Joseph Amaral, an accomplished farmer of Bleak Farm, Devonshire, was born on June 25, 1925 in the Azores.

He arrived in Bermuda in July of 1952 and has made a successful life here. He had a cousin, Frank Amaral, working in Bermuda at the time.

Mr. Amaral's primary job was cleaning up the Island's cedar trees after the cedar blight. He traveled around Bermuda doing this for two and a half years.

Many of the islands were accessible by boat only.

He became employed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and continued trimming and cutting cedar trees 100 feet from the road. He traveled to practically every island taming the cedar trees.

Following this, he replanted Casuarina and Poinciana trees along the roads. He was known to be a strenuous worker and Russell Eve invited him to become his gardener in 1960.

Meeting Mr. Eve was one of the best things which could have happened. They had a wonderful working relationship and Mr. Eve was very kind to Mr. Amaral. They respected each other and Mr. Eve highly approved of Mr. Amaral's rigorous work and diligent attitude.

In the evenings when Mr. Amaral enjoyed free time he wrote weekly letters to his beloved Fernandina in the Azores for six years.

They met in 1949 and in 1958 Mr. Amaral returned to the Azores to get engaged and after seven weeks of engagement they married.

"The courtship in the Azores was very strict in those days. The fellow was only allowed to talk outside of the house to the young lady while she remained inside in a window or on a porch.

"It was only after we were engaged that I was allowed in the house, in the presence of her parents, to talk to her,'' he explained.

Mr. Amaral left his beautiful bride behind and returned to work for Mr. Eve.

In the early 1960s Mrs. Amaral joined her husband and the pair were very happy. It would be 19 years before they returned to the Azores to visit family.

Meanwhile Mr. Amaral took to farming a small vegetable garden for Mr. Eve and at this point, 1962, he asked Mr. and Mrs. Eve about opening a road side market.

They responded to him: "This is a wonderful idea for the public to buy fresh from the garden!'' He started with a table and a kitchen scale by the road and it was a surprise to everyone. "The first day I remember I made 28 pounds just from a little garden which I planted. We were so happy! We had small children by this time too,'' he reflected tenderly.

Customers were asking for imported fruit and he had no choice but to import fruit when the Bermuda fruit was not producing. He became very busy and his little table and scale was not adequate for all this produce. In about six weeks he built a wagon called, "The Vegetable Cart.'' Mr. Amaral became a fixture in the community. He loved farming and he loved pleasing his customers.

In about a year or so he realised he needed help to grow his vegetables despite the fact that he was a work horse. He went to Mr. Eve and inquired about bringing in some Azorean workers to help grow the many fruits and vegetables needed to sustain their business. At this point, Farmer Amaral had no tractor and culitvated plants by hand, rake and a fork hoe. Immigration approved the coming of the Azorean farmers.

In 1967 Mr. Amaral's family was growing and they would raise five little children: Maria, Joseph, Anthony, Carlos and Susanna. He obtained Bermudian citizenship in 1967 and was earning 60% of the income from the vegetable market from Mr. Eve. He had also mastered the English language. Prior to his citizenship he took night courses which accelerated his reading ability.

Life was good. So good that Mr. Amaral purchased Bleak Farm which consisted of one and two thirds acres of land with a house and an apartment. He rented 12 adjacent acres for his farming. Today he owns five acres of land.

"I have had a lot of positive learning experiences in my life,'' Mr. Amaral said. As time passed he found machines to make the farming a little easier.

First there was a two wheel tractor which was very helpful to open the hills and dig potatoes. Next came one of his loves, a "David Brown'' tractor from England. He has had it 32 years and it continues to run smoothly.

The "Agria'' meant a lot to Mr. Amaral also. It is a small machine from Germany which was better than the horses and mules for cultivation. "We could go in between all the vegetables with this. It would be so difficult to farm without this wonderful machine.'' Mr. Amaral had another significant learning experience when he visited Smith's Island, on the East End, in 1969. "There was an open house for farmers over there and I was amazed at all the nice produce I saw. They had green houses and grew these beautiful foods. Six months later I built two greenhouses, one 110 feet and the other 90 feet,'' he explained.

He advises that Bermuda is a wonderful place for green houses and they helped him become more productive. Now at age 74 Mr. Amaral tends the seedlings and keeps up the green houses.

When asked why Bermuda's vegetables and fruits taste so nice and sweet Mr.

Amaral explained that it is because of the limestone here. Red potatoes, bananas and oranges love the limestone.

"Carlos and Anthony do most of the work now. The only thing that worries me from time to time is the weather. I am taking it easier. I am not retired, I am tired,'' chuckled the sprightly farmer with sparkle in his eyes.

One of his hobbies is making wine for the family. "I love grapes and I made 11 gallons of rose which is nice and dry. I had five, 25 pound boxes of grapes, home grown, which I stomped and put aside this year.'' Their oldest child, Maria died five years ago. The family has visited the Azores about six times since they have been married. They have eight grandchildren from their five children. The couple attend St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.

"My family is very important to me and I always work hard for them. My wife has never worked outside of our home but she has helped me tremendously over the years with flowers and vegetables, cooking and keeping the home. She is a good mother and a good wife,'' he concluded.

Popular farmer Joseph Amaral of Bleak Farm, Devonshire, poses with one of the loves of his life.

Greenhouse plants: Farmer Amaral enjoys showing off his plants.