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Blithe Tomato
Across America, people are escaping fluorescent-lit grocery store aisles to rediscover the fresh, seasonal offerings of the farmers' market. A new and thriving culture has sprung up as thousands gather each weekend to pinch, poke, smell, and probe the produce--—and at times each other. Who knew that buying peaches and eggplants could be such fun? Mike Madison, who raises organic flowers, melons, olives, and apricots, has been setting up at these markets for over twenty years. With keen observations and sly wit, Madison presents a series of essays and vignettes that introduce us to the characters who make our food, the economy that produces it, and the spirit that has placed farmers' markets among the fastest growing movements in the country.
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
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96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 30, 2009
When I began reading this book, I found it so brilliant and engaging that I wanted to thrust a copy on everyone I knew. I finished it in one evening.
By the end, I was still enjoying the book, but I started feeling a little skeptical. The trouble is that nearly all of Madison's stories can be boiled down to a pithy, heartwarming/philosophical message, and after a while that can get just a tiny bit cloying.
My recommendation is this: read the book, but don't do like I did and read it all in one sitting. All the essays are great on their own, and if you don't read them all at once, you probably won't have my problem.
By the end, I was still enjoying the book, but I started feeling a little skeptical. The trouble is that nearly all of Madison's stories can be boiled down to a pithy, heartwarming/philosophical message, and after a while that can get just a tiny bit cloying.
My recommendation is this: read the book, but don't do like I did and read it all in one sitting. All the essays are great on their own, and if you don't read them all at once, you probably won't have my problem.
August 31, 2008
This is a collection of short pieces about the culture of farming and farmers markets in central California. The author, Mike Madison, is an organic flower farmer, and writes mostly about his own experiences and acquaintances. The book relies heavily on the reader being interested in Mr. Madison's opinion and humor, which, unfortunately, I was only occasionally.
March 20, 2012
2 and 1/2 stars
This book was not exactly what I had hoped. I knew before opening the cover, that this was a collection of essays. However, most of the essays had little to do with farming or growing plants. Instead they mostly were about colorful characters or the author's political opinions. While the writing was okay, it just wasn't what I wanted.
This book was not exactly what I had hoped. I knew before opening the cover, that this was a collection of essays. However, most of the essays had little to do with farming or growing plants. Instead they mostly were about colorful characters or the author's political opinions. While the writing was okay, it just wasn't what I wanted.
May 17, 2019
This writer is very entertaining. Each chapter is unique and takes you to a different concept
in the life of a farmer. He goes to Farmers Markets and makes amusing observances about the
people who stroll about the stalls. He has many points of view. Designed to make you think twice,
about food and people, and our newest politics. He fights a constant battle with gophers but maintains his strength and humor.
It is not all politics but this man gts his hands dirty. As a person who works with the earth he knows what he feels and has had lots of time alone to ruminate on current state of affiars. ..."perhaps democracy in this country is a complete failure. Elections are now open to th highest bidder. ..people cast their votes for a violently exploitative attitude toward the planet and its creatures."... but if love the taste of food that is grown simply and with love, this book is for you . "the city dweller is surrounded in every dimension by human artifacts, but a farmer, standing in his barnyard, his view is encompassing a cloudy sky, a field of wheat, some chickens scratching under an apricot tree..." this book is a true joy to read before falling asleep. You will sleep most soundly without nightmares!
in the life of a farmer. He goes to Farmers Markets and makes amusing observances about the
people who stroll about the stalls. He has many points of view. Designed to make you think twice,
about food and people, and our newest politics. He fights a constant battle with gophers but maintains his strength and humor.
It is not all politics but this man gts his hands dirty. As a person who works with the earth he knows what he feels and has had lots of time alone to ruminate on current state of affiars. ..."perhaps democracy in this country is a complete failure. Elections are now open to th highest bidder. ..people cast their votes for a violently exploitative attitude toward the planet and its creatures."... but if love the taste of food that is grown simply and with love, this book is for you . "the city dweller is surrounded in every dimension by human artifacts, but a farmer, standing in his barnyard, his view is encompassing a cloudy sky, a field of wheat, some chickens scratching under an apricot tree..." this book is a true joy to read before falling asleep. You will sleep most soundly without nightmares!
