David Mas Masumoto, writing in the LA Times:
The experience of eating a Sun Crest peach automatically triggered a smile and a rush of summer memories and a childlike joy in the simple, savory pleasures of life.
Sun Crest was one of the last remaining truly juicy peaches. When you washed that treasure under a stream of cooling water, your fingertips instinctively searched for the “gushy” side of the fruit. Your mouth watered in anticipation. You leaned over the sink to make sure you wouldn’t drip on yourself. Then you sank your teeth into the flesh, a primal act, a sensory celebration that summer had arrived.
My dad planted our orchard 20 years ago, and those trees paid for my college tuition. But stricter and stricter quality standards coupled with a declining demand cut deeply into production levels. Our original 15 acres and 1,500 trees was down to a small patch of 350 this summer.
Every year, produce brokers advised me to get rid of the Sun Crests. “Better peaches have come along,” they assured me, “peaches that are redder, fuller in color, with smoother skin—and last for weeks in storage.”
“Consumers love the new varieties,” the brokers said. “They won’t buy Sun Crest.”
Sad. I wonder if alternate distribution models would’ve worked for David.
Also, LA Times, text ads in the middle of content? How low you’ve sunk.
Check out David’s book too, Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My Family Farm.