March 10th, 2019

AD= Alicia Davies

TB= Tony Bucci

MB= Mina Bucci

.

.

.

.

.

. 

.

AD: Ok Nonno, when did you come to Canada?

TB: 1960.

AD: And did you come alone?

TB: Me, 3 brothers and my mum.

AD: And how did you get here?

TB: By boat to Halifax, then by train.

AD: And how was that? Did you get sea sick at all?

TB: Yes, I did. Only me. Yup.

AD: Really? Only you? And you were throwing up, or were you just dizzy?

TB: Ya, I threw up. I just stayed in the cabin.

AD: Was that the first time you were on a boat?

TB: Yup. First time travel.

AD: How long did it take? How many days?

TB: 9 days on the boat and 2 days on the train.

AD: Was it hard to get to Canada? Were you asked a lot of questions?

TB: No, I don’t even remember what they asked but my brother, he was bigger than me, so he was answering all the questions. Ha ha ha!

AD: Ok, so how old were you then when you came to Canada?

TB: I was 17.

AD: 17, ok. So what made you decide to come to Canada? Your family just decided that they were going to come here?

TB: Ya, well my father came here 2 years before, and then, ya, my uncle was here (my father’s brother) then my dad and another brother came over, and then he got us over here too.

AD: So where in Italy did you immigrate from?

TB: Sicily.

AD: Is there a smaller town in Sicily where you’re from, or just Sicily?

TB: Sicily, ya. The town of Augusta. Augusta is surrounded by the ocean with a bridge to go.

AD: So is it like a little island?

TB: Sort of like, ya. But we lived on a farm.

AD: Were there lots of animals on the farm?

TB: Ya, not lots but we had a few.

AD: What kind of animals did you have?

TB: Oh, we had cows, we had dogs, cats, donkeys. Ha ha! Ya.

AD: Do you remember what you packed to bring with you to Canada?

TB: Not very much.

AD: Not very much? Just some clothes?

TB: Just some clothing, ya. Good heavy pair of pajamas because they told us it was cold here so.

AD: Ok, so you weren’t able to bring a lot obviously?

TB: Well we didn’t really have a lot.

AD: You brought less than Nonna brought then.

TB: Oh ya, she brought 2 big trunks.

AD: 2 trunks? Oh my. So, there were people you were meeting here? You were meeting your Dad here in Canada?

TB: Ya, my Dad.

AD: So, he had a house already, all set up for you guys?

TB: Yes.

AD: So what city was it that you immigrated to?

TB: Toronto.

AD: Toronto? So that’s where your first house was?

TB: Yes.

AD: So then, how did you get to Toronto? Did you take the train all the way there?

TB: Well, from Halifax to Union Station we came with the train and then my uncle and my dad came to pick us up at the station.

AD: And were there lots of other Italians there where you moved to in Toronto?

TB: There was a few, ya. There was some.

AD: Was the transition from Italy to Canada easy for you? Do you remember it being difficult at all? Do you miss Sicily a lot?

TB: Well, at the beginning yes, because see we left Sicily in January and in Sicily January is still warm, but when we got here there was 2 feet of snow, ha ha! And it was cold so it was a little bit difficult in the beginning, but it got easier.

AD: Do you miss Italy? Do you miss it at all?

TB: Not now, no. Not really, no, because now we have everyone here – we have our family here – I got nobody there so...

AD: At the time, what was it specifically that you missed? Did you miss the farm, or a specific place?

TB: Ya, ya. I missed the place where I lived.

AD: Did you have a lot of land there since you had a farm?

TB: Ya, we had about 10 acres. We had vineyards, we had olive trees, ya, lots of grapes, lots of olives. We used to do the wheat, the grain, ya. We did everything on the farm.

AD: What kind of olives were they? Were they green or black olives?

TB: Well, you know olives start green and then turns brown.

AD: I did not know that.

TB: Ha ha ha, ya see? You can pick them green or you can leave them longer and they turn black.

AD: So you had lots of olives.

TB: Ya.

AD: So, do you want to go back to Sicily at all now?

TB: No.

AD: Do you have any family there still, or no?

TB: No. Actually, I do. I have a cousin in Sicily, ya.

AD: So, then at the time, was there still a lot of family in Sicily? Were you communicating with anyone there?