June 5, 2024
This is the forgotten book that I picked up in a dusty corner library of the small kitchen at the organic vegetable farm I worked at for multiple years. As someone deeply in love with farming and the interconnectivity of the web of farmers that make up a community, I was completely enthralled. Each essay transports you into a small corner of a farming community, giving an outsiders perspective an inside look on the story behind each item of produce a farmer calls their life.
I appreciated the dry humor and the author's perspective as if it were my own. I can easily say this is one of my favorite books.
I appreciated the dry humor and the author's perspective as if it were my own. I can easily say this is one of my favorite books.
January 5, 2018
It was a fun light read that explored the experiences of an organic farmer in Northern California and some of his quirky encounters with other local farmers.
March 5, 2014
I expected this collection of short essays to be a bit frivolous perhaps, something you read once and toss, perhaps more strident in a my-way-is-better-than-your-way fashion, or perhaps I expected the over-educated kind of one-upmanship I feel is characteristic of writers like Bill Bryson, writers whose prose is so smart and so clever that they can't seem to help admiring how clever they are. The book was none of those things, at least not to my reading, and it promises to be a book I will continue to pick up and delve into occasionally, with essays that are astute, often contemplative, but also kind and forgiving of human follies as well as short and easy to read. I love the way the essays open a door that lets my thoughts wander down their own paths.
Even though Mike Madison is a farmer and the book is marketed as containing essays about food and farming, this is not strictly true. Yes the essays do revolve around farming, farmers markets, farmers, and people who shop at farmer's market, but their subject is not so narrowly defined. The essays are really about life and about humans with all their strengths and weaknesses, follies and foibles. But the essays are written with compassion and humor and the author is able to turn that compassion and that humor on himself as well as upon others. It is a book that needs to be savored slowly. It is a fairly easy read, and the focus, for the most part is on the small, the routine, the everyday. But small things can sometimes point us to something greater. I enjoy reading this book most when taken in small doses, as a bit of a of a pick-me-up during the day.
When read straight through, without time to reflect and savor the best parts, the essays tend to run together and turn into something less than the whole. I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean to say that it is a book that should be enjoyed essay by essay, allowing time for reflection, much the same way a beautiful spring day is more memorable when one stops to smell the fresh air, soak up the sunshine, pause and reflect on the goodness of life. When we rush onward without pause, too preoccupied to celebrate the small things, we too easily become stressed and overwhelmed, and the beautiful and the good seem to fade into the background, seeming, to our inundated neural pathways, to be less than they really are and perhaps too simple to be believed.
Even though Mike Madison is a farmer and the book is marketed as containing essays about food and farming, this is not strictly true. Yes the essays do revolve around farming, farmers markets, farmers, and people who shop at farmer's market, but their subject is not so narrowly defined. The essays are really about life and about humans with all their strengths and weaknesses, follies and foibles. But the essays are written with compassion and humor and the author is able to turn that compassion and that humor on himself as well as upon others. It is a book that needs to be savored slowly. It is a fairly easy read, and the focus, for the most part is on the small, the routine, the everyday. But small things can sometimes point us to something greater. I enjoy reading this book most when taken in small doses, as a bit of a of a pick-me-up during the day.
When read straight through, without time to reflect and savor the best parts, the essays tend to run together and turn into something less than the whole. I don't mean that in a bad way, I mean to say that it is a book that should be enjoyed essay by essay, allowing time for reflection, much the same way a beautiful spring day is more memorable when one stops to smell the fresh air, soak up the sunshine, pause and reflect on the goodness of life. When we rush onward without pause, too preoccupied to celebrate the small things, we too easily become stressed and overwhelmed, and the beautiful and the good seem to fade into the background, seeming, to our inundated neural pathways, to be less than they really are and perhaps too simple to be believed.
