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56 Thurs., Nov. 14, 1963 £hr Sakrrsfirlh (CalifornianBorn a city girl and reared in San Francisco, Jane Quan Lum loves the good earth of Kern County that has beengood to her family. At 85, she farms and makes it pay, not only in cash but in good health.Kindness and sound philosophy is reflected in the countenance this matriarch of the Lum family, who is ready to harvest the Chinese winter melons. Her garden containsmostly rare Chinese vegetables.When outdoor chores are done, or it is a rainy day, thisgranny with great grandchildren—sews without glasses, teaches grandchildren and great grandchildren how to make Chinese buttons, and makes her own clothes.v.vv.vt1lt;tI(11:iJane Lum/85/tendslgood earth' of Kern County gardenJane Quan Lum, tiny 85- has earnings that she uses to tie Lum; and 11 grandchil- 20, that her own roots were the site of a Chinese publish- finished, drifted into Bakers-year-old gr^at - grandmother, buy her children and grand-loves the good earth of Kern children gifts and for her ow ndren usually gather, alongwith six great-grandchildren,put down in Kern County soil. She loves Bakersfield anding company, she said.field to work.Paw remembers that whenModern ways do not annoyCounty, and she daily tends personal expenses.and the other relatives.her three-acre garden patch.She rakes, hoes, and harvestsIndependence is a good thing for the aged, she be-Paw was born Feb. 5, 1878,Kern County. For many yearsshe has been proud of theshe first came to Bakersfield, Paw, but she thinks childrenthere were manv Chinese la-*in 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 forcrops in the tradition of an- ^ieves an(* s0 is work. Idle- with her family and learned made up of all the produce men who worked to build the the land when they help her,, kk I I .k k k * ^ Ik .—. I , • M. k m L ^ k ik ■ « . k k. a .k k __ _ _ . M . k a . acient China.ness in Paw s Ixxtk is to be the art of sewing and cook- grown on the Lum farms.Southern Pacific Railroad and she also instructs themTo the earth, she owes her keeps busy indoors and out.avoided as evil, and so she jng ]t was not untH she cameHer home in San Franciscodaily allegiance, she feels, be-On her three-acre patch, theto Bakersfield when she was was on Grand Avenue, nowacross the Tehachapis, andwhen that project wasin sewing and the making ofChinese buttons.cause it has sustained her and furrows aie stiaight, madeher family for four genera-by her own small hand plough.She no longer gets irrigationtions; 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 bv new subdivi-their holdingsintothree sions. So it comes from stra-farms, all rooted in the pros-tegically placed faucets. Buther tending of the good earthperity and good farming prac- js productive of plump greentires their mother taught winter Chinese melons. Sitethem.also grows bitter melon, usedThe little (four feet 10 inch-by gourmets in Chinese dish-cs) great-grandmother, dignified and calm, is affection-es; the rather rare yard-longChinese green beans found inatelv known as “Paw” (theLokChinese word for “grannv”).She is loved and admired bvchop suey, the Chinese Choy (a white-green vegetable); a Chinese cabbage,her family and friends. Sherather sweetish in taste; andwas born and reared in SanSee Gar, somewhat like anokra, but it is larger andI- ancisco and, like O-lan, her- sweeter. She also grows a Chi-ome oi the Pearl Buck novel, nese cucumber which is not“Good Earth,’ as a young so green as its common counbride she was transplanted tothe soil and a new life.interpart, 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 Countv.the Chinese men’s world, Pawtook over the running of theWhen she tires of work infarm.the garden or the weather isinclement, Paw stays indoors,The farm had water from the she sews at her footKern Island Canal, and Paw treadle machine. Her eyes areplanted the vegetables andfruit that reached manv of theBakersfield markets of thestill so good she can thread needles without glasses and her seams are fine and1920s and earlier. She used an straight. She makes her ownoid horse-drawn plow to till clothes, and she makes all thethe soil, and a buck board was Chinese buttons which sheused to haul the vegetables to knots artistically.amarket. The children helpedShe is loved and admiredon the farm before and after bv her family and they lookk V »school, but Paw saw to it they to her for sage advice.all went to school.Said her daughter-in-law,The main market place was 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 cook, she scorns the( hi nese restaurants bought.modern electric range andDuring the depression years, prefers to use her wood stove.when times were hard. PawWhen she has time she ridessaw to it that, although the in the family 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 tlie Chinese fea.M days,fen ! from the good earth. such as Chinese New 5 ear,Paw. who never went to the Lum clan gathers at theschool, learned how to bank, Lum home on Wilson Roadto borrow money and to pay and Paw presides at the headit back. Her only sad expe- of the table as the matriarch.? wnce was with a friend who She also prepares the roastborrowed money and did notrepav it.■ VCustomers 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 oncefield Savings and Loan), Sho- Chinatown section of Bakers-lar’s (now McMahan’s Furni- field was destroyed by theture Store), the Post Office Market (now the site of1952 earthquake.Paw was one of the prime itJudds) and others got, Lum movers with her daughter-in-beets and carrots and the prod- law\ Mae Lum, to see thatuee of the good earth from it was 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 the\\ ible 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.Paw’s sons are all farmersand rated as good ones, notonly by their neighbors, but bytheir success records. P a wstill makes her home withSing, the eldest son, who builta handsome ranch home onWilsonStreet,acres domain.Road near South H and here are the three which is still Paw’sdeep well barbecue pit, in which the whole roast pig isprepared, is in the rear yard at the Lum home. Paw sees to it that the pig is carefully dressed, seasoned and the coals properly prepared before the pig is hung from the rod over the coals and the pit covered with tin The cooking takes about an hour.At the feast on New Year,In r 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 Hat-■new way of producingyaSunny Brook has resultedbreak-through in whiskeysmoothness and fine taste.There is absolutely noviroughnessnoharshnessjust,. ■an± incredibly smooth whiskeyabsolutely without equal.C* * • !V.V.V/iEAyjvXiv.v.vLSSr. -lt;* ; /READ WHY: A startling break with tradition has pro3duced the kind of whiskey you have always wanted. Two grpy.qualities have been combined in todasiCltaste and uttersu*BRCLimited time onlyextraCASEsavingsKENT[ENDEDHiikUrytatfr - 'mhstovy/Xttiu lt;*77*1a*. ■ ■additional flag**«• • ■ ■a ... ...■ . • « ■H5»' ‘'X'Xv..• * .• •*• • * •...• * ■ VItiV.■ . . *• i.• i »■■ • • ■• ■ •■ ■ ..» ■ •STM• • ••. ••...... ...•.v.-.v.y-:I ■ II I*ot Up to•.• ■I..' •_» •.** *......•»• • • i.• • 11..BLEf
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
