Utah Valley Orchards

Utah Valley Orchards Interviewee: Fred Memmot (FM) Interviewer: Brad Barber (BB) Interview Location: LDS Church Welfare Farm 693 E 800 S, Orem, Utah Date: February 4, 2002 Note: Edited for clarity; NU=not understandable Overview 1. The LDS Church s basic philosophy behind welfare farms. 2. How the welfare farms work with volunteers and getting the food to needy people. 3. The Bishop s storehouse. 4. Working with the volunteers. 5. The benefits of volunteering. 6. The future of the Orem Welfare Orchards. 7. Producing more peaches. 8. Fred s responsibilities as farm manager. 9. A tree s reaction to drought. 10. His feelings about God s assistance with farm work. 11. Spiritual aspects of farm work 12. Volunteers learn farm work 13. He grew up on an orchard 14. More spiritual aspects of farm work

BB: For the record, will you say your name? FM: My name is Fred Memmot and I m the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (LDS) Welfare Farm manager here in Orem. BB: What s the LDS Church s basic philosophy behind welfare farms? FM: There s pretty much two main factors why they do it. One is to help produce food for the needy, and it also provides an opportunity for members to perform service for their fellowmen. BB: Can you explain how the welfare farms work, in terms of the volunteers and how you get the food to needy people? FM: We try to give LDS church members, or not necessarily just members but anyone that would like to come and serve, the opportunity to come and serve and help on the farm. They re able to learn how trees grow and how they can actually produce their own fruit in their yard. Here we grow apples, peaches and pears. Any simple tasks that can be done, that members can do or that volunteers would like to come in and do, we have them perform it. Anything that becomes more specialized, that we need better trained personnel to do, we hire to get that done. The fruit is harvested by the volunteers and from there our pears go to the Lindon cannery where they re canned and then shipped on to Welfare Square, to the Bishop s storehouse. We produce freshly-packed apples and also apples that are to be canned. The apples to be canned go to the cannery at Welfare Square. The apples that are to be freshly packed, also end up in the Bishop s storehouse. From there those that are in need, are able to come and take what they feel they need. BB: Is the Bishop s storehouse like a store, a place where people can come and shop? FM: Right, the Bishop s storehouse is pretty much a store. There s one at Welfare Square where people come and take what they need. I m not exactly sure how the whole thing works, if from there it s also shipped out because I know there s a lot of welfare facilities all over the United States and across the world. I believe the excess, what they don t need there is passed along to the other storehouses to be available to those in need in other places also. BB: How does it feel to work with these volunteers? FM: I enjoy working with them because they come with a loving heart, with the intention of serving, of giving to those who need it. They know they re doing the work for a purpose to help somebody that is lacking. Working with the volunteers brings a wonderful feeling of knowing you re helping someone that wants to help someone else. It is a satisfactory feeling knowing what you re doing is worthwhile; it s worth your time. BB: Tell us more about the benefits the volunteers get working on the farm. Memmott, Fred 2

FM: I believe most of them enjoy coming out and helping. They re able to get away from everyday life. Out in the orchard you re surrounded by green, by nature, and they re able to learn a few skills of growing trees what a tress needs, what it s supposed to look like to be able to get the maximum fruit capacity on it. They re able to work alongside their neighbor. It s not everyday that you get to work alongside your neighbor and chat with him and have a good time, have a good evening and be able to do productive work at the same time. BB: Are there any other ways that you feel that the Welfare Farm helps the community besides helping people get to know each other by working together? FM: It s a farm in the middle of the city, and it s not very often that you really get to see a farm in the city. It helps remind adults where the fruit actually comes from and the kids are able to see how a pear, how an apple is actually grown. It doesn t come from a box in the supermarket, but it actually comes from a tree and it starts out really small beginning with a flower and growing from there. BB: What do you think the future of the Welfare Farm in Orem is? Do you think they will keep the farm, and what type of fruit do you think they ll keep growing here? FM: I don t know how long it will be here for. I know that there are a lot of people that would like to buy it. If it continues to stay here, I believe the future will be producing more peaches than pears. Right now we re producing apples, peaches, and pears. We would most likely replant peaches in place of pears and hang onto a few apples also. BB: Why peaches over pears and apples? FM: Because we re short on peaches, we re not meeting the demand yet. The demand for pears is being met on other welfare farms, and so we would like to produce more peaches. BB: What do you do as a farm manager? FM: I do a wide range of activities here. We already mentioned working with the volunteers: I train them and help them feel comfortable working here. We first need to train them how to do the work properly as far as safety is concerned and then how to perform the task so it can be done correctly. The volunteers help us do a number of things. Right now they re helping to prune some of our apple trees, and they have helped prune pear trees also. They have helped get the weeds out of the younger trees, so they don t have to struggle so much for light. They have also helped us irrigate and that in and of itself is a very big task, just understanding the concept of how water works. I get to help train them doing that and it can be a challenge, but it s a satisfying challenge. I also get to work a lot with equipment. I do repair work on tractors, minor repairs, anything bigger than that I send it off to be done elsewhere because of the time that it takes to do it. I work along with the employees to help them feel comfortable at what they re doing. I let them know they re doing a good job, and make sure the job is getting done right. I help train a few employees. I hire the employees and decide whether they re productive for the farm. I m also able to do some of the paper work, not too much of the paperwork, but do a few things here on the computer. I read up on how to grow the trees better, what new ideas are Memmott, Fred 3

