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56 Thurs-* Nov- ^ 1963 Sakrrsfirlb (Californian,y ■Xvm_ -1*£* -- • :• :lt; •:* y/.-i %•:•:•:•* -.y .Ww?.;.:ft. • *: • S* ' 1 ■ AC • u - . . ■** • ✓»*. • ■ V - ■•• /•V-. 'i . - •** - -V. ^ «fclt; ■ XWZc‘-^yyyy’-y-yy.-yyy ■ ■ .*.- x, 1 III /lt; i *•••■ i t •. -ii#if ;, ; 1 4*.-v .. ;Iami «.■:lt;V.A0«g*•i* ■mWMM..'■J%»■fe*ylt;SxvwxTV,*ww^ *X %3g. 42g ^ w #Wmm*•W i- «*?»v„Sfe ,*jm »......XXTmf:lt;lt;*.\V'•».*. **, *t*nL*tec...• . v v* VX -VV. X *vVXv\W v'**.v *. .’V*x •**■ : /•. '■*vxo£i: l •■ :.s*;£C' ■ J%r. •'.** t ^ ^ ^ js“:iisiiiV::^lt; :•%:A5* • •’•V- ■£• ■^ ,/: : .lt;%.i ^■ »~wJO *_r ■*m:Sr.V.-x-;X1.0.•X■V.-V•»■.y.:wVwliiP■ i■X*. VXIfe-v•:lt;:■■ ■■■•VSA■ ' *:rA1.:**•v//.r- ii.* * »K^'P^ x vmM• •. -Vv-. :v xSlt; A PAjC*.■V• \ V X. m -Wt y. #lt;V • *2: ■ W * /Xv - \^ i: C-*• ^-. v 's * is;%v: « • %-;y s:t k iT- 5-:* ;»■.«*«x»y-M■.»lt;■*litv mm,.•T:ficr-*.■yyMm,xlt;*(V.'1-lt;/ftr9 •HP•MQuaKindness and sound philosophy is reflected in the counte-Lum loves the good earth of Kern County that has beennance this matriarch of the Lum family, who is ready togood to her family. At 85, she farms and makes it pay,harvest the Chinese winter melons. Her garden containsnot only in cash but in good health»mostly rare Chinese vegetables.Whengrannyteaches grandchildren and great grandchildrenmake Chinese buttons, and makes her own clothes.Jane Lum/85/tends/good earth' of Kern County gardenJane Quan Lum, tiny 85- has earnings that she uses toyear-old great - grandmother, buy her children and grand-loves the good earth of Kern children gifts and for her ownCounty, and she daily tends personal expenses.tie Lum: and 11 grandchildren usually gather, along with six great-grandchildren, and the other relatives.20, that her own roots were the site of a Chinese publish- finished, drifted into Bakers-put down in Kern County soil. She loves Bakersfield anding company, she said.field to work.MiinfitKibvalPaw remembers that whenModern ways do not annoyrernher three-acre garden patch.She rakes, hoes, and harvestscrops in the tradition of an-Independence is a good thing for the aged, she believes, and so is work, ldle-Paw was born Feb. 5, 1878,Kern County. For many years she has been proud of theshe first came to Bakersfield, Paw, but she thinks childrenthere were many Chinese lain San Francisco, and she re- Lum family exhibit at Kern borers on Kern County farms.are not disciplined enough —by work, that is — but shesided like most Chinese girls County fair, the booth being Some of them, she said, were teaches them how to care forwith her family and learned made up of all the produce men who worked to build the the land when they help her,cient China.ness in Paw s book is to be ^jie art of sewing and cook- grown on the Lum farms.Southern Pacific Railroad and she also instructs themavoided as evil, and so sheTo the earth, she owes her keeps busy indoors and out.ing. It was not until she came to Bakersfield when she wasHer home in San Franciscodaily allegiance, she feels, be-On her three-acre patch, thewas on Grand Avenue, nowacross the Tehachapis, andwhenin sewing and the making ofl’iT1litiVltilmthatproject was Chinese buttons.cause it has sustained her and furrows aie stiaight, madeher family for four generally her own small hand plough.She no longer gets irrigationlions; and. while her own gar- water from the canal becauseden is now onlv three acres,her three sons have spreadher curtailed farm is now surrounded by new subdivi-their holdingsinto{flre0 sions. So it comes from stra-farms, all rooted in the pros-tegically placed faucets. Buther tending of the good earthperity and good 1 arming prac- js productive of plump greentices their mother taught winter Chinese melons. Shethem.also grows bitter melon, usedThe little (four feet 10 inch-by gourmets in Chinese dishes ) great-grandmother, dignified and calm, is affection-es; the rather rare yard-longChinese green beans found inatelv known as “Paw” (thechop suey, the Chinese LokChinese word for “cranny”)She is loved and admired byChoy (a white-green vegetable); a Chinese cabbage,her family and friends. Sherather sweetish in taste; andwas ixnn and reared in SanSee Gar, somewhat like anokra, but it is larger andr ancisco and, like O-lan, her- sweeter. She also grows a Chi-ome oi the Pearl Buck novel, nese cucumber which is notGood Earth,” as a youngbride she was transplanted tothe soil and a new life.inso green as its common counterpart, and a Chinese eggplant, which is purple andPaw s case, it was to a 40- white and long and narrow;acre ranch near Wible and Most of the seeds came fromPlanz Roads. While her hus- China, and her garden is unband. Woo Lum, tended to doubtedly unique in Kernbusiness of greater import in County.the Chinese men’s world, Pawtook over the running of thefarm,The farm had water from the but sheKern Island Canal, and Paw'When she