The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural FarmingCall it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.” Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort. Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own. |
Contents
Returning to the Country | 11 |
One Reason Natural Farming Has Not Spread 27 | 25 |
Farming Among the Weeds | 41 |
Orchard Trees | 58 |
Limits of the Scientific Method | 74 |
One Farmer Speaks Out | 79 |
Commercial Agriculture Will Fail | 92 |
A Merciful Death for Barley | 105 |
Confusion About Food | 123 |
Living by Bread Alone | 139 |
Who is the Fool? | 156 |
The Theory of Relativity | 169 |
To My Readers | 183 |
Other editions - View all
The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming Masanobu Fukuoka No preview available - 2009 |
The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming Masanobu Fukuoka No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
agriculture animals asked barley beans become body chemical fertilizer chickens citrus colors compost crops cucumbers cultivation delicious direct seeding disease do-nothing earth eggs farmer fish flavor FRANCES MOORE LAPPÉ frogs fruit Fukuoka germinate grasses green green manure ground cover growing rice growing vegetables grown harvest human huts insects Japan Japanese Kochi Prefecture leaf-hoppers LEONARDO SCIASCIA live look mandarin oranges manure MASANOBU FUKUOKA method modern mountain mulch natural diet natural farming natural food nature's nutrients One-Straw Revolution orchard PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR pellets plowing pollution pounds practices Prefecture problem produce quarter acre radish realized rice and winter rice fields rice plants rice seed rice straw rye and barley season seedlings shepherd's purse Shikoku soil sowing sown soybeans spiders spirit sprayed spread spring sprout taste thing tion traditional turnips varieties village weeds wheat white clover wild winter grain yields young