TB: Well, we had friends, but family, we had my uncle who lived there and my cousins, that’s about all the family I had there.

AD: So, most of your family was already here?

TB: Other family was in Abbruzzi because that’s where we originated from.

AD: Oh wow, I didn’t know that.

TB:  In the Northern part of Italy. Sicily is in the South.

AD: So, do you remember moving to Sicily then?

TB: No. I was born in Sicily. Ya, my parents moved there soon after they got married.

AD: Why? Do you know why?

TB: It was a better life there than in Abbruzzi, ya.

AD: There were more jobs? Is that what you mean?

TB: Ya.

AD: How did you learn to speak English?

TB: I went to night school first.

AD: Here in Canada?

TB: Here in Canada, ya, where else? Then I start working and I used to go to night school. And then in the winter when we couldn’t work outside because I used to work in construction, so when I couldn’t work outside, so I went to day school but not with like a regular school. This was... like learning English and I took a course of blueprint reading and drawings, stuff like that and I took English I was going during the day at Central Technical School.

AD: Was that in Toronto?

TB: Yup, in Toronto, ya.

AD: Did you go with your brothers too? Were they also going to school?

TB: No, I was doing it by myself.

AD: Did you go to school in Italy at all?

TB: Yes, up to 5^th grade, ha ha!

AD: Did you have a large class?

TB: Oh ya, 20, at least 20 students or more.

AD: And you walked to school every day?

TB: Ya, about 2 and a half miles, ha!

AD: How long did that take?

TB: About an hour, a little over an hour.

AD: Wow, by yourself?

TB: My brothers, my cousin sometimes, it depends. Sometimes I was by myself. Sometimes the teacher, because the teacher came from another town, so he had a scooter, sometimes he’d meet me on the road and pick me up, ha ha!

AD: Oh, that’s nice.

TB: Ya.

AD: So, did that teacher teach you a lot of different subjects? Did you have more than 1 teacher?

TB: No, one teacher. Each class had a teacher – 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd grade, you know. When you’re in the third grade, no the 4^th grade, it was a priest. The priest was doing the teaching.

AD: What was your first job when you were in Sicily?

TB: I just working on the farm.

AD: Just working on the farm? So what was your first job when you came to Toronto?

TB: Working in construction, building homes and buildings and stuff.

AD: Did you have to train for that?

TB: No, they just take you and say “go to work”. Not those days. These days maybe, ya, you have to do training. Those days, no, they just put you there and.... work.

AD: Why did you decide to become a Canadian citizen?

TB: Well, it’s convenient and um, after so many years...

AD: And you did it before Nonna did it right?

TB: Actually, we did it at the same time. Didn’t we do it at the same time?

MB: Oh, I don’t remember. Ya, we went both together.

MB: Oh ya, ya. That’s true, ya.

AD: So, it was convenient, it made sense, that’s why?

TB: Ya.

AD: Do you have any regrets about moving to Canada?

TB: No, no. I got such nice family here now, ha ha!

AD: We’re ok, we’re good family ha ha ha?

TB: Ya, we got you, so... ha ha!

AD: You would probably say that your life got better since you moved here?

TB: Ya.

AD: How and when did you meet Nonna?

TB: Ha ha! See, I lived on Earlscourt Avenue and um, I moved there in January, 1960. And she came to Canada in 1966. So, then she moved next door to me, ha ha, because her sister lived there. So, and that’s it. Then we met and um, we kind of liked each other and that was it. The year after, we were married, ha ha!

MB: What, you think you find better? Ha ha!

AD: So how old were you when you met her? 23?

TB: I was 23, ya.

AD: What did you like about her?

TB: Everything.

AD: Everything? What does that mean?

TB: Well, she was nice looking, she was nice, ha ha!

MB: You forgot to say beautiful!

TB: She was beautiful, ha ha ha!

MB: laughing...

AD: I asked Nonna this too – was it difficult to understand each other at first at all, being from different parts of Italy?

TB: No, no. No problem there.

AD: So when did you decide that you wanted to marry her?

TB: Right then.

AD: Really, did you have to ask your Dad first?

TB: No.

AD: You just told him?

TB: Ya, “I’m getting married”, that’s it, ha ha!

AD: Hope you can make it? ha ha!

