My husband had, yes, orchid farm and we grew antheriums, we grew dendrobiums, we grew…mainly in Kapoa land, we grew vandal orchids to make leis. We had about 28 acres there and then we had a 7-acre nursery in Hilo and when he died, I had to take over.
So I had to learn a lot about growing plants. I used to go on weekends because I was still working and spend my weekends in Hilo going to the nurseries, going to the farm and checking up on the work that they were doing. But the antheriums are really excellent crop except you have to be very careful in Hilo because of the rain. When it rains too much, then you get the blight and the whole crop of antheriums can die. So that’s one of the problems that we had. But there are some excellent antherium farms in Hilo. So I used to go and talk to those people and learn a little more about how to grow antheriums and dendrobiums.
Finally, well I sold the Kapoa farm in 1991 or 2, I think. And then the nursery finally in the year…let’s see. 1998.
Date: May 31, 2006
Location: Hawai‘i, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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