2008 Woodie Awards
Life's a Peach
Nick Stockton
Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Whenever a book is highly endorsed by some literary foundation, I personally meet it with some amount of skepticism, wary of what agenda the organization means to push with their selection. My reaction was no different when I heard about the One Book, One Bakersfield movement and the choice of "Epitaph for a Peach" as this year's piece of literature. Upon reading the title and synopsis, I assumed it would be a memoir without substance, a weightless stroking of the nostalgia centers in our community's supposed small-town mentality and values.
Instead, I was met with a floating journey through the psyche of a farmer who records the dichotomy of his profession with a functional brand of whispering prose. David Masumoto, the man who balances the need to make a living while saving a species of peach whose taste and texture belies its bland appearance.
To save his prized Sun Crest peach, he has made a decision to take up organic farming. With this choice, he will withdraw his stake in what he labels "modern farming": which is characterized as working against nature. He begins his redefinition of work ethic by redefining the words "weed" and "pest." Gone are the ugly sight of ramant growth and away with the sounds of disaster on buzzing wings. He refocuses his eyes and sees the beauty of wildflowers and pineapple grasses. He trains his ear to be an aficionado for the harmonies of a burgeoning ecosystem. Thus, he is working with nature.
He stresses though, that this is not the life for everyone and he takes the risk of organic farming because his family is well-established, and he can afford it. Never in his book does he try to force his lifestyle on anyone else. Masumoto has a gift for understanding all sides of a situation.
His invocation of the romanticism of the family farm is offset by the often humorous anecdotes on the frivolity and missteps he makes. "It is fun admitting that you don't know what you're doing. This is the freedom of naiveté." In his admission of this lack of knowledge, he frees him self to experiment with his work habits, with varying degrees of success.
Instead, I was met with a floating journey through the psyche of a farmer who records the dichotomy of his profession with a functional brand of whispering prose. David Masumoto, the man who balances the need to make a living while saving a species of peach whose taste and texture belies its bland appearance.
To save his prized Sun Crest peach, he has made a decision to take up organic farming. With this choice, he will withdraw his stake in what he labels "modern farming": which is characterized as working against nature. He begins his redefinition of work ethic by redefining the words "weed" and "pest." Gone are the ugly sight of ramant growth and away with the sounds of disaster on buzzing wings. He refocuses his eyes and sees the beauty of wildflowers and pineapple grasses. He trains his ear to be an aficionado for the harmonies of a burgeoning ecosystem. Thus, he is working with nature.
He stresses though, that this is not the life for everyone and he takes the risk of organic farming because his family is well-established, and he can afford it. Never in his book does he try to force his lifestyle on anyone else. Masumoto has a gift for understanding all sides of a situation.
His invocation of the romanticism of the family farm is offset by the often humorous anecdotes on the frivolity and missteps he makes. "It is fun admitting that you don't know what you're doing. This is the freedom of naiveté." In his admission of this lack of knowledge, he frees him self to experiment with his work habits, with varying degrees of success.