PastryWiz Books : Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm
 

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Books : Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm
by: David M. Masumoto

List Price: $13.95
Price*$11.16
You Save: $2.79 (20%)

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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 634.2584092
EAN: 9780062510259
ISBN: 0062510258
Label: HarperOne
Manufacturer: HarperOne
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: May 31, 1996
Publisher: HarperOne
Release Date: April 26, 1996
Sales Rank: 24161
Studio: HarperOne


Editorial Review:

Product DescriptionA lyrical, sensuous and thoroughly engrossing memoir of one critical year in the life of an organic peach farmer, Epitaph for a Peach is 'a delightful narrative . . . with poetic flair and a sense of humor' (Library Journal). Line drawings.

Related Items:
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:  out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - An excellent view into the life of a small-scale family farm
Author David Masumoto has written an excellent vignette into the year in a life of a small-scale, family farmer. His passion for his life's work, his connection to the land, and his strong family values are so clearly evident in his writing. I think a lot of readers will be envious of the life he describes. I share many of his views on the value of small family farms and the need to focus on how food should taste. Masumoto's book will reonsate deeply with those of us who know what it means to be curious about how something grows, who look forward to the first ripe peach or melon of the year, who prefer to make things from scratch and sit down with all our kids at dinner.



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - epitaph for a peach
wonderful. when you read this work you can actually feel the soil, smell the grass, and taste the fruit. a greeat read




Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Not so much an epitaph, but a love letter to the land
I feel a connection with David Masumoto. Not that I've met him or anything - in fact, there's a good chance I never will (although I keep hoping that one summer day I can make it over to his farm to pick peaches). No, this feeling is based on an impression that we have both fought the same fight over different things, for the same reasons. It is also because he writes so poignantly about a landscape I grew up in. Mr. Masumoto is an organic farmer in the valley of California, and his story is becoming more and more familiar to me as I see this way of life disappearing across the country.

A third generation Japanese American peach and grape farmer, David Masumoto inherited the family orchard from his father. He also had the heritage of his childhood memories of how that particular peach variety, Sun Crest, tasted and ran with juice unlike the pretty red baseballs that have passed for today's supermarket peach varieties. Mr. M wanted to show the world how delightful an old-fashioned peach could be.

When he took over his father's farm, he resolved to not only continue growing his Sun Crests, but to do it organically. This would prove challenging in our day and age of cheap, quick fixes; moreover, it would test his strongly felt ideals. The land needed to heal and replenish itself after years of chemical fertilizers and toxic pest control methods. Masumoto had to take his example from research on other organic farming practices, planting wildflowers to encourage beneficial insect life and sowing "green manure" crops to act as natural mulch and compost. All this took time, patience, and faith that his hard work would eventually pay off.

Epitaph for a Peach is rich in sensory descriptions, philosophy, and nostalgic flashbacks. It is a picture of the way a farmer's life is connected to the seasons, capricious weather patterns, and changing market conditions. Not incidentally, Masumoto also teaches about the obscure history of Japanese farmers in the Valley - something that even I, native to Fresno, had little idea of. Reading this book was a slow, thoughtful experience much in the same manner that one slows down to savor a rich fruit. Recommended to anybody interested in history, growing food, or the vanishing California landscape.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle




Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - The Struggle Continues
I live somewhat north of the area Mr. Masumoto writes about - where the San Francisco Bay Area Suburbs collide with the San Joaquin Farmlands. The Peach and Cherry Orchards and the Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Strawberries are currently holding their own - but like Mr. Masumoto's Peaches and Grapes, only tenuously, and with great courage. If you would like to understand not only how these people live, but who and why they are, you should read this book. It is both beautifully written and thought provoking.

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Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm
List Price: $13.95
Price*$11.16
You Save: $2.79 (20%)
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