January 2, 2008
there were 2 or 3 annoyingly preachy essays, but since each piece is only 2 or 3 pages long, I was quickly back to a more entertaining essay. I am always surprised that people are comfortable writing about their friends, relatives, and neighbors since it seems like it is an easy way to destroy relationships...
March 30, 2008
Between Thanksgiving guests this year, I enjoyed the bite-size essays served up in Mike Madison's Blithe Tomato. His stories about the personalities of organic farmers (as varied as vegetables themselves) and meditations on a life connected to the earth (and the rodents who live in it) kept me smiling, wanting to share these stories with friends, and turning the pages for another serving.
August 30, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. I like that it's a series of little vignettes and shorter stories that give a picture of a California farmer's life. I also enjoyed the observations from the farmer's market. As a frequent visitor at the market, I often wonder what those behind the table think of us in front of it.
August 2, 2014
through short passages filled with keen detail and rich description, we gain glimpses into a farmer's life. but this farmer's observations range wider than farming life too, encompassing individuals he meets and perhaps society itself. it also gave me an even deeper appreciation for farmers' markets.
August 22, 2015
He said it best: "Our culture is so impoverished in wonderment that one seeking a thrill thinks of skiing down a vertical slope or jumping out of an airplane, but if she only had the wits and the spirit, she could experience a deeper thrill by lying in a meadow and watching a beetle climb a stalk of grass, or admiring a melon."
January 7, 2008
Cute, and a quick, easy read. Individual stories are only a few pages.
Especially fun if you have any interest in farming, farmer's markets, rural life, and/or rejecting the mainstream material world. Yolo County props.
Especially fun if you have any interest in farming, farmer's markets, rural life, and/or rejecting the mainstream material world. Yolo County props.
October 20, 2008
Loved it! Insightful perspective on grower:buyer and rural:urban relationships. Paints great character sketches, revealing the good bad and ugly in us all. Really touches on everything, from religion to money, friendship and ecology. Good humor, too.
July 7, 2007
Very interesting look at the life of an organic farmer. Each chapter could be read separately as a short story, but all fit together in an interesting look at slow-food culture.
August 14, 2007
These short essays are great to read because not only are the authors stories funny but they are well written and about the Sacramento Valley.
January 5, 2008
vignettes about life on a small farm in northern california and farmers market culture. makes me want to start one of my own (a farm, that is).
March 5, 2008
I LOVE this book. If Garrison Keillor wrote about farming and selling his produce at a farmer's market, this would be the result.
Want to read
February 12, 2008A gift from Aunt Lavenia!
December 4, 2008
If you've spent much time around farmer's markets, you'll enjoy this glib creation from Mike Madison and Santa Fe artist Patrick McFarlin.
March 22, 2009
I loved this book. Each chapter presented a compelling vignette of rural life. For those who like books about food, nature, interesting characters and who enjoy good writing, check this one out.
June 8, 2009
Essays on the farmers market, people observations......importance of details and paying attention to others. The intimcacy of daily exchange....every story an inspiration
December 23, 2009
Straight forward wisdom from a California Farmers' Market.
December 24, 2009
Wonderful book. A farmer in Winters (just west of me) tells of his times and neighbors at the farm and at the farmers market. ull of wisdom
August 16, 2010
An all-time favorite, and the easily the book I recommend (and lend!) to other people most often. Pick it up - or I'll gladly loan you my copy! It's fantastic!
August 20, 2010
May just be my most favorite summer read.
This book kicked off my personal "summer of short stories" reading spree. Please enjoy this book about growing food, farmers markets & life reflection.
This book kicked off my personal "summer of short stories" reading spree. Please enjoy this book about growing food, farmers markets & life reflection.
April 3, 2011
I really, really enjoyed this book. Very sweet and inspiring vignettes on farming, the environment & rural life.
January 13, 2012
Short vignettes by a California farmer.
January 4, 2013
Wonderful first-person essays exploring farming, human nature, and occasionally the spirit.
August 26, 2018
Mike Madison (Deborah's brother), a farmer who captures the farmers market scene with wit and delights the reader.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews