Dirt Farmer Wisdom

From the mouth of a dirt farmer's granddaughter, "Dirt Farmer Wisdom" teaches that reaching for the ground shoot's one's soul to the stars. 36 photos.

Presents traditional and time-honored methods for gardening, including holistic solutions to insects and weeds, building fertile soils, saving heirloom seeds, and using garden materials for trellises and sculptures.

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 succession, fathers and children, booms and declines as he tells the story of his family and their farm. He brings us to the rich earth of America's Fruit Basket, under the vine trellises and canes where grapes are grown, and to the fruit orchards flush with green before harvest, where he uncovers and preserves the age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing in our modern, information-driven world -- and that is urgently needed in this time of food crises and social disruption. Masumoto sees the price the family has paid to grow complex heirloom peaches -- when the market rewards tasteless, big, and red fruits -- and the challenges of maintaining traditions and integrity while working in the modern, high-pressure agricultural marketplace. As his father's health declines along with the profitability of the family farm, Masumoto has the further hard work of nursing his father back to health -- becoming master to the teacher who once schooled him -- and is driven beyond economic concerns to even larger questions of life, death, and renewal. In his gorgeous, lyrical prose, Masumoto conjures the realities of farming life while weaving in the history of American agriculture over the past century, encapsulating universal themes of work along with wisdom that could be gleaned only from the earth. By the end of the workday, he understands the feeling of accomplishment when you've done your best...and discovers that it's when he lets go -- of both his father and control of nature -- that wisdom manifests itself. And, when Masumoto's daughter intends to return to the family farm, hope is found in the generations. In the quiet eloquence of Wisdom of the Last Farmer, you will see how your own destiny is involved in the future of your food, the land, and the farm.

Documents the first year spent by the Harvard-graduate author with her new husband on their sustainable farm in the Adirondacks, describing how she withdrew from big-city life to be married in their barn loft, the difficult obstacles they faced attempting to provide a whole diet for one hundred locals, and the rewards of a physical-labor lifestyle.

Early in The Wisdom of the Radish, Lynda Hopkins admits that she's not a farmer. She's not even a farmer's wife. She's an aspiring farmer's suburban girlfriend. With this tentative start, she and her boyfriend, Emmett, become the country's newest sodbusters. Their goal is to earn a living wage by growing crops, raising chickens, and selling the fruits of their labor at the local farmers' market. The pair pronounces their two acres in Healdsburg, California, Foggy River Farm.

Terry A. Maurer's New Book "Dirt Farmer's Son" Shares A Beautiful Account Of A Life Across Adversities And Seemingly Insurmountable Challenges. Terry A. Maurer, a brilliant writer, has completed "Dirt Farmer's Son": a gripping and potent true story about living on the farm during the 40s and 50s and pursuing education, business, and family life whilst battling health complications. Terry writes, "it's a story of life": covering seventy-eight years (1942-2020) Dirt Farmer's Son is written for a broad audience who have witnessed times and for those who want to know what happened. It share stories of farm life during the '40s and '50s, Catholic military boarding-scchool, seminary, his wife's two kidney transplants, and the adoption of a Korean child. It also includes chapters on his chemical career and his bottled-water business. "The book is well written and reads like a novel" -- Amin Almuti, former Betchel VP It has everything in it: history, politics, all the happenings for the last 78 years, plus great pictures. It is 14 chapters of the life and times of the Dirt Farmer's Son from northern Michigan whose ancestors started out from Germany in 1857. -- The author Himself

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 succession, fathers and children, booms and declines as he tells the story of his family and their farm. He brings us to the rich earth of America's Fruit Basket, under the vine trellises and canes where grapes are grown, and to the fruit orchards flush with green before harvest, where he uncovers and preserves the age-old wisdom that is fast disappearing in our modern, information-driven world -- and that is urgently needed in this time of food crises and social disruption. Masumoto sees the price the family has paid to grow complex heirloom peaches -- when the market rewards tasteless, big, and red fruits -- and the challenges of maintaining traditions and integrity while working in the modern, high-pressure agricultural marketplace. As his father's health declines along with the profitability of the family farm, Masumoto has the further hard work of nursing his father back to health -- becoming master to the teacher who once schooled him -- and is driven beyond economic concerns to even larger questions of life, death, and renewal. In his gorgeous, lyrical prose, Masumoto conjures the realities of farming life while weaving in the history of American agriculture over the past century, encapsulating universal themes of work along with wisdom that could be gleaned only from the earth. By the end of the workday, he understands the feeling of accomplishment when you've done your best...and discovers that it's when he lets go -- of both his father and control of nature -- that wisdom manifests itself. And, when Masumoto's daughter intends to return to the family farm, hope is found in the generations. In the quiet eloquence of Wisdom of the Last Farmer, you will see how your own destiny is involved in the future of your food, the land, and the farm.

This collection, organized alphabetically, of 70 comforts for the mind, body, and spirit, also includes entertaining bits of trivia, recipes, and fun illustrations throughout. The ABCs of comforts begin with "Aromas: Trigger memories," "Birding: Finding flying treasure," and "Candlelight: Mellows the mood." And ends with "X-Tra Time: Doing less to experience more," and "ZZZs: Renew and reactivate." Book jacket.