COLUSA, CA (MPG) – People had more in common with the Virginia Yerxa Community Read’s 2024 book selection “Epitaph for a Peach,” by David Mas Masumoto, than just reading the same glorious pages – and they came out in droves on Saturday to show it.
This year’s celebration of Masumoto’s 1996 book “Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm,” brought together people inspired by the author’s powerful and poetic words that reminded them of their own connections to family, a rural way of life, and the ups and downs of the agriculture industry.
This year was the 15th Virginia Yerxa Community Read Day, and having the author present made the event even more special, organizers said. Earlier selections included the books of the late Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, Shakespeare, and Harper Lee, among other authors of the past.
Masumoto, a third generation Central Valley farmer, has penned numerous books, including Wisdom of the Last Farmer, Harvest Sun, Four Seasons in Five Senses, The Perfect Peach, Secret Harvests, Changing Season, Letters to the Valley, Heirlooms, and Country Voices: The Oral History of a Japanese American Family Farm Community.
“Epitaph for a Peach” first appeared as an essay Masumoto wrote that was published in the Los Angeles Times, when the family farm was losing money because big peach buyers no longer wanted heirloom varieties that were picked ripe and had a short shelf life.
While the public’s response to the essay prompted Masumoto to save his orchard and become an organic farmer of the perfect Sun Crest peach, he said it was the stories behind it that would become the driving force behind his success.
“That is how Epitaph for a Peach began,” Masumoto said, at Saturday’s VYCR Day main event, held at Sunrise Fresh food drying operation in Colusa. “It began as a story that I wanted to share with people and hoped there would be an audience for that.”
Masumoto said he wanted to be a poet when he was younger, but thought his poems sounded like lyrics of a bad country western song, before then trying to write fiction.
“But every time I started writing fiction, like a novel or short story, I ended up grounding it in real life because that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to tell real stories about real people; in our case, a family farm with peaches on it.”
Masumoto’s’ lyrical style of writing, and his inspiration message for people to preserve the stories of their own families before they are lost, inspired the Colusa County Arts Council, in collaboration with the VYCR committee and Colusa County Free Library, to publish an illustrated magazine of literature and art, “Reflections on a Peach,” to celebrate the local community’s intrinsic connection to each other and their surroundings.
The zine includes stories, poetry, and artwork from more than 60 members of the community, all drawn on themes of family, environment, and rural life.
Among the literary works are “February Promises,” a story of death and renewal, read aloud by its author, Juliana Engrahm; “The Speed of Peaches,” a poem written and read by Mark Leidner, and “A Found Poem,” created from passages in Epitaph and read by Roberta James, who founded the local book-in-common project in 2009.
The zine also includes artwork by local youth, Macie Moriconi, Sammy Gonzalez, Sofia Gutierrez, Leilani and Ryan Steidlmayer, Lily Costello, Norah Gross, Harper Herkert, Maria Farrell, Clara Dragoo, among many others, including namesake Virginia Ortiz and brother Max, the great-grandchildren of Virginia Yerxa, who were born after Yerxa’s death in 2009.
“What began as a tribute to a literacy advocate in our community – Virginia Yerxa – has continued to evolve into a community event that is supported through donations from citizens and the involvement of several organizations in our county,” said Lani Gross, a member of the VYCR Committee.
Gross said the committee spends the summer considering literary selections before narrowing it to one book that is a good fit for the community.
VYCR events that began prior to Saturday’s finale included a quilt challenge at Friends Around the Block, artist Mark Vargo’s exhibit at Colusa County Arts Council gallery, Storytime and Science Cafe at the Colusa County Library, and a roundtable book discussion on “Epitaph for a Peach” and art exhibit of Patti Tauscher’s “Still Life on the Farm,” at Salmon Bend Art Studios.
Following Masumoto’s presentation on Saturday, the author signed copies of his books, while attendees toured Sunrise Fresh dryers, led by Antonio Ortiz. The dryer opened two years ago at the site of the former Sunsweet dryer. Sunrise Fresh produces all natural, unsweetened, cherries, blueberries, and other California-grown dehydrated fruit snacks, which are available at certain retail locations and through Amazon.
Visitors also gathered for a group photo at the unveiling of Haden Keeley’s mural at Sunrise Fresh, visible to motorists traveling into Colusa on Highway 20, before traveling to Barb’s Fruit Stand for a tractor tour of orchards and lunch, provided by the Glenn-Colusa Cattlewomen’s Association.
Celeste and Tom Hanagan, of Woodland, who attended some of the VYCR day events on Saturday, said they enjoyed the activities, especially the lunch of peach barbecue meatballs served over rice.
“It was a lot of fun,” Celeste Hanagan said. “Anything that Sherry and Jerry Malby get involved in, we will be there.”
In addition to the donations from the community, the 2024 VYCR events were made possible by a Community Sake Grant, which allowed for the event to have the personal appearance of the author, a rare treat for the annual festivities.
Copies of “Epitaph for a Peace” and Matsumoto’s other books are available from Amazon. They may also still be available locally at Davison’s or The BookWorm.
The 2024 VYCR Day concluded with blossom bathing, inspired by Masumoto Farms, and based on the Japanese practice of “forest bathing,” known for enhancing mindfulness and self-reflection.
Organizers will announce the 2025 book-in common in December.