Wisdom of the Last Farmer

Wisdom of the Last Farmer PDF Author: David Mas Masumoto
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439182426
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
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 orchards flush with green before harvest, where he uncovers and preserves the age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing in our modern, information-driven world -- and that is urgently needed in this time of food crises and social disruption. Masumoto sees the price the family has paid to grow complex heirloom peaches -- when the market rewards tasteless, big, and red fruits -- and the challenges of maintaining traditions and integrity while working in the modern, high-pressure agricultural marketplace. As his father's health declines along with the profitability of the family farm, Masumoto has the further hard work of nursing his father back to health -- becoming master to the teacher who once schooled him -- and is driven beyond economic concerns to even larger questions of life, death, and renewal. In his gorgeous, lyrical prose, Masumoto conjures the realities of farming life while weaving in the history of American agriculture over the past century, encapsulating universal themes of work along with wisdom that could be gleaned only from the earth. By the end of the workday, he understands the feeling of accomplishment when you've done your best...and discovers that it's when he lets go -- of both his father and control of nature -- that wisdom manifests itself. And, when Masumoto's daughter intends to return to the family farm, hope is found in the generations. In the quiet eloquence of Wisdom of the Last Farmer, you will see how your own destiny is involved in the future of your food, the land, and the farm.

Wisdom of the Last Farmer

Wisdom of the Last Farmer PDF Author: David Mas Masumoto
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439182426
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Get Book Here

Book Description
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 orchards flush with green before harvest, where he uncovers and preserves the age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing in our modern, information-driven world -- and that is urgently needed in this time of food crises and social disruption. Masumoto sees the price the family has paid to grow complex heirloom peaches -- when the market rewards tasteless, big, and red fruits -- and the challenges of maintaining traditions and integrity while working in the modern, high-pressure agricultural marketplace. As his father's health declines along with the profitability of the family farm, Masumoto has the further hard work of nursing his father back to health -- becoming master to the teacher who once schooled him -- and is driven beyond economic concerns to even larger questions of life, death, and renewal. In his gorgeous, lyrical prose, Masumoto conjures the realities of farming life while weaving in the history of American agriculture over the past century, encapsulating universal themes of work along with wisdom that could be gleaned only from the earth. By the end of the workday, he understands the feeling of accomplishment when you've done your best...and discovers that it's when he lets go -- of both his father and control of nature -- that wisdom manifests itself. And, when Masumoto's daughter intends to return to the family farm, hope is found in the generations. In the quiet eloquence of Wisdom of the Last Farmer, you will see how your own destiny is involved in the future of your food, the land, and the farm.

Deep-Rooted Wisdom

Deep-Rooted Wisdom PDF Author: Augustus Jenkins Farmer
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN: 1604694521
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Presents traditional and time-honored methods for gardening, including holistic solutions to insects and weeds, building fertile soils, saving heirloom seeds, and using garden materials for trellises and sculptures.

The Wisdom of the Radish

The Wisdom of the Radish PDF Author: Lynda Hopkins
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781570616426
Category : Country life
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Early in The Wisdom of the Radish, Lynda Hopkins admits that she's not a farmer. She's not even a farmer's wife. She's an aspiring farmer's suburban girlfriend. With this tentative start, she and her boyfriend, Emmett, become the country's newest sodbusters. Their goal is to earn a living wage by growing crops, raising chickens, and selling the fruits of their labor at the local farmers' market. The pair pronounces their two acres in Healdsburg, California, Foggy River Farm.

Farming While Black

Farming While Black PDF Author: Leah Penniman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603587616
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Farming While Black is the first comprehensive "how to" guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latino Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement.--AMAZON.

Harvest Son

Harvest Son PDF Author: David Mas Masumoto
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393319743
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
A Japanese-American farmer recounts the challenges of taking over and renewing his family's farm in Del Rey, California, describing the pains and pleasures of farm work, and the perseverance of his grandmother.

Letters from a Peasant

Letters from a Peasant PDF Author: Brent Olson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781886513433
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description


Home Wisdom

Home Wisdom PDF Author: Jon Vara
Publisher: Time Life Medical
ISBN: 9780783549378
Category : House & Home
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
The editors of "The Old Farmer's Almanac" have collected the best advice about keeping house--along with humorous, interesting digressions on the challenges keeping house has presented through history.

How to Be a Farmer

How to Be a Farmer PDF Author:
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691224730
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
A delightful anthology of classical Greek and Roman writings celebrating country living—ranging from a philosophy of compost to hymns to the gods of agriculture Whether you farm or garden, live in the country or long to move there, or simply enjoy an occasional rural retreat, you will be delighted by this cornucopia of writings about living and working on the land, harvested from the fertile fields of ancient Greek and Roman literature. An inspiring antidote to the digital age, How to Be a Farmer evokes the beauty and bounty of nature with a rich mixture of philosophy, practical advice, history, and humor. Together, these timeless reflections on what the Greeks called boukolika and the Romans res rusticae provide an entertaining and enlightening guide to a more meaningful and sustainable way of life. In fresh translations by classicist and farmer M. D. Usher, with the original texts on facing pages, Hesiod praises the dignity of labor; Plato describes the rustic simplicity of his ideal republic; Varro dedicates a farming manual to his wife, Fundania (“Mrs. Farmer”); and Vergil idealizes farmers as residents of the Golden Age. In other selections, Horace extols the joys of simple living at his cherished country farm; Pliny the Elder explains why all culture stems from agriculture; Columella praises donkeys and tells how to choose a ram or a dog; Musonius Rufus argues that farming is the best livelihood for a philosopher; and there is much more. Proof that farming is ultimately a state of mind we should all cultivate, How to Be a Farmer will charm anyone who loves nature or its fruits.

Farming for the Long Haul

Farming for the Long Haul PDF Author: Michael Foley
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603588000
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Farming in the ruins of the twentieth century -- A short, unhappy history of business advice for farmers -- Subsistence first! -- Land for the tiller -- Soil, civilization, and resilient farmers through the centuries -- Resourceful farmers -- Woodlands and wastes -- It takes a village: leisure, community, and resilience -- Getting a living, forging a livelihood -- Farmer, citizen, survivor: politics and resilience

Changing Season

Changing Season PDF Author: David Mas Masumoto
Publisher: Heyday.ORIM
ISBN: 159714374X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
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 far ranging as the art of pruning, climate change, and the prejudice his family faced during and after World War II: essays that, whether humorous or heartbreaking, explore what it means to pass something on. Nikiko’s voice is present too, as she relates the myriad lessons she has learned from her father in preparation for running the farm as a queer mixed-race woman. Both farmers feel less than totally set for the future that lies ahead; indeed, Changing Season addresses the uncertain future of small-scale agriculture in California. What is unquestionable, though, is the family’s love for their vocation—and for each other.