January 12, 2012

David “Mas” Masumoto

I grow slow food and stories. Our farm is quiet and isolating; we nurture the silence of growing food for the hungry.

Farmers are independent yet not alone. We hunger for recognition but not publicity. We speak through what we grow. Our foods carry value not always recognized. If you are what you eat then what are the farmers who grow what you eat? Performers?

Food for a farmer is all about home. For a farmer home and work can’t be separated, we do not hide our profession from our families.

Every year is a ritual. We prune in the winter, trees grow in spring. We have harvest in the summer and early fall, recover as the autumn leaves and bid farewell to another year. We then ask how many harvests do we have left in our lives.

Clichés carry different meanings for a farmer. We eat our own. Low hanging fruit is easy but not always the best. Fruits of labor may or may not be rewarded.

Hunger in the many hands that touch our fruits. Farmers’ hands. Farm worker hands. Invisible hands. How can you feel these hands as we buy food by the pound?

Mas is a third generation farmer and author. Mas grows peaches, nectarines, and grapes on an organic 80 acre farm south of Fresno, CA.