5 Invaluable Life Lessons from Immigrant Farmworkers’ Daughter

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Left picture: My parents circa 1974.  Right Picture:  My father and his family, circa 1969.  Both pictures taken in Watsonville, CA.

I was 10 years old when I got my first gig working in the strawberry fields in Watsonville, California.  I recall my mother waking me up at 5 am with a glass of warm chocomil—“Spanglish” for hot chocolate milk.  She asked me to drink it and quickly get dressed-up the way we had rehearsed the night before, including beat-up jeans, long button-down shirt, handkerchief over hair and forehead, hoodie sweater to fight the cold in the morning and hat to protect against the sun once it rose.  Soon after we heard a car honk.  We knew it was my aunt and uncle giving us a ride to work so we grabbed our plastic lunch bag my mother had prepared earlier that morning and rushed out the door.   On the car ride I was feeling anxious about my work ahead and excited at the prospect of making money for myself.  I was then at an age in which I  was expected by my parents to make my own money to pay for my yearly expenses of school supplies and occasional purchase of clothing at Kmart.  Sounds like a harsh start to one’s teen-life but it was not when one's parents were seasonal immigrant strawberry field workers in California earning a combined income of $20,000 per year and raising 4 children.  

Today, as a 37-year old, I find myself reflecting on the lessons I learned working in the strawberry fields that froze through my gloves and burnt through my skin as I planted strawberries as a 10 years old child.  In exploring this journey of my past and the connections between Watsonville, strawberries and its farmworkers, the following five life lessons come alive.  

1.  Feel and Cherish Where Food Comes From

While many can claim that they know where food comes from, few can claim they have felt it.  To be able to feel where food comes from you have to experience the toll of waking up before the sun rises, the process of planting, nourishing, growing the plants that bear fruit and eventually enduring more hard labor in picking the fruit, often in deplorable conditions.  Ladies, imagine what it would feel like to work 12 hours per day, pregnant, no running water, and no toilets for a mere $3/hour.  This was the fate of my mother.  So ultimately, to feel where food comes from is to see food as a gift (even when paid for) and to appreciate the hard work and hardship of those that endured to make it available to us!

2.  Appreciate Every Meal

Every meal is important to me. I become *hangry* if I skip a meal. I’m always searching for the most delectable places to eat, regardless of where I happen to be, or the freshest ingredients for my home prepared meals.  During breakfast, I’m already planning lunch and sometimes dinner.  I have my parents and the agricultural fields to thank for this delicious mania. While working in the fields provided my parents a modest income, it was enough so that we never experienced hunger but uncertain enough that we were frequently reminded to eat in case circumstances changed.  My parents would often bring home an allotted quantity of freshly picked strawberries that we would either enjoy or barter with our neighbors for other produce they picked that day.  So every day we enjoyed modest but delicious meals that never went unnoticed or under appreciated. To this day, this same feeling remains within me.

3.  When Giving Up is Not an Option, Don’t Hesitate to Push Through

Although I was only 10 years old when I worked in the strawberry fields for the first time, I clearly remember how exhausted I was by the time that noon rolled around.  Our 30-minute lunch break did not seem long enough.  Worst of all, we were only half ways through the required planting for the day.  This was my first real life lesson…when giving up is not an option, don't hesitate to push through!  I had no choice but to continue working.  I’ve applied this lesson throughout my life, especially when circumstances seem bleak yet giving up is not an option.  This has gotten me through sleepless nights taking care of my father after his stroke and completing work assignments that never seem to end.  Each time I find a way to dig deep and pull through!

4.  Fight for Your Dreams and Achieve the Impossible

As a 10 year old I had another life changing event.  My science teacher approached my father and said that if I applied myself then I could go to college one day.  To this my father replied that as a girl, I would not be going to college.  Hearing my father say this and having experienced his and my own hardship working in the fields I was both devastated and convinced to fight for the impossible and go to college.  I held this dream close to my heart by excelling academically and striving for an opportunity to go to college.  Every step of the way I met resistance from my parents. But the resistance came not only from them.  My high school counselor told me and my parents that even with my great academic background I was better off attending a community college or public school, not private college and certainly not Stanford University.  As it turns out, years later I received almost a full ride scholarship to Stanford University where I earned an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and later in my career I returned to obtain a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.  The lesson here is incredibly simple yet profoundly valuable:  fight for your dreams no matter what and you will achieve the so-called impossible!

5.  Treat Everyone with Dignity and Respect

I have been blessed to be family and friends with a broad range of people, from farm workers and janitors to doctors and venture capitalists. In choosing who I associate with I don’t care about their earnings but instead the quality of their character.  I endeavor to treat everyone with dignity and respect and to learn about their life stories which never fail to entice me and teach me about myself and my own life. 

Call to Action

Next time that you reach for a strawberry I hope that you remember my story and life lessons, that you enjoy the fruit and feel blessed that there are people in this world willing to put forth incredible work and sacrifice to give you such a delectable experience and that you don’t take it for granted!