coming out on producing more crop per acre. We have meetings with the LDS Church members to help coordinate the volunteer service. It s fun to coordinate when to spray, when to water, and when to have the volunteers there. BB: Will you discuss spiritual connections in regards to fruit farming? FM: The scriptures tells us that every one of God s creations symbolizes His Son, Jesus Christ. I think it s just a miracle how trees grow, how from such a small seed they can grow into such a magnificent tree that produces food that one can eat, that sustains a person. The purpose of trees is to fulfill the measure of their creation to reproduce, and so obviously they will put out the fruit. It s interesting how they react to drought, because they know it could be their last year. A tree that s been in a drought, the first year it will put out an excess amount of fruit that it can t bear. In consequence the fruit will not get as big as you d like it to, but there will be a lot more seeds. Because it has produced so much fruit and stressed itself out, most likely the next year it will have very little fruit. It gives the tree a chance to recuperate and to come on stronger the year after that. BB: Last year there was a drought and it produced a lot more fruit, but it was smaller. This year, even though we have more water, they re not going to produce so much fruit because they gave so much last year? FM: It differs a little with different trees and how you irrigate them if you re able to keep them wet enough that they don t know there is a drought even though there s heat. But a normal tree, if you re not changing the natural atmosphere, would produce more blossoms. These trees here had a fairly good load last year. There were years before they were treated as if they were in a drought, and we did increase their production almost two and half times what it was the previous year. This was because the trees thought they d been in drought for many years. For a couple of years, not too many because of the system on which they were planted, they were not receiving the adequate amount of water that the tree required. We modified our irrigation system and got more water to the trees. When the trees produced blossoms and got the sufficient amount of water then they were able to take care of that amount of fruit. We had to thin to size it properly, and that took quite a bit of time. BB: How many acres do you have out here? FM: There s 35 acres, 30 are planted and we have about 15 acres in pears and the rest are in peaches. BB: What are the spiritual lessons that you feel like you ve learned from working with the orchards? FM: I ve grown a lot here, seeing the trees grow, knowing that God is there. He knows it s His orchard and He knows what our purpose is and He helps the trees grow. There were times when I thought I was going to lose the crop. I did what I could and called for help and the help was there. I ve seen many times where it was forecast to rain and we needed to get the spray out on Memmott, Fred 4

