I met Grandpa Fred Schwald in July of 1948, when I became engaged to his grandson, L.O. Schwald.  
Fred lived in North Seattle, where he had purchased several acres, deeded his sons an acre each and kept the rest as 
the family homestead.  Grandpa raised a nice garden and flowers.  He was generous in answering my questions regarding 
pinching, pruning, and fertilizing. His favorite fertilizer was chicken manure, which he called sometimes “chicken schnitt”.
Fred often mentioned the soil and weather in Washington were very much like Germany.

He told me about taking the boat from La Havre, to America and New York, with no money and having stayed with relatives a 
short time there.  In Germany, he worked as a baker and the ovens were big brick things and heated with wood.  
He said he chopped enough wood in his life to heat all of Seattle!  Fred really liked black bread.

In the basement of the Seattle house, he made sauerkraut in crocks with a board on top, anchored by a big old rock. 
That stuff did smell!  He had a wooden contraption, with a blade that he used to slice the cabbage. In one corner of the 
cellar, was a section set aside like a root cellar where he kept apples, potatoes, and other vegetables for the winter.

Fred gave his land to Lester Sr. in return for lifetime care.  After all of the land was sold, they moved to Coeur d' Alene, 
Idaho.  I believe this was in 1950.  In Idaho, Grandpa put in a massive garden and his corn grew as high as the shed.  
I had never seen celery growing but he showed me how he took strips of cloth and tied the stocks together to keep them from 
spreading. He was always working, and said there was something to do out there every day.

In the evenings, he would sit in the rocking chair by the oil heater, & rock my eldest daughter, only 16 months old. 
Then he would put out a knobby finger for D. (age 5 months) to grab onto. Grandpa was a quiet man, but when he did speak, 
everyone listened.  He was kind but gruff.  If you pulled your own weight, then you were OK.  
I helped him outside while Delia took care of the girls and Grandpa showed me how to string peas & make teepees for the beans.
I remember very clearly, him being VERY specific about laying a tomato seedling on it’s side, in a little trench then 
covering the whole thing with soil, except for the very top.  He explained, this was to give the plant a better root system.
I have remembered that advice for over 53 years!

Grandpa Fred showed me the bedroom where L.O. & B. were born in the Seattle house. 
It is still there, although it has been remodeled.
He made me laugh, when he said, "L.O. was big".  He would measure with the length with his hands and puff out his cheeks.
And Grandpa told me L.O. didn't crawl, "He went mitt all fours like a monkey", Grandpa would say in his German accent. 
Then he would imitate a monkey crawling. We would both laugh.  Fred said after Joanne (Bergh) Schwald died, Grandma Lizzie 
took care of both children until Lester remarried.