November 1938. "San Joaquin County, Calif. Pumpkins in barnyard to feed cows of rehabil­itation client." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

        The Dimotakis family farm in Manteca, California, was virtually self-sufficient and grew a variety of fruits: figs, apricots, peaches, loquats, dates, oranges, lemons, limes, mulberries, melons and grapes; vegetables and nuts: peas, beans, zucchini, avocados, olives, pecans, walnuts, almonds. It also included a functioning olive oil plant, dairy and aviary, and livestock, and there was an outdoor wood-burning oven for bread baking; and they kept bees for gathering honey. Most weekends there was a social gathering around food and drink that often included a goat or lamb rotating on a spit. (Source: Cathy Rundell, 2010, descendant of the Dimotakis family, owners of the farm in 1938.)