I’m Lara, I currently live on Duwamish Land, but I grew up on Wappo Land in California! I grew up with a hachiya persimmon tree in my back yard. I climbed it, fell out of it, and watched birds get tipsy off the rotten fruit in the fall. While we didn’t eat the fruit fresh, we would share them with my grandma, who would dry or bake them. Food was always the thing that connected me to my Japanese roots, and this tree was a big part of that connection.