In case I haven't mentioned it, I was born in Hollywood and grew up in a Southern California orange orchard. That sounds glamorous, but it wasn't.
I grew up next door to my uncle's turkey farm. Wild turkeys are said to be smart; turkeys raised for market are some of the dumbest creatures on the planet. And they smell bad.
Farming is dangerous and dirty. I was run into by a tractor driven by my uncle. And working in the grove I suffered the injury that kept me out of the service.
My uncle needed to dispose of tons of turkey manure without hauling it long distances. We needed to enrich the soil of our orange orchard. It was a win-win solution. Our trees produced more and bigger fruit than our neighbors' trees as a result.
Gophers kill orange trees by chewing on the bark. I made the money to buy my first car running a trap line to kill gophers in our orchard.
