4 APRIL 2024
Family Story Time, 5:30pm
Colusa County Free Library, 738 Market Street, Colusa
Family story time featured Caldecot Medal winner Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall. The book tells of the life and work of an early 19th-century farming family.
Science Cafe, 6:30pm
Colusa County Free Library, 738 Market Street, Colusa
Start seeing soil! There is a whole ecosystem beneath our feet. Soil is the home of 60% of the world’s biodiversity. Participants discussed the wonders of soil with Sarah Light, Agronomy Farm Advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa Counties.
5 APRIL 2024
Peaches, Prose and Pale Ale, 6:30pm
Salmon Bend Art Studios, 3606 Brown Road, Colusa
The intimate discussion of Epitaph for a Peach with a small group of like-minded readers, included Mas, Marcy and Korio Masumoto. Similar to speed-dating, guests were encouraged to mix and mingle at the roundtable exchange.
The third-annual book club with a twist featured a tasting flight of beer brewed at Cellador Ales with spent fruit from Masumoto Farms.
6 APRIL 2024
Virgina Read Day
Sunrise Fresh Dryers, 7207 Moon Bend Road, Colusa
Local cafe, Caffeinated, was on hand with peach pastries, coffee and tea.
10:00, Reflections on a Peach reading
The Colusa County Arts Council partnered with the Virginia Read to publish a zine featuring the art and prose of community members related to the subjects of family, roots, agriculture, environment, and rural life as inspiration. Three entrants read their work out loud, and shared their memories and poetry with the audience.
10:15, Keynote with Mas Masumoto
Author and farmer, Mas Masumoto, discussed his seminal work, how his farm has changed in the 29 years since its publication, and of course, all about Suncrest Peaches!
Mas Masumoto is an organic peach and grape farmer and the author of twelve books including: Epitaph for a Peach, Wisdom of the Last Farmer, Heirlooms, Letters to the Valley, Four Seasons in Five Senses, Harvest Son, Country Voices, and Silent Strength. He, along with his wife, Marcy, and daughter, Nikiko, published a family farm cookbook, The Perfect Peach in 2013. His newest book, Secret Harvests: A Hidden Story of Separation and Resilience on a Family Farm, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award for the 2023 publishing year.
11:15, Dryer tours and Mural Project
Following the keynote, local representatives from Sunrise Fresh were on hand to discuss how a family farm expanded their ability to provide access to California fruit on a year-round basis, lessening food waste and maximizing harvests.
Barb’s Fruit Stand, 3590 Brown Road, Colusa
12:30, Lunch and learn with the Glenn-Colusa Cattlewomen’s
Families enjoyed a lunch purchased from the Glenn-Colusa Cattlewomen and took an open-air guided tour of Barb O’Connell’s ranch.
1:30-3:00, Blossom Bathing at Barb’s
Inspired by Masumoto Farms, blossom bathing is based on the Japanese practice of “forest bathing” (shinrin-yoku). Partcipants immersed themselves in the restorative sensory experience of walking through the blossoming peach orchard, practicing mindfulness, deep breathing and reflection.
"Spring meant work, summer meant harvest, fall a time for gratitude, and winter a pause for reflection."
EVENTS
Friends Around the Block Quilt Challenge
211 8th Street, Colusa
Quilters inspired by Epitaph created samplers using a variety of fabric selected by the Friends Around the Block. Entries were display through Virginia Read Day.
Colusa County Arts Council
151 5th Street, Colusa
Everything Familiar to Be Found, Contemporary Collage by Mark Vargo
Vargo, a grant recipient through the Upstate California Creative Corps seeks to push the bounds of traditional paper collage, by combining analog methods of collage with unexpected materials and new technology, such as 3-D printing and artificial intelligence. He defines his approach to creating as “Third Wave Art”—a hybrid method of art-making that blends the use of traditional, digital, and AI-generated materials.
3606 Brown Road, Colusa
12:00-4:00 pm, Still Life on the Farm, Oil Paintings by Patti Tauscher
Salmon Bend Art Studios presented a special spring show: Still Life on the Farm, a collection of oil paintings by Patti Tauscher spanning the last decade. The colorful paintings of farmland, water, and machinery reflected Tauscher’s upbringing among the rice fields in Delevan, CA.
Virginia Yerxa Community Read
Supporting Community Through Reading