tires of work inthe garden or the weather is inclement, Paw stays indoors,sews at her foot treadle machine. Her eyes areplanted the vegetables and still so good she can threadfruit that reached many of the needles without glasses andBakersfield markets of the her seams are fine and1920s and earlier. She used an straight. She makes her ownold horse-drawn plow to till clothes, and she makes all thethe soil, and a buckboard was Chinese buttons which sheused to haul the vegetables to knots artistically.market. The children helpedShe is loved and admiredon the farm before and after bv her familv and they lookV Vschool, but Paw saw to it theyall went to school.The main market place wasto her for sage advice.Said her daughter-in-law,Mae Lum, ‘‘She is so toler-at Q and 18th streets, and the ant, and kind and wise in sofat ears of corn, glossy green many ways. She does not ob-peppers and cucumbers, and ject to modern methods andlettuce from the Lum ranch ways, but goes her own way.* *were preferred items. On part of the ranch were some of theIn the kitchen, when sheChinese vegetables which the wants to rook, she scorns theChinese restaurants bought.modern electric range andDuring the depression years, prefers to use her wood stove.when tunes were hard. PawWhen she has time she ridesaw to it that, although the in the familv automobile onregular market had failed, the trips to Bakersfield, and paysvegetables from the Lum visits to old friends, sees someplace still went to the doors who are ill, or a new baby inof the Chinese restaurants, the familv of a friend.and the familv had its ownOn the Chinese fea.M days,food from the good earth. such as Chinese New Year,Paw. w'ho never went to the Lum clan gathers at theschool, learned how to bank, Lum home on Wilson Roadto borrow* money and to payit back. Her only sad experience was with a friend whoand Paw presides at the headof the table as the matriarch.She also prepares the roastborrowed money and did notrepay it.Customers of the old Foodpig which she carries to the Chinese Joss house at 18thand R streets. The originalCirv (now the site of Bakers- old Joss house in this oncetield Savings and I/an), Sho- Chinatown section of Bakers-lar s (now McMahan’s Furni- field was destroyed by theture Store), the Post Office 1952 earthquake.Market (now the site ofPawr was one of the primeJudds) and others got Lum movers with her daughter-in-beets and carrots and the prod- law, Mae Lum, to see thature of the good earth from it wjas restored and it is nowthe Lum farm.a historic monument in thatpart of the city, but still usedIt took more than hour to by the older Chinese.make the trip from Planz andThe roast pig is taken to theWible Roads into town. But temple and the blessings ofthrough hard work and per- ancestors are sought in thesistence, the family survived religious ceremonials in whichits financial tribulations, the Paw was reared. And this reland was paid for, and the ligious faith is still hers. Thefamilv grew and flourished.deep well barbecue pit, inPaw’s sons are all farmers which the whole roast pig isand rated as good ones, notonly by their neighbors, but bytheir success records. P a wprepared, is in the rear yard at the Lum home. Paw seesstill makes her home withto it that the pig is carefully dressed, seasoned and theSing, the eldest son, w’ho built coals properly prepared beforea handsome ranch home on the pig is hung from the rodWilson Road near South H Street, and here are the threeacres which is still Paw’*over the coals and the pitcovered with tin The cooking takes about an hour.domain.At the feast on New’ Year,In i; she grows mostly Chi- usually in February, the threenose vegetables that Chinese sons, Sing, Loyd and Charles;restaurants find difficult to three daughters, Mrs. Jamesget and from it she proudly Gee, Mrs. Jane Seto and Batinhlt;new way of producingv.vySunny Brook has resultedbreak-through in whiskeym mmsmoothness and fine taste.There is absolutely noroughnessharshnessjustan Jncredibly smooth whiskeyabsolutely without equal.... -GtfSfo 5*. ••••«.i i..Vi,v v.v.X'* «lt;*)READ WHY: A startling break with tradition has pro3S' /.duced the kind of whiskey you have always wanted. Two grpo, /OLEqualities have been combined in todaaiC!taste and uttercSUNBROlt;Limited time onlyEXTRACASEsavingSf IKENTUC►EDW(udaf Hiit.tfiry ytt/XvXJDIAv»:« ■ .v.v.v.yI. *.. ■*./.V.sy.v-:C .... • . • i. » »_■additional discouj^v.y......... .'.V. i . .WXW.v.v.• • •mi.... ■ • ■...a ■ •«5»•. i...... •.• II • * .V.I IIIV.’.Vi*ot Up to.......mm......BLENEmir.I
Newspaper Details
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California, US
Thu, Nov 14, 1963
Page 56
Full Page
Clipped by
Gabriel M.
NA, 07 Apr 2023
Other Publications Near Bakersfield, California
The Berkshire County Eagle
Southern Californian and Kern Weekly Courier
The Weekly Californian
Kern County Californian
Daily Californian
