Updated on August 20, 2025 by Ruth
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children Valdi and Ainu.Â
Yes, you are reading a farming blog. We will get to the farming parts. It’s a good story, with war, refugees, and satisfying endings.
Table of Contents
World War II aftermath
After World War II, my grandparents, John and Rachel Webster, signed up to support refugees from Latvia. The Latvian family property had been first burned and then stolen by the Russians. Russia then took over Latvia. The family came here with no possessions and no money.
My grandparents housed the family, clothed them, fed them, and found them jobs. They got the children enrolled in school and gave them summer and part-time jobs on the farm. My grandparents took everyone to the doctor, as needed. The parents worked for my grandparents for many years, the children graduated from college. My mother and her siblings also welcomed the family and helped them all learn English.
The story continues in Latvia
One of the children was able to return to Latvia as an adult, fifty years later, and reclaim the family farm there after Latvia again became independent. I had a phone call from one of the daughters last week, thanking me (as the family representative) for the many kindnesses my grandparents and my mother had shown her whole family. She and her family are all U.S. citizens now. They remember my grandparents and are forever grateful for their generosity of time and resources.
Fortunately for her, she came at a time when our country welcomed immigrants, it was not as difficult to become a citizen, and residents here were willing to sponsor refugee. This was during the post-war recession, mind you. And we still welcomed refugees.
The spirit of real Americans
For me, this is how real Americans behave. They welcome refugees, care for them, treat them with dignity, extend a hand to help them get back on their feet. We de-ice the driveway, we extend a helping hand, we thank them for doing those jobs most Americans would rather not do.
Back to farming
Agriculture in this country depends on immigrant labor. This is all sectors of agriculture: poultry, dairy, meat packing, orchards, vegetable production, cheese production. A farmer I know on the west coast has a multi-generational family farm. He says that in 40 years, he has not had a U.S. citizen apply for a job on the farm. He has H2A visa workers who come to plant, maintain, and harvest the crops.
This country relies on immigrants in order to eat. No matter how good you are at growing and preserving food, it’s very hard to grow everything. We are not able to. Our growing zone and the number of acres we have put limits on what we can grow. We can grow a lot, but not everything.
This country also depends on immigrants for construction, restaurant work, cleaning services, processing plants, and lawn care, among others. The reality is that your life is supported by immigrant labor, most of which you don’t see.
What is written on the Statue of Liberty
And here is a non-secret: we are all immigrants except for our indigenous peoples. At one point, someone helped our immigrant ancestors. It’s time for us to live up to what Emma Lazarus wrote in 1883, now memorialized on the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-toast to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Conclusion and challenge
It is still true today, that people yearn to breathe free. They flee war, gangs, destruction, and starvation. I am grateful to John and Rachel Webster for setting the right example for me. May we all start lifting our lamps to show the refugees where they may come in safety.
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