time and we were able to do it. The rain didn t come until after we were finished, things like that. It s pretty incredible. BB: You feel like you see God s relationship with the orchard and helping make sure everything happens okay? FM: Definitely. I think that was a major factor why we were able to produce as many pears as we did last year. It s been a struggle to produce enough pears to pay for themselves, and last year they produced two and a half, closer to three times as much as they had two years ago. I feel that was due to prayer. BB: Do you feel like working an orchard has helped you develop your own testimony or grow closer to God in a way? FM: As you work around an orchard or anything growing, you re able to feel kind of what it s feeling. You re able to see God s creation, and what He has done. It is neat to see how a tree grows out of nothing. Definitely, I feel that by working around trees, it has helped me think more of what God s creation is and the magnitude of what He has done. As you re growing the tree and you re wanting it to do good, you can kind of feel that it really does have a spirit, that it s part of God s creation and it s there to benefit man. It s a wonderful thing to see how they grow and to see how they do have feelings. It s quite interesting. BB: What type of feelings? FM: You can see when the plant is sad. You can see when the plant is happy. They re just really interesting. Maybe I m just walking the line, but as I work with them, to me, it s like they feel, like they re really some, not necessarily a person, but it s alive. It s alive and it breathes air just like you and I and it wants to grow just like you and I and become a meaningful tree. BB: I believe it. Is there anything else you d like to talk about? FM: Working on the farm is a great opportunity for anyone that would like to perform service for those that don t have enough. It s an excellent way to become involved and to learn how an orchard works, to know how plants and trees are grown. You need to know what nutrients they need and when you should apply them. If you apply them at the wrong time of the year, the tree is not able to use them. There s quite a bit in growing an orchard. BB: Did you have any experience with orchards or farming where you grew up in Mexico? FM: I grew up on an orchard. My Dad did nursery stock, so I was around that quite a bit. I learned how young trees grow, how to graft them, fertilize them, and prune them to become the tree that you want them to become. I had that background before I started working here which has been a very big help to me. With that background, I can recognize when a tree is not doing well I can recognize symptoms whether it s due to too much water or lack of water or if it has a bug and sometimes it can be all three. Memmott, Fred 5

BB: Does your Dad still do that? FM: He does. BB: Anything else? FM: I ve been thinking about it recently, how orcharding can be a very hard job to perform. You can take an outlook on farming as two different aspects. On an orchard, a farm, you never run out of work. There s always something that you ve got to do and as soon as you finish it, there s something else. Man cannot keep going and going and going and going. We re not the Energizer Bunny. We ve got to take time out and put perspectives into life, what s most important, what are we here for? We re not put here on the earth just to work. We work to help sustain us in life, we re not here to live to sustain the work. What I ve been able to see in orcharding and noticing successful people, those that are successful and spiritual tend to come more to the Lord with their problems instead of going out and trying to do them all. We can t do them all. The Lord puts problems in our path to help us grow and we can t overcome every trial by ourselves. Quite a few people continue to go out and try to conquer the orchard by themselves and you just cannot do it. That s when it s important to remember the Lord. Do the best you can but say, I need to live my life, but I do need money. That s when the factor comes in to call upon the Lord to have Him help you to be able to produce the crop that you need to sustain yourself. I think a lot of people forget to call upon the Lord. You can take two sides in orcharding. It can either draw you a lot closer to the Lord because you need Him to help you produce your crop or you can draw further away, and you will draw further away because you forget to take time to ponder about it. You get so involved in things that you have to do that you forget to take time to see what He would have you do. We re in the year 2002 now. How many years have people been producing fruit, producing orchards? Yes, we are much more successful, but there are still many people that tomorrow will not be farming because they weren t able to make it. With all the knowledge and experience that is in the world, they should be able to be successful. The Lord wants us to turn to Him, acknowledge His hand, that He can help, and that He s there. We will never understand exactly how a tree produces fruit and the only one that knows is the Lord. We forget that He knows and we try to do it by ourselves and we just can t do it. We can t do it. We need His help. My focus this coming year is to try not to do it all by myself, but to recognize that the Lord is there to help. He said He s not going to leave us alone, and so we shouldn t act like we re alone, we should ask Him to help. BB: I think a lot of people become bitter about the entire lifestyle of orchards because it s hard to make any money by having your orchard in Orem nowadays. They become resentful about the experience. Maybe you can lose that connection you re talking about, thinking about what they re doing and why. FM: Definitely. There are a lot of people that do lose their orchards. Sometimes it may be God s plan, it may be what was intended for them, but maybe it wasn t intended. I sometimes feel, who would I be if I had a million dollars? I probably wouldn t be the person that I am today. I know I can be much better, but I m glad I m not a lot worse than what I am. I think money can play a big factor. I would like to have more money, of course, I m sure that everyone would like, but overall I would rather be closer to God than to have that extra money any day. Memmott, Fred 6