PDF Wisdom of the Last Farmer Harvesting Legacies from the Land David Mas Masumoto 9781439182420 Books

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Product details Paperback 272 pages Publisher Atria Books; 1 edition (June 1, 2010) Language English ISBN-10 1439182426

Wisdom of the Last Farmer Harvesting Legacies from the Land David Mas Masumoto 9781439182420 Books Reviews

• What a wonderful writer!!! I felt the peach juice running down my face. I also learned a lot. This was a book club choice and a good one - we all loved it! I also bought "Epitaph for a Peach." Haven't had a chance to read it yet. I don't think the average produce consumer understands what the small-farm family endures, not to even mention generations of families from Japan. Mr. Masumoto has also had 2 articles published in my local newspaper and I look forward to more. Everybody should read this book.
• I to am a #2 son, born in camp and my folk told me I needed to go on to school because he was not going to break up the farm, I studied Engineering and went into Real estate (and with my wife's partnership) did well. The memories of the Ofulo baths brought back wonderful memories on those chilly Idaho evenings. Wonderful Mas, wonderful, looking forward to your third book. #2
• In a series of five previous popular books, Mas Masumoto, the storyteller, has given us vignettes into his life on his farm in California's Central Valley. In Wisdom of the Last Farmer, Mas returns to his familiar themes - being Japanese American, the struggle to maintain his farm, his own mortality and succession planning. His experiences mirror those of many Central Valley farmers struggling to make a living and debating whether to continuing farming. To these experiences he adds his family's struggles after his father's strokes. I feel for Mas and his family while reading about his father's stroke, rehabilitation and subsequent second stroke, recalling my family's own experiences with my grandfather's long illness after a stroke.
  
  His books mirror so much of what I knew growing up on a farm in the Central Valley - baling wire repairs to farm equipment, a noxious weed that can puncture tires and bare feet, "dry" Valley heat, an old farmhouse built in the early 20th century and parents that worked so hard and sacrificed so much to give their children a better life.
  
  In his earlier works, there was an undercurrent of optimism in his writing. In Wisdom, however, I sense a certain fatalism; that he feels that time might be catching up with him. Maybe his optimism will be renewed when his daughter returns to the farm.
• The author's comparison of the depth of the love he and his father have of the land, and his father's aging process, is rather like poetry at times. The descriptions of the process of the growing of the trees and vines went beyond my interest at times, but even with that, the information concerning recovery from relocation in a Japanese prisoner camp during World War II, and going forward through the life this family built for themselves and what it means to them, was enriching.
  The author's sense of humor added to the experience.
• There is a lot of wisdom about farming and life in this memoir of the author's life as the third generation Japanese American farmer in the Central Valley. If you grew up in the valley or around a farm, you will experience nostalgia. If you are not familiar with farm life, you will be both educated and entertained as David re-creates his experiences with words that describe all of the senses plus emotions that any human can identify with.
  It is enjoyable to read and there is a lot to learn about life and family besides farming. He is a great story teller and his stories are full of wisdom. He explains the challenge of organic farming and because there is so much work and so little profit, fewer people are owning and operating family farms. He shows how it is a way of life that is at risk of becoming extinct along with the flavorful peaches they produce. Now as he says, he farms stories to support his passion for farming the 'perfect peach'.
• I have always coveted farm life and this book gives me a glimpse into the lives of real farmers in the San Joaquin Valley (where I live). My husband identified with many of the sections in this book since he was raised on a vineyard and remembers doing many of the same tasks as Dave describes in his book. I especially enjoyed the stories of Dave's ancestor's hardships of immigration because I am the family historian and my husband's grandparents all immigrated from other countries (Germany and Italy) to improve their lives and worked so hard saving money to own their own farm. They endured the years when crops were spoiled by bad weather and learned to save for the hard times. I recommend this book because it's an easy read and Dave shares wisdom he has gained from his experiences with his father and then passes on this wisdom to his children and the reader.
• A wonderful, moving & poetic account of Japanese farming & family life through three generations. I was raised on a farm & realize the hard work that goes into farming. The motto of "accept, adapt, adopt" shows the inner strength of a race that was unduly punished for the color of their skin & shape of their eyes. So much we all can learn from other people's determination & perseverance!
• Excellent read.