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 beforePoetic and powerful, Every Peach Is a Story is a journey of discovery through all of life’s seasons.One spring day, little Midori asks Jiichan, her grandfather, if th...

I discover a "lost" aunt, separated from our family due to racism and discrimination against the disabled. She had a mental disability due to childhood meningitis. She was taken away in 1942 when all Japanese Americans were considered the enemy and imprisoned. She then became a "ward" of the state. We believed she had died, but 70 years later found her alive and living a few miles from our family farm. How did she survive? Why was she kept hidden? How did both shame and resilience empower ...

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 ...

LIFE ON EARTH IS FAR FROM PERFECT. THATS WHY ELDERS OF THE PLANET OGAN, A PERFECT world populated by intelligent trees, have sent Ogos there. His mission is simple; eradicate pain and misery. From his landing spot in a city park, Ogos watches the world go by; creating a zone of peace and comfort around him that touches everyone who steps into his cool shade. A group of park-goers adore the tree that never wilts, and they find themselves consistently drawn to Ogos, who has the power to cure...

nly two things are certain in life, one is that all of us will inevita Obly grow older, the other is that at some point during or at the end of this process we shall die. Inherent to the passage of time is a deterio ration in the structural and functional integrity of our bodies, this pro gressing to such an extent that one or more organ systems will eventu ally begin to fail with the continued health and well-being of the individual coming under threat. Age-associated deficiencies in the ...

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 successio...

An inspiring anthology for anyone seeking guidance, hope, and strength in the midst of our current environmental crisis—featuring writings from Barbara Kingsolver and Barry LopezThe environmental “tipping point” we approach is more palpable each day, and people are seeing it in ways they can no longer ignore—we need only turn on the news to hear the litany of what is wrong around us. Serious reflection, inspiration, and direction on how to approach the future are n...

For hard-working office workers Kristy Athens and husband Michael, farming was a romantic dream. After purchasing farm land in Oregon's beautiful Columbia Gorge, Athens and hubby were surprised to learn that the realities of farming were challenging and unexpected. Get Your Pitchfork On! provides the hard-learned nuts-and-bolts of rural living from city folk who were initially out of their depth. Practical and often hilarious, Get Your Pitchfork On! reads like a twenty-fi...

Living simply isn’t always simple. When Alan Boye first lived in sustainable housing, he was young, idealistic, and not much susceptible to compromise—until rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, and loneliness drove him out of the utilities-free yurt he’d built in New Mexico. Thirty-five years later, he decided to try again. This time, with an idealism tempered by experience and practical considerations, Boye and his wife constructed an off-the-grid, energy-efficient, straw bale house in Verm...

The Greenhorns are a community of more than 5,000 young farmers and activists committed to producing and advocating for food grown with vision and respect for the earth. This book, edited by three of the group’s leading members, comprises 50 original essays by new farmers who write about their experiences in the field from a wide range of angles, both practical and inspirational. Funny and sad, serious and light-hearted, these essays touch on everything from financing and machinery to fami...

The Tao of Cob is a how-to book on earthen-house building, written as a memoir in Dorethy's pithy, homespun philosophical voice. A retired librarian, the author has studied a wide range of subjects which are evident in her descriptions of her building project. Sections include the joy of using hand tools, gathering manure and stomping in mud to mix the building materials, and communicating with wildlife in the woods, as well as the hazards of a 60-year-old grandmother driving a '72 dump tr...

Can you survive without a TV, vacuum cleaner, shower, toaster, dryer, and flush toilet? Why would you even want to try? You may be surprised to know all those those things are completely unnecessary, and I can tell you how I survived just fine without them.Good water, healthy food, and cozy shelter are necessities in my book. I like taking care of those basics as simply as possible. This book talks about the influences that pulled me in that direction and how I fulfilled my dream o...