Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring

Having just read and enjoyed two other books by Mas Masumoto, Harvest Son: Planting Roots in American Soil and Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm, I was a bit uncertain if Mas would meet my high expectations in Four Seasons in Five Senses. I wasn't disappointed. There seems to be a natural progression in his writing from his earlier works - Epitaph to Harvest Son to Four Seasons. Mas continues to write about his struggles on his family farm trying to be organic and still make a living. This book is also about how our senses provide connections to our past and to others. These are some of the experiences that Mas relates to us: The sound a shovel makes slicing through a weed; the smell of chicken cooking on an open fire; the taste of dirt; the touch of calloused hands; the sight of an orchard in bloom. Many of the stories Mas recounts are about simple things told from a different perspective. Driving a tractor in the dark becomes a story about sounds and touch. Walking in his orchard or vineyard is a favorite vehicle for relating stories of sights, sounds, smells and, even, dance. A burning woodpile frames the story of his parents internment. You don't necessarily have to be be from a family farm, but I think that the connection with his stories is so much stronger if you are.

The writer is a farmer who grows organic peaches and grapes (for raisins) in California. That's about like saying that Mother Teresa is a nun from Eastern Europe...true enough as far as it goes, but it misses the point. The writer is a gentle philosopher who loves his farm and his crops and celebrates both with all of his senses throughout the year. To read this book is to share that intense feeling about the land and growing things, along with the hope and despair that accompanies each crop.In very few books do you encounter such a deep love of the land and growth of plants and sensitivity to it. Seldom do you find an understanding of the unity and wholeness of farming in its true sense. The writer incorporates his own Japanese background and the labour of his parents and grandparents and the toil of his Mexican farm laborers into his understanding of the soil, the climate, the market and most of all the fruit he grows.All five senses are used to give the reader a multi-dimensional feeling of immediacy. The writer shares with us the sweat, the dust, the heat, the memories and the hopes - all the complexities of growing a truly luscious peach. This is no sentimental view of farming, but it does explore the soul of the relationship between a man and the land.This book is for anyone who loves the land and understand the magic of growing things.

Reading David Masumoto's Epitaph for a Peach changed the way I viewed peaches. While I always liked peaches, Masumoto's passion for peaches elevated them to the top of the fruit ladder. However, I felt that he had reached the end of that genre. How much more was there to say about peaches and peach growing? I was wrong. Four Seasons and Five Senses is a wonderful book which deepens my affection of peaches and enhances my knowledge of the process. He has grown so much as a writer since Epitaph for a Peach. He's able to bring to life the love of farming, the excitement about organic peaches, the anxieties about the market and weather, the sensuality of eating luscious fruit, the uncertainty of prices, and the difficulty of the labor. He breaks the stereotype of ignorant farmers. He connects peach farming with such diverse subjects as chamber music, migrant labor, and entomology. I did not want the book to end. Having tasted Masumoto's peaches also helps for they truly are amazing. I recommend the book to anyone who appreciates good food, wants to know about the experience of organic farming, and is interested in whole process of getting a peach to market.