A perfectly ripe, locally grown peach is sweet, easily bruised and ephemeral. But to Nikiko Masumoto, that peach embodies the toughness, perseverance and resilience of her ancestors that has made her life’s work possible. Nikiko is a Yonsei (fourth-generation) farmer, but she’s also an artist connecting farming to art and community through storytelling. In her new children’s book, Every Peach Is a Story, co-written with her father, David Mas Masumoto, little Midori learns about the seasons of peaches, family and life from her jiichan (grandfather). Beautifully written and illustrated, the book is both profound and poignant.
Nikiko’s great-grandparents were farmworkers, prevented by the California Alien Land Law of 1913 from owning the land they worked. They were among the 120,000 Japanese Americans swept into concentration camps following the signing of Executive Order 9066 during World War II. Their son, Joe Takashi Masumoto, drafted into the U.S. Army from behind the barbed wire of the Gila River Relocation Center, returned to California after the war. In 1948, he bought the first forty acres of what has become the Masumoto Family Farm. Said Nikiko of her jiichan’s courage, “he literally planted roots in a country that told him he did not belong.”
Nikiko is carrying on the family legacy. After degrees from University of California, Berkeley and University of Texas, Austin, she returned to the Masumoto Family Farm, where she lives with her wife and daughter in the house her grandparents built. Farming is more than a full-time job, but Nikiko also writes, serves on various non-profit boards in her community, and is a co-founder of Yonsei Memory Project, an arts-based initiative supporting Japanese American memory keeping in California’s Central Valley.
She somehow managed to find time to email responses to my questions:
Esther Newman: What were your career plans when you first arrived at UC Berkeley? How did those aspirations change when you focused on JA history at UT Austin, and how did that lead to your return to the family farm? Did your parents encourage or discourage your decision?
Nikiko Masumoto: My parents were so wise in their parenting—they never put any pressure or tried to sway me in any direction, they gave me space to discover my own path. When I left the farm to live in a city for the first time, it was to attend UC Berkeley. I felt drawn to the electricity of the campus, to the exchange of huge ideas, to the disagreements and challenges to my assumptions. As a rural kid, I got the idea that success was moving away and resettling somewhere urban. But my journey had a different path ahead for me. I loved UC Berkeley and I loved how different it was than my home life. I studied the thing that set my heart ablaze: Gender and Women’s Studies. So I spent a lot of time thinking about power and possibility—and one of my core values: courage. I realized that one of the most courageous things I could do with my life would be to come home and commit myself to be another generation stewarding the land.
I came home for 2 years and realized I had gnawing questions and needed to grow some more, so with the support of my family, I left again for UT Austin. I knew I needed to spend time with the stories of our ancestors because I knew I wanted to come home.
EN: You previously co-authored the book, Changing Season, about the Masumoto Family Farm with your father. How and why did you and your father decide to write Every Peach Is a Story? Were there particular challenges to writing a book for children?
NM: Every Peach Is a Story came about through a series of relationships. For over 20 years, our farm has hosted an Adopt-A-Tree program to invite teams of people to apply to be part of our farm for a year. The teams come and harvest their own trees and enjoy the bounty. It’s an experiential program—we try to invite people into the role of thinking like a farmer and caring for the harvest with depth and inquiry. One of the teams who had adopted for several years included Krista Keplinger, who was our acquisitions editor. She approached us and asked if we had thought about writing a children’s book, which made my heart leap! I have always loved children’s literature and had dreamed of writing a book. My dad was open to it, and it was also a very different style of writing for him. We dove into the process together!
One of the amazing things about children’s books is the writing is more akin to poetry because there are so few words. We felt more like sculptors—paring down, really focusing on what was needed on each page. The other dynamic is clear: the visual illustrations! Illustrators are not just people who can make pretty pictures—they co-create the concepts, feelings, themes, and flow of the writing. Lauren Tamaki was incredible! I call her work visual poetry because she so profoundly captured the essences of the pages.
EN: In Every Peach Is a Story, Midori’s jiichan teaches her about farming by asking questions, gently leading her to be patient and focus on careful observation. How have you incorporated these lessons and your family’s legacy into your life?
NM: In my journey learning to tend to the land, the orchards, and the vines, observation and an approach of beginner’s mind have been two of the most profound lessons passed on to me. I am far from the master farmer that I consider my jiichan and father to be, and in my beginning decade, I’ve come to know that the practices of deep listening, curiosity and questioning, seeing patterns and following observations into contemplation, these are key ways of being not only in farming but in life. They are not skills I only exercise when I’m in the fields, they are practices that inform how I approach all things; this is a way of living.
EN: Your 2015 TED Talk, “Reigniting The Soul of Farming” explores the question of “why farm?” But arriving at an answer requires grappling with many issues: climate change, sustainability, environmental pollution, economic incentives and confronting stereotypes to increase inclusion and develop future farmers. How do you prioritize your efforts or are you just really good at juggling?
NM: I wish there was a simple answer! I struggle a lot. There is no formula for taking on big lifelong work. For me the key has been to deepen my reserves, to constantly open myself to wisdom, to identify the key values and beliefs that I need to keep going. The trick for me has been accepting that I will have moments where I want to give up, when things feel impossible, when failure seems inevitable—and bad things may happen—and that’s when I dig up the core beliefs and the vital stories that keep me going. I often think about ancestors, and for me, I remember them and think, what right do I have to give up? For me, that’s what works to kick me into action and renewal.
EN: Your vocation and avocations lie at the intersection of additional concerns including growing income inequality, the challenges of organic farming, water rights, supporting the arts, feminism, LGBTQ+ activism, immigrant rights, social justice and building community. In our current political climate, the list seems tailor-made for a radical. Do you see direct conflicts with traditional values?
NM: I don’t really know how to answer this one!
For me the roots of farming, feminism, arts, community work, and more—all lead to caring about people and caring about the earth and our relationships between. I don’t care what people call those values, I just want to live them and support people.
EN: As a farmer, artist, activist and writer, what do you most want readers to know?
NM: I want readers to feel embraced by this book! I want people to feel connected to the land and each other. I want people to be curious about their own lineages and food sources. I want people to remember their ancestors.
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Like Midori, Nikiko is harvesting the wisdom of plants and ancestors.
Nikiko will speak about her book, Every Peach Is a Story, at the Japanese American National Museum on April 19 at 11:00 a.m. as part of Little Tokyo’s Earth Day Celebration. Find out more about the program here. You can also learn more about Nikiko, her family and their farm in an NBC News profile and on the Masumoto Family Farm website.
© 2025 Esther Newman