AD: So how did you ask Nonna that?

TB: How I asked Nonna?

AD: Ya, how did you ask Nonna to marry you?

TB: Oh, oh, I don’t know if I remember. How did I ask you?

MB: Uh, just talking?

TB: I don’t know, we were just talking because she used to go to work and then she would come home from St. Clair and she would walk home.

MB: And I didn’t like to stay here, so we decide to get married.

TB: She didn’t really like it here in St. Clair, Toronto because of stuff or whatever. Anyways, and then she met me.  I would just go walk down the street and walk her home, and we’re talking and this and that, and then I asked her if she had a boyfriend, ha ha! She said no. I, we had a fight then, we were split and then...

MB: I have the ring. You said why you no take the ring off?

TB: Oh, I don’t remember that.

MB: Ya, ha ha! I said I don’t know, I still have but...

TB: ha ha!

AD: So you had a ring from someone in Italy?

MB: Ya, you know the... no the really engagement ring, but the...

AD: Promise ring?

MB: Yes, the promise ring. It was just like, like this, just a band, ya, ya.

AD: So Nonno, you got lucky then?

TB:  Ya.

AD: So then, do you remember where you got married and what year it was? Was it the next year? Was it 1967?

TB: Well, she came here on October 13, 1966 and we got married on October 14, 1967.

AD: Wow, so did you guys ever go on a date, or just walking with each other?

TB: No, that time, we couldn’t go on a date then.

MB: No. One time, we had to go to the wedding and I was bridesmaid and he was usher, and my brother in law, he had come along, ya ya.

TB: Chaperone, ha ha! Oh ya, not like these days, ha ha!

AD: So that was before you were married right?

TB: Uh huh.

AD: So, was your family able to come to the wedding? They were all here already?

TB: Oh ya, oh ya. We had what, 600 people at the wedding.

AD: Oh my gosh!

MB: Ya, that time were a lot of people.

AD: Really, wow!

TB: Those days you invite a lot of people, just a friend and you say “Oh, I’m getting married, you wanna come?”

MB: 600 people, ya.

AD: Did you get a lot of gifts or just bustas?

MB: No , like busta, even they put, you know, the santo, la figurina di la Madonnina, anno messo.

TB: Ya?

MB: And 3 sisters they put $5 dollars for envelope a la busta.

TB: Those days that’s what it was.

MB: They just put $5 dollars. Family with 5 or 6 people, they put $15 dollars. They no have lots money that time.

TB: We had lunch and dinner, so by lunch time, we were about 150 people.

MB: Ya, maybe 200. All the mostly relatives, very, very close.

AD: Did you have it in a big reception hall?

TB: Ya, big hall. The biggest one ha ha! It was brand new hall, brand new. Those times for a plate we would pay, what $4.50 or something.

MB: Ya, we pay $4.50 both the dinner and lunch.

TB: For both, lunch and dinner, you know.

AD: Was that considered expensive or was that still a good price?

TB: It was ok, but those days, he did a good price for us actually because it was so many people and he still make money on it.

AD: Do you know if the hall still exists? Or do you think it’s gone?

TB: I don’t know. I haven’t been over that way in a long time. I don’t know if they still there or not.

AD: So then when did you guys move after you moved in together?

TB: Well, after we got married we lived in my dad’s house where I lived for what, 2 years, about 2 years, ya.

MB: Ya, 2 years.

TB: Then we bought a house in Malton – we moved there 1970. Um, ya 1970. Actually, we bought it in 70, but we moved in January 1971.

AD: Right next door to your brother, right Nonno?

TB: Ya, right after your mum was born, next door to my brother.

AD: And, Nonna was saying that he moved away after a few years?

TB: Ya.

AD: Why did he move away? Did he not like his house anymore?

TB: No, no, he had a… he was working with the insurance company and he had an office farther down and so he decided to go over there - he bought a bigger house.

AD: And you guys stayed in that house in Malton for how long?

TB: We stayed there for 31 years. We moved in 2000.

AD: To this house?

TB: To this house, ya.

AD: What kind of Italian traditions do you still keep? I know you still make soppressata.

TB: We still make the vino, we make salami, soppressata, sausages, sauce…

MB: Salsa, and all the stuff in the jar – peperoni, melanzani, lots e lots stuff ya, faggiolini.

