Epitaph for a Peach

Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on my Family Farm
by David Mas Masumoto
www.masumoto.com


In his book Epitaph for a Peach Masumoto discribes the challenges of farming in the Central Valley of California. Masumoto grows old variety peaches that do not conform to the grocery store standards for shelf life. He has to make many decisions on how to run his family farm.

Spring Work:
Spring is a time when everything is growing, especially the weeds. Masumoto describes his battle with the weeds and the struggle to keep his farm herbicide free. Old variety peach trees, Sun Crests, grow on a plot of the 80 acre land he owns. Trees that were to be bulldozed due to their lack of shelf life on the way to and in grocery stores. Resisting pressures from the way things are done in today's farming, he decides to keep the peach trees.

He learns to "farm in chaos" with the weeds, bugs, and untidy landscape despite his father's perspective on how a farm should look and be run. Masumoto and Pat, a University of California Berkeley, doctoral student in entomology, walk down the rows, through the wildflowers, observing the trees. They question how the fields look, have changed, and the effects of organic growing on the fruit. Through bug and worm attacks Masumoto stays strong to his commitment to keeping his farm herbicide free. He is flexible like "bamboo in the wind."

Summer Work: