
Good Evening, God
I’m loving this book — The One-Straw Revolution. I ordered it on a whim . . . part of my new awareness of the importance of traditional agriculture. But, this book takes us way back — well past traditional farming. The author, Mr. Kukuoka, had what seemed like an “enlightenment” in which he knew that we humans know nothing! And out of that grew that idea that crops can grow best if left alone
At the beginning he says, “I acted in the belief that everything should be left to take its natural course, but I found that if you apply this way of thinking all at once, before long things do not go so well. This is abandonment, not ‘natural farming.’ “
What he ended up with was FOUR PRINCIPLES:
NO CULTIVATION — no plowing or turning of the soil
NO CHEMICAL FERTILIZER OR PREPARED COMPOST
NO WEEDING BY TILLAGE OR HERBICIDES
NO DEPENDENCE ON CHEMICALS
Applying these principles, his yields were just as high as with the other modes of farming. But the costs were less and the labor was less. He said that for years people came and investigated and learned. But, no one followed his ways. And one of the reasons he gave struck me powerfully. “The world has become so specialized that it has become impossible for people to grasp anything in its entirety.”
Mr. Fukuoka says that, “I think an understanding of nature lies beyond the reach of human intelligence.” Aah, yes. Our human understanding is limited. We do not understand Nature. We do not understand, You, God. If we loose our grip on those two facts we can all to easily fall into hubris. . . hurtling into the future without taking the time to explore, observe and contemplate.
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