AD: How long does it take to make 1 soppressata?

TB: Well, ha ha, we make a whole bunch, we make them all at the same time. You don’t make them 1 by one. Before it dries, it takes about a month before it dries, ya. You buy the meat, you cut it, all the bad grease out of there, all the bad stuff, clean it up good. Then grind it – today you grind it, put all the salt and spices in, then leave it overnight. Then next day you feel the “come si chiamano?”

MB: Cosa? Alle budelle. It’s the skin, like you know you peel the skin, ya.

TB: Ya, the casings.

MB: Oh casings, ya, ya that’s what they call.

TB: Ha ha! And that’s it, then we hang them up – the ones you put in the freezer we let them dry for about 2 days and then we put them, vacuum packed them, and put them in the freezer. And whatever we wanna leave to dry we just leave them out until you know they’re ready.

AD: Yes, until they’re ready. You check them?

TB: Oh ya, ya.

AD: For your vino, did you used to mash the grapes yourself?

TB: I did. I used to way back. I used to buy the grapes, mash them and then ferment them and put it away.

AD: How did you mash them? With your feet?

TB: Ha ha ha! Oh ya, we used to do that in Sicily because we had lots, we had a place like a room like this kitchen and my uncle would chack, chack, chack with his big boots with all nails sticking out of them, and we just jump in because we’re kids, ha ha. But here, here we had a machine.

AD: You had a machine to squish the grapes?

TB: We had a machine, a grinding machine.

AD: So how do you make your vino?

TB: Just like that, you mash the grapes and then let it ferment for 3,4 days in a barrel and after that we put it in the press and squeeze the wine out.

AD: And then do you put it in the damiggiana when it’s ready?

TB: In the damiggiana ya, when it’s ya, after we squeeze it it’s sweet, then so then we put it in the damiggiana or in another barrel for 2,3 days, let it ferment – it ferments, boils and after a few days when the fermentation stops, it settles, you leave it there for a couple more days and then you put it away in the damiggiana. By then it’s kind of sour, not sour, but it’s not sweet anymore.

AD: So when do you put it in bottles?

TB: After 2 or 3 months. Make sure everything settles and it becomes clear. Ya, that’s when you change it over and put it in bottles or gallons or other damiggiana. Ya, then leave it there for maybe 3,4 months and then you can start drinking it.

AD: So do you have any other stories you can tell me?

TB: I don’t know, what stories?

AD: I’m sure you have lots of stories.

TB: I don’t remember them, ahaha, like what?

AD: A funny story maybe?

MB: Quando portavamo le kids at the beach..

TB: Oh, we used to go, well not camping, but every, no every Saturday, no mostly on Sundays, the kids were small, we used to go out to the park, a lake, and spend the day there, have fun with few friends, relatives and we would jump in the water, the lake, and or else we would be playing ball, or play cards and drink the vino, ha ha!

MB: Ya, we did lots of that. Ya, we used go always in the summer time, it was nice time. We bring the steaks and do barbecue.

TB: Oh ya, we bring the barbecue, we set it up.

MB: For lunch we cook here and then we go, but for dinner we do barbecue, ya.

TB: And then, ok that’s like us, her sister, maybe couple other relatives or friends…

MB: Ya, le compari.

AD: They had kids too probably?

MB: Ya, ya.

TB: Mmhmm. Oh ya, well the kids all play together, ya.

TB: It was right over here, it was close to here, no it wasn’t here.  Malton, in the park there, a little lake, where the water thing is now. Indian Line water park – what’s it called? With the slides, ya.

AD: Ya Nonno, that’s a water park now – Wild Water Kingdom.

TB: Ya, it was right there. We went there, we were there, our compare was there, we just yapping, or whatever. That time, we went, we went to that, no that was another time when it started raining and we came here.

MB: Quella volta e stato pure.

TB: Was it here? That same time?

MB: The same time, ya.

TB: Anyway, then the weather got bad, it started raining, pouring rain and wind, and we were not far from where we lived so I said, ok well let’s go home – we’ll cook barbecue there. So everybody was there cooking barbecue by the house.

AD: That sounds like fun. I was wondering, did you have horses on your farm in Sicily?

TB: No, no horses. I had a donkey.

