A Gardener's Son

A memory by Mike Murase:

 

At the Gardeners' Senryu program today, Naomi asked anyone in the audience who was a gardener to stand. I was a gardener in my youth but I didn't stand because I didn't feel I had earned the right to call myself a "gardener."

Ever since the 7th grade, taking care of the yard and gardens in our own family home was one of my chores. I had to carve out time every weekend to mow the lawn, trim with edger, prune the shrubs, hose down the lawn and cut grass, etc.

I also had a side job taking care of the lawn at an apartment building in my neighborhood. I remember the Jewish lady who hired me asking, "Where are you from?" (I figured she was asking me what kind of Asian am I.) I said, "I'm from Japan." The lady seemed relieved, "Oh good, you're from Europe too." Huh?

My last brush with Gardener-dom was during summer vacations, when I used to go on routes with a Nisei gardener who lived across the street. He used to drop his son and me off at a Hancock Park mansion with a very large yard. There were only two houses per block so basically, we were assigned a whole half-a-block of land. He would use his power mower to cut the grass, then load up the heavy equipment on his pickup and go to his next job, leaving us behind with some primitive tools to rake the cut grass and leaves, trim the bushes, etc. On especially hot days, we used to jump in the pool without the homeowner's permission. We just made sure we were out of the pool whenever we heard the truck return.

What did I learn? Discipline? Love of nature? The value of hard work?

I learned a technique for rolling up the garden hose so it would not curl or tangle. You have to twist to alternating sides as you roll and tuck every other roll under. Clockwise, counter-clockwise, over and over. I still use this technique whenever I have to roll something up: extension cords, electronic cables, heavy rope, etc. and I call it the Nisei Gardeners' Roll.