Four Seasons in Five Senses : Things Worth Savoring

by Masumoto, David Mas

• ISBN13: 9780393019605
• ISBN10: 0393019608
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc

Summary

The nation's favorite literary farmer pays homage to the life of the senses. Rushing from one thing to another, we lose sight of the art of living, which for California farmer David Mas Masumoto is also the art of farming. Not fast farming, of the kind that produces fast food, but slow farming, the kind that notices each change of light and temperature and produces peaches with juice that runs down your chin. On the farm, appreciating the fruits of one's own labor requires all the senses: smell that knows when a peach is ready to be picked; sight that observes the health of a season's crop; touch that measures the weight of a fruit; hearing that recognizes each voice that calls out across the fields; and taste that savors the refreshing tang of a fruit at that perfect moment of ripeness. Taking us into his fields to witness the cycle of the harvest, Masumoto reminds us that we must stop living on the run in order to savor the world around us. 14 b/w illustrations.

Table of Contents

Introduction -- The Journey of a Peach
Things I Remember	1	(24)
Homeless Peaches	3	(4)
Hand-to-Hand Journey	7	(12)
The Story Economy	19	(6)
PART ONE -- THE ART OF SEEING
First Steps into an Orchard	25	(42)
Planting Trees	27	(3)
Roping Trees	30	(3)
Blossoms	33	(6)
Snapshots	39	(7)
To See the Future	46	(4)
Walking Without Thoreau	50	(17)
PART TWO -- THE ART OF LISTENING
Things Silent	67	(46)
Coming Home	69	(4)
Sound of Work	73	(6)
Farm Animals	79	(6)
Night Work	85	(5)
Songs of a Shovel	90	(4)
Farm Music	94	(3)
Sound of a Ripe Peach	97	(2)
Story Songs	99	(4)
The Art of Grunting	103	(6)
Silence of a Clap	109	(4)
PART THREE -- THE ART OF TASTE
Memories of Taste	113	(42)
Got Umami?	115	(4)
Inspection	119	(3)
How to Eat a Peach	122	(21)
Personalized Produce	143	(6)
Food Editors	149	(6)
PART FOUR -- THE ART OF SMELL
Farm Smells I Remember	155	(54)
Grape Bloom	157	(3)
Mud Time	160	(4)
Smell of Workers	164	(7)
The Art of Sex	171	(5)
Farm Aromas	176	(8)
Aromatherapy	184	(3)
Public Art	187	(4)
Scent of My Father	191	(3)
Burning Woodpiles	194	(9)
Dusting Dad	203	(6)
PART FIVE -- THE ART OF TOUCH
A Farm Woman's Hands	209	(56)
Hard Sweat	211	(4)
Stay Out of the Fields	215	(5)
Mom's Hands	220	(5)
Touch as an Artist	225	(11)
Dances with Weeds	236	(5)
Farm Tools	241	(13)
Slow Pickup Trucks	254	(3)
Touch Method and Niki's Clutch	257	(8)
EPILOGUE -- SAVORY
Things Worth Saving	265	(6)
Headstone with Blossoms	267	(4)
Things Slow	271	(2)
Acknowledgments	273