AD: Did you ride the donkey?

TB: Yes, it threw me down. It threw me down 2 times. One time, one time it was just running and galloping whatever and then you know, we used to put the clothes outside to dry after you wash them, and there was the line across there from one tree to another tree, so the donkey’s going through there and I got caught by the wire and “poof” fall down, ha ha!

AD: Oh wow!

TB: Another time, because we used to, after we cut the grapes down, we bring the horses there, or not the horses, we bring the cows, the cows or the donkey – we tie it to a tree or something – he’s there free, not free, he’s tied up, but he eats there and everything. So one time, I went to pick him up to bring him back home – it wasn’t far, it was from here to…. up the street over there. Anyways, I tried to get on him and he start kicking and jumping and everything and I couldn’t even get on, ha ha!

AD: He didn’t like you, ha ha!

TB: He didn’t like me that time, ha ha! And I used to work next door, not next door, next farm over where he had orange orchards, mandarine, all kinds of vegetables growing, lemon trees and all this stuff, so I used to go work over there for him and one time I was, he had a mule – he had 2 mules, ha ha, so I got on one of these mules and he’s just walking nice and then he didn’t threw me down, I fell down after I hit a tree branch; a branch from the lemon tree sticking out, he he. So ha, he just walk into it “boom” there and threw me down. So as I fell down, he stops right there. He didn’t move. So I fell down and then because the mule was tall right, so I couldn’t just get up on him, I had to go somewhere he would be in a lower spot where I could be higher so I could get on again, a ha ha ha, oh ya!

AD: So did you have to pick the lemons and the oranges? What would you do?

TB: Ya, we would pick them. Well, when it’s time to pick the oranges, they like they sell them on the tree. So there’s the people that come and they just pick them. Ya, a whole bunch of people maybe 10 and they come with the truck, just load them and take them away. But we could go over there anytime and pick whatever we want.

AD: Did you get in trouble?

TB: No, no, never, never. Well, as long as you only pick just 1 or 2. How may can you eat?

AD: Ya, as long as you don’t pick the whole tree.

TB: Ya, that’s it, it was fun.

AD: What other kinds of fun things did you do in Sicily?

TB: I would get on a bike when I started to learn the bike, then I learned by myself, nobody was teaching me, and it wasn’t like a little bike, it was a big bike. So you know how the bike has the top bar and then you know, so we just stick the foot in there and pedal like this a little bit ha ha ha, until I was able to get on top. Ya, then see because we were growing the grapes and other vegetables, tomatoes, melons and that stuff, we would take them to the town and sell them to – there was a store – and they would buy them. And eggs too – we had chickens ya, fresh – everybody usually asking for eggs, fresh eggs. And so I would go to town, I would load my bike. My father, after, my father bought me a new bike and I was what 15 – 14, 15 at the time, and I would go to town with the bike loaded with whatever stuff, bring them to the store.

AD: I hope you never fell.

TB: It was about 3 quarters of an hour ride or more. And rough road – not just nice – until I get to the asphalt road it was all rough. Many places I just had to push the bike, ha ha, ya. I had to go over rocks and stuff you know, farm roads.

AD: Did your family have a car?

TB: No car, no, the bicycle was the best car, he he. We’re lucky we had the bicycle, ya that’s about it. Go into town, stay there, I go to the movie or something. There was a strip in the town that in the night everybody was, people walking back, just people walking and yapping. That’s it. I was full every night.

AD: So you could watch a movie in a theatre, or outside?

TB: There was a theatre, there was 2 theatres that was open – the top was open and the other one was closed and we could watch a movie there or over there. Actually, the one that was open was in the ocean he he, they built them both right by the ocean, on top there.

AD: That’s so pretty.

TB: And there’s another funny thing. My brother, Uncle Joe and I, we would fight.

AD: Is Uncle Joe the oldest?

TB: Yes, he’s the oldest, and we would fight now and then you know, whatever, but this time we were skipping rope both together, so he’s taller and I’m a little shorter and skipping rope, skipping rope. All of a sudden my head hit his chin so one tooth fell out but it was good because he had a double tooth so that tooth that was stickin’ out, fell out, he he!

AD: So you did him a favour then?

