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It was when David Mas Masumoto's father had a stroke on the sprawling fields of their farm that the son looked with new eyes on the land where he and generations of his family have toiled for decades. Masumoto -- an organic farmer working the land in California's Central Valley -- farms stories as he farms peaches. In Wisdom of the Last Farmer, an impassioned memoir of revitalization and redemption, he finds the natural connections between generation and succession, fathers and children, booms and declines as he tells the story of his family and their farm. He brings us to the rich earth of America's Fruit Basket, under the vine trellises and canes where grapes are grown, and to the fruit or...
A Japanese-American farmer fondly recounts the challenges of taking over and renewing his family's farm in Del Rey, California, describing the pains and pleasures of farm work, the perseverance of his grandmother, and other topics. 16,500 first printing.
In a series of personal essays, the organic farmer and author of Epitaph for a Peach prepares to hand his family’s eighty-acre farm to his daughter. How do you become a farmer? The real questions are: What kind of person do you want to be? Are you willing to change? How do you learn? What is your vision for the future? In this poignant collection of essays, David Mas Masumoto prepares for one of life’s greatest transitions. After four decades of working the land, he will pass down his beloved peach farm to his daughter, Nikiko. Echoing Nikiko’s words that “all of the gifts I have received from this life are not only worthy of sharing, but must be shared,” Mas reflects on topics as ...
The last twenty years has seen a growth of interest and fascination with the Japanese, and the emergence of Japan as a world economic power has stimulated many works that have attempted to understand Japanese culture. The focus of this book is not on Japanese culture or society per se: rather, it is on how Japanese culture and society structure, shape, and mold the emotions of the Japanese people. All cultures shape and mold emotions, but the degree to which the Japanese culture shapes emotion has led to several misunderstandings about the emotional life of the Japanese, which this book attempts to correct. Describing the findings of over two decades of research, this book presents the Japanese as human beings with real feelings and emotions rather than as mindless pawns caught in the web of their own culture. In the process, it unmasks many myths that have grown around the subject and reveals important similarities as well as differences between the emotional life of the Japanese and that of people of other cultures.
In Letters to the Valley, David Mas Masumoto explores his personal memories of food and place, stories about how our food is grown, who grows it, and the suddenly changing context of family farms. These essays in the form of letters to friends, his father, his daughter, and others began as a monthly column for the Fresno Bee, and in them Masumoto tells us what it's like to sweat for a living; what happens when a lizard crawls up your pant leg; about holiday dinners of glazed ham and stuffed turkey, white rice and...
The author discusses the joys of savoring the process of quality farming, recounting in detail the sensory experience of raising a harvest.
In this poignant debut picture book from authors and farmers Nikiko Masumoto and David Mas Masumoto, with illustrations by award-winning artist Lauren Tamaki, little Midori discovers that every peach on her Japanese American family's farm is a sweet reminder of those who've come before One spring day, little Midori asks Jiichan, her grandfather, if the peaches on her family's farm are ripe yet. To her surprise, he asks,"Does it taste like a story? That's when you know it is ripe." As Jiichan teaches her about her Japanese American heritage and her family's deep connection to this land, Midori begins to realize the patience, hard work, and endurance that allowed their roots to grow. Poetic and powerful, Every Peach Is a Story is a journey of discovery through all of life's seasons.
A family separated by racism against Japanese Americans and the discrimination of people with developmental disabilities--reunited seventy years later, returning to their roots on a farm and bound by family secrets.
This book examines state-of-the-art research and knowledge regarding nonverbal behaviour and applies that scientific knowledge to a broad range of fields. It presents a true scientist-practitioner model, blending cutting-edge behavioural science with real-world practical experience.
Oildale native, Gerald Haslam, doesn’t like it when folks dismiss the Central Valley as boring and flat. In this collection of essays, he argues that it is California’s heartland and economic hub. In addition, the valley has produced a crop of gifted writers. These nineteen essays range from reminiscences of childhood and adolescence to a portrait of Mexican-Americans and their position in the Valley’s society to a moving essay about having the author’s aging father come to live with the family. Even if you have never lived in the Valley, reading this book will give you an entirely new perspective the next time you drive into it.