Last updated March 12, 2020
During vacation time, when he was about 8 years old he would leave the house around 9 o’clock in the morning and head out for the day. He would get in an old truck with Joe and Reggie Augulia and his father to be driven to the farmers market. There Mr.Augulia would buy produce that was leftover from the Grocery Store buyers because it had a limited shelf life. These were real farmers and he would get them to sell their leftovers for bargain prices. The boys would ride on the wheel wells in the back of the truck and drive to various neighborhoods. He’d go to the Hill District, Manchester and other neighborhoods that he hadn’t been to in the past few days. He’d send the boys with a brown basket with the produce of the day. They had paper bags and a pencil. The people would tell them what they wanted and write on the the order on the nag. They’d take the bag to Mr. Augulia who would fill the order bag, add the price and send the boys back with the groceries.
One thing Rusty learned working with the Augulias was that Mr. Augulia made his own wine. Once a year, he and his boys would press a load of grapes purchased at the farmers’ market. He then put them in a barrel in his cellar. As the wine fermented, he would test the progress by putting a Pepsi bottle with his finger in the top into the barrel. It was rumored that Rusty and the boys would sometimes sneak a Pepsi bottle of “Dago-Red” when they were in the cellar alone.