TB: Ya, ya, he he he! And we, there was this tree in the back – it was a big tree but it had this big branch, like this going out nice and straight flat, so we made a swing there, but not with the rope or whatever, a big chain, big chain. We had some, I don’t know how we got it, we had it there, a big chain and this chain had links about this long, ya, so…

AD: Was it heavy?

TB: Ya, so it was about that thick, and Ok, on the top by the branch we put some rags and whatever so we tied the regular chain there and then coming down about half way and then we hang these big link chains so at the bottom we had this link about this much flat that you could sit on right, I used to swing there like crazy. You go up, hanging there, hanging on with my legs like a monkey.

MB: come nu big baby.

TB: We used to climb trees there like crazy. Ya, all the trees there wasn’t one tree that we couldn’t climb, he he. Oh ya, I used to swing there like crazy and my mother, actually my aunt, would yell “tony, don’t do that, you gonna fall” or something like that. And I say “oh don’t worry, I don’t fall.  I hang there good, he he.

AD: Did you ever hurt yourself?

TB: No, no, not on the swing, no. One time my brother Nick, he’s walking up on the dirt road right and my aunt is walking that way exactly – she’s walking that way, he’s walking this way, so one place we meet so my brother is limping, and my aunt says “Hey Nick, what’s the matter, why you limping?” He says “my foot hurts”. She says “which foot is hurting?” He says “I don’t know if it’s this one or that one”, he he, he didn’t know which foot was hurting, but he was limping anyways, he he he, funny eh?

AD: Ahaha!

TB: We would go up the trees and catch the, the little birds in the nest, oh ya, we catch them.

AD: Catch them? What would you do with them?

TB: Oh, we would just get them, we would put them back – what are you gonna do with them?

AD: So you would just look at them and then put them back? That’s cute.

TB: Ya, but ya, if there was a nest in the tree, we had to check, he he he, ya. Another time, there was the olive trees, sometimes they were cut, this tree had the top cut off and then all the branches growing, anyway on the top there was like a hole and, in the trunk, so usually the birds would go there and nest inside there, so I put my stick I had in there to see if there was a nest or whatever, and instead there was a snake, he he he!

AD: Oh my!  Oh no!

TB: It didn’t bite me, but…

AD: Did you grab it? How did you know it was a snake?

TB: I don’t remember what I did, but I knew it was a snake. It was cold and whatever and he he he

AD: Oh my, that’s crazy Nonno!

TB: And you know, the snakes, we had black snakes, white snakes, they were about this long, they were nothing. They weren’t dangerous, no. They have like a skin, a second skin, so in the summer time when it’s hot sometimes they just crawl wherever and they leave the skin, their outer skin, ya.

AD: They shed.

TB: Ya, but you see this piece, it’s all about that long, it’s all one piece – it’s just the snake skin, he he!

AD: Ya, we have them at work because we have snakes at work, so whenever they’re growing, they shed their skin and we keep them to see how small they started out and how big they’re getting.

TB: Oh ya, ya. We find this piece, this whole one piece, ya. You know, I had a sling shot right, well, we all had sling shots there - me, my brothers, my cousin whatever, ya.

AD: Did you have to make it yourself?

TB: Ya, ya. Oh ya, we go to the field and find this nice branch that has the curve like that you know and cut it, make a sling shot. And we would hunt birds or snakes, or lizards, you know there, he he!

AD: With a rock? What would you shoot?

TB: Rocks, little rocks. And, um, shooting anything - we’re good at it. I remember one time it was summer time, and I was just walking and looking for birds and if you get the birds, we eat them eh? We cook them and eat them. And then there’s this snake about this long, nice in the sun, on a rock wall and I say ya, it’s about from here to there, the corner, so I “ping” – get it right in the head. This thing just rolled down there, he he!

AD: Did you eat the snake?

TB: No, we don’t eat snakes, he he he, just kill them.

AD: Ha nice, that’s nice Nonno. Wow! Did you ever shoot the sling shots at each other?

TB: No I don’t think so, dangerous.

AD: Ya, that would hurt.

TB: That’s about it from there. I do miss the outdoors, I like the outdoor a lot. On Easter, on Easter Sunday – no, no Easter Monday, like we lived in a town and all the people from the town and whatever, they would go, they would go on the farms and stuff just to walk if usually it’s a nice day and it’s a lot of people go walking all over the fields and, from the town, they came from the town and they just go walking around the farm by the, on the roads just, ya, and that was a good day for us too because we would get on the bike and go around here and there, ya just going around, otherwise you had to work, he he, very nice.

