Straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding all provide effective weed control in my fields.
I believe that even ‘returning-to-nature’ and anti pollution activities, no matter how commendable, are not moving toward a genuine solution if they are carried out solely in reaction to the over development of the present age.
We receive our nourishment from the Mother Earth. So we should put our hands together in an attitude of prayer and say “please” and “thank you” when dealing with nature.
The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity’s trying to accomplish something.
Gradually I came to realize that the process of saving the desert of the human heart and revegetating the actual desert is actually the same thing.
My ultimate dream is to sow seeds in the desert. To revegetate the deserts is to sow seed in people’s hearts.
The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is.
Before researchers become researches they should become philosophers.
If you do not try to make food delicious, you will find that nature has made it so.
Although natural farming – since it can teach people to cultivate a deep understanding of nature – may lead to spiritual insight, it’s not strictly a spiritual practice.
Natural farming is just farming, nothing more. You don’t have to be a spiritually oriented person to practice my methods.
By raising tall trees for windbreaks, citrus underneath, and a green manure cover down on the surface, I have found a way to take it easy and let the orchard manage itself!
I started natural farming after the war with just one small plot, but gradually I acquired additional acreage by taking over surrounding pieces of abandoned land and caring for them by hand.
The only sensible approach to disease and insect control, I think, is to grow sturdy crops in a healthy environment.
If a farmer does abandon his or her “tame” fields completely to nature, mistakes and destruction are inevitable.
The final principle of natural farming is NO PESTICIDES. Nature is in perfect balance when left alone.
Left alone, the earth maintains its own fertility, in accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal life.
Since I turned the fields back to their natural state, I can’t say I’ve had any really difficult problems with insects or disease.
Unless people can become natural people, there can be neither natural farming nor natural food.
I wonder how it is that people’s philosophies have come to spin faster than the changing seasons.