Made in Manzanar

Made in Manzanar. Sustaining a "City" of 10,000. , With 440 acres under cultivation in fields north and south of the camp, existing orchards with 400 pear and 600 apple trees, nine warehouses, a root cellar, a hog farm, and a chicken ranch, people incarcerated in Manzanar raised, grew, stored, prepared, and cooked much of their own food. , , At the height of production, Manaanar's farms supplied 80 percent of the camp's vegetables. , The War Relocation Authority (MRA) shipped surplus produce between its centers, Manzanar sent watermelon carrots, Nappa cabbage, and to other camps. It also sold carrots and chili peppers on the open market Chalfant Press, which printed most Issues of the Manzanar Free Press displayed Manzanar's bounty in its Lone Pine window. , , Although the farms were outside Manzanar's barbed wire fence, by fall 1942 the WRA had persuaded Army officials to allow workers to travel to the fields without escorts. As men left camp on furlough or to resettle, the WRA recruited women. During harvest in 1944, schoolchildren worked on weekends to help bring in the crops. , , Sustaining a "City" of 10,000 , The War Department chose this site partly because it had arable land and a water source. But that larid needed clearing and fertilizing. the water, had to be channeled from: Shepherd, Bairs, and George creeks. Incarcerated Japanese Americans did that work, as well as planting and harvesting the food. They also fought the "chief menace” to the crops: rabbits. , , To supplement what the camp produced, the chief steward ordered canned goods through the US Army Quartermaster in southern California, and purchased milk and produce from Owens Valley farms. , , Each morning, trucks delivered food to the mess halls. Twice a day, they hauled away the best garbage to the hog farm. "This garbage is found to be excellent pig food , much better than that found in city garbage," pig-farm foreman Shutaro Matsumura reported. , , Another man noted the efficiency of the setup: "The hogs ate everything we left and ultimately we ate the hogs."