AD: So, I know that you love your garden.

TB: Mhmm.

AD: So what’s your favourite thing to grow? Everything?

TB: Everything. I like to grow everything, but we grow broccoli that we eat, and lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, we grow all that. I like to do that, ya, radicchio, squash, cucumber.

AD: Is that a plum tree that you have there in the backyard?

TB: Yup, that’s a plum tree.

AD: And you don’t have the cherry tree anymore?

TB: No, the cherry tree’s gone. It got sick, I had to take it out. But the plum tree is still there.

AD: And it makes good plums?

TB: Used to.

AD: What’s wrong with them now?

TB: Well, it needs to be sprayed in the fall and the spring and I haven’t been doing that lately, so…

AD: For bugs?

TB: Ya, I have to do that, ya. I have to start doing it back again. There’s a cherry tree across there see? Next door, across the back.

AD: Oh really? That’s a big one.

TB: Ya.

AD: And you’re still working?

TB: I’m still working, I’m only 67… 76, only 76, he he!

AD: You’re so young. What are you doing now? What is your job?

TB: Trailer repair – transport trailer repair like straight frames and doing welding and all that kind of stuff, ya.

AD: And did you have to go to learn how to do that? Did you have to go to school for that?

TB: Actually no, I just learned it as I went along. Ya, I didn’t have to go to school.

AD: And do you like it or do you just do it because you have to?

TB: Oh ya, I kind of like it, ya. Well, that’s what I learned to do, ya, I kind of like it, I like it, I like it, or else I wouldn’t still be doing it, ha ha!

AD: That’s good Nonno.

TB: That’s it. Oh here, you know in the summer time, we used to go pick up tomatoes to make the sauce. Ya, we used to go in the farm, get up early in the morning and take off.

AD: Because you can’t grow enough tomatoes in your little garden…

TB: Ah hour, we drive for an hour, go to this big farm, there’s all these tomatoes all over, so you pick them.

AD: How many bushels do you usually do?

TB: Well, we used to go pick about 8 bushels, 10 bushels.

MB: Yes before because they was small but we did, ya, and then 10, 20 bushels ya. We used to do lots of roasted peppers and eggplant.

AD: You still do a little bit right?

TB: Ya, we used to do more, before ya, we’d go and pick them on the farm. I used to go pick rapini on the farm, oh faggioli, beets.

AD: Do you grow rapini at all, or no?

TB: I used to, I used to but I don’t have too much room now, but I did. When we lived in Malton, I used to grow rapini and even here, but not too much, and broccoli, kale, all kinds of vegetables. And then we, we eat what we eat and then we freeze it. In the summer time we freeze it, in the winter we eat it, he he he!

AD: And for the tomatoes, do we make sauce twice a year?

TB: Once, well sometimes twice, but you know I mean this week and then maybe next week.

AD: When do you usually make the sauce?

MB: Usually end of August. Sometimes we do 10, 20 bushels we do, ya.

AD: So August, September then?

TB: Ya, ya, end of August, beginning of September.

AD: Why at that time? Because the tomatoes are available then?

TB: That’s when they’re ready. That’s when they’re ripe, ya.

AD: So probably most people do it around the same time then?

TB: Oh ya, everybody does it then. That’s the only time for tomatoes.

AD: Are the tomatoes expensive?

TB: Well, used to be much less expensive, but now they getting more expensive, but still it’s worth it to do it.

AD: Yes, definitely.

TB: You pay about $21 dollars for a bushel, but that’s ok. You make good sauce out of it, he he!

AD: And it lasts about a year?

TB: It will last for the whole year or more, for the whole family see? You like tomato, or the tomato sauce that Nonna makes, ya?

AD: Ya, I don’t know what I would do without it Nonno, he he he! I would cry, I would cry every day.

TB: Nice, well you can buy them in the store.

AD: No, no that’s not the same.

TB: No, I know. Zia tried it once and nobody liked it.

AD: It’s gross, not good. You can tell and it tastes yuck.

TB: Ok, so that’s about it.