, but now it is less than 5 percent. Bunched in reddish to purplish clusters, Emperor grapes have a mild somewhat cherry-like flavor, and a lower sugar content than many others. Their thick skins make them a durable grape for shipping and consumer handling. Its large size and full, round shape make the Emperor a popular variety for holiday tables.
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| My mother holding Brother Jerry, myself and Sister Emily. 1942, Woodlake house, Road 204 and Ave 304. Diamond K ranch. Across the street (Road 204) behind pepper trees are emperor grapes. Today it is the TWILIGHT PARK. My dad must have taken this photo. |
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| This was the same Woodlake location where we lived. – Photos were taken 2013 |
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| Looking North Road 204 Our house was located in the open area in the foreground. |
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| The picture on the left Looks West off Road 204 in 1942. The picture on the right looks north. |
Memories growing up in Woodlake CA
Title: Picking Thompson Grapes with Brother Jerry
One hot summer day in 1952 my brother Jerry, who was 2 years younger, and I needed to earn some money for school clothes. My father got a lead that work was available in Reedley Ca. picking Thompson grapes. We did not know all the details, but we jumped at the chance to earn money. Early next morning we got ready to go. Mother made us lunch (two bean burrito’s each). Our father dropped us off in front of this large Thompson grape vineyard and said he would be back after 5:00pm to pick us up. Father was a man of few words, we were to find our own path. There were people already working in the vineyard, but we had to wait for the foreman.
As we waited for the foreman to arrive, we noticed a large roll of brown paper (approx. 10-inch diameter X 36 inches long) and several metal buckets. The brown roll of paper contained, 36 X 36-inch pre-cut sheets. Earlier, instructions from my father were to bring two large half curved grape cutting knives. It was around 5:30 am when the foreman arrived. In a loud voice and rude manner, he said we were to immediately start work, pick all the grapes on the vines and not to leave any behind. He stated he would periodically check on the vines we picked to verify that no grapes were left behind. He said we were to line up the pre-cut sheets towards the right side of the row. As shown in below photo. This position allows the grapes to have best angle of sunlight for drying. (I already knew that most all vineyards are planted from west to east direction for best sunlight condition). His next rude instructions were, he wanted the cut grapes spread evenly onto paper, did not want any rocks and/or cut vines on the grapes. And that was the end of his instructions and he abruptly left.
Tweet: The row length of vines seemed very long 4 football fields. Bo and Jerry did not know if we were to be paid by the row picked ...
Tweet: The row length of vines seemed very long 4 football fields. Bo and Jerry did not know if we were to be paid by the row picked ...
So at this point we did not know how we were going to get paid, hourly, piecework or what. So Jerry and I quickly began our new job endeavor. We quickly found out the best way to do this job was for one to cut and fill our bucket with grapes, the other to dispense and spread grapes onto trays. Around 9:00 am it started to get very hot and humid (around 95 plus degrees) but at that point, we were going along very well. The row length of vines seemed very long (about 4 football fields), did not know if we were to be paid by the row picked and/or the pay structure.
I could hear workers in the field next us and decided to ask them about the pay. Crossed over to the next row, seen a family picking and spreading grapes. I asked, whom I thought was the father if he knew the pay structure? He said yes. Six ($ 0.06) cents for a complete tray of cut grapes. That seemed awfully low to me. But at that point, I did not know how many trays Jerry and I could do. I told Jerry the pay structure was 6 cents a tray and he quickly said that’s not enough. Well anyway, we continued jugging along. Around 11:00 am temperature was around 100 plus degrees, very humid and extremely dusty with this fine loam dirt.
We reach around ¼ of the way down the row and I asked Jerry to count the number of trays we completed. He came back very angry and said we had 110 trays or about $6.60 or $0.66 cents per hour (6:00 to 11:00 am = 5 hours X 2 = 10 hours) between the both of us. At that point, we were very disappointed and angry. But we continued thinking it would get better as the day goes along.
It was my turn to cut grapes and load the buckets. I was huddled inside the vine reaching for a batch of grapes when all of sudden I was stung straight on the forehead, between the eyes by a large hornet/wasp. I quickly jumped back to check the damage. It was too late, all I could do was anguish in pain. I did not want to go back to pick the rest of the grapes, so I asked Jerry to do it. He said hell no. The family in next row heard all the commotion and came over to talk to us. The father said the best way to deal with this situation was to burn the wasp nest. From his back pocket, he grabbed some newspapers and quickly made a funnel shape. He asked for the location of the nest. I pointed to the location, he lit the newspapers, walked over the nest and quickly burned them out. He said, now you can go back to picking grapes and he quickly left. Jerry and I were looking where the wasp nest was and we could see many angry wasps flying around. I asked Jerry to pick the grapes where the nest was and he said hell no.
By this time, my forehead and face were swollen to a size of a balloon. Both eyes were almost closed and could barely see. Jerry kept laughing at me and said I looked very weird and funny. But I decided to gingerly and quietly pick the grapes infested with angry wasps. Luckily I did not get stung again.
At around 12:30 pm, we decided to eat lunch. We sat under the vines and discussed our future with this new endeavor. Jerry quickly said he wanted to quit, the job was not worth it. I agreed but said how we are going buy our school clothes. He said he did not care and wanted to quit. Well, I convinced him to stay on the job.
After lunch, we went back to picking grapes. As we continued picking grapes, ran into two more wasp nests and as instructed, burned the wasp nest. This time around, I was careful cutting grapes and kept a watch full eye (could barely see out of them) for wasps. Around 3:00 pm we were approximately three-quarters down the row. I asked Jerry to count the trays we had picked. Jerry returned and very disappointed said we had 170 trays. 170 X $0.06cents = $10.20, or 0.60 cents per hour (6:00 to 3:00 pm = 8.5 hours X 2 equals 17 hours) between both of us. Anyway, we finished the day making a grand total of $13.20 dollars or $6.60 each.
We continued this job for three full days and progress remained the same. On the third day when we got home, we told our mother our experience (we did not say a word to father) it was not worth for us to continue this venture. She agreed and that was the end of us picking Thompson grapes, in Reedley Ca.
Note: Did not make enough money to buy schools clothes, wore the same clothes that year.
The only sorrow I have writing this short story, is Mom, Dad, Emily, Jerry and Sam are not here to share this story and laugh about this adventure. They are in heaven, Jerry is picking fruits/grapes, Mom is making his lunch, Dad, Sister Emily, and Brother Sam are enjoying their presence.
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To this day, I can smell the below grapes, vines, dirt and humidity.
In the center are dried Thompson Grapes, which are now raisins.
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| Mom on the left, Jerry on the right |
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Brother Jerry, me, and our dog Queenie. Location: Diamond K Ranch, behind our old house, Road 204, Woodlake CA, 1951. |
