Thanks, GUEST. I took your advice. Here is what Herb Pedersen wrote to me:

It's more of a reflection of my days working on a peach ranch in the Central Valley (Escalon, CA) when I was just a boy. Small town values, hard working farmers with little to show for their labors, the beautiful smells, sunsets not to be taken lightly, and a teenager's first real love. Coming from a larger city, I felt very attached with the way of life for some reason. Community functions, small town Fourth of July parades

This helped to clarify the context but still left some questions unanswered. So I invited him to post a bit more info here.