These are really quick notes made while reading the book 'One Straw Revolution'. This book was written by a Japanese farmer and highly recommend read.
It not only talks about natural farming, but also leading a simple way of life.
Modern life and science has only found solution to the problem they have created. A person living in nature doesn't need schooling, he needs it only when he has moved far from nature. Similarly, modern farming has only found solution to the problem they have created. It is like this.
A scientist read over thousands of journals and theory papers in his quest for inventions. And when he pause to find what is his quest it is 'inventing eyeglasses'.
Every farm balances itself out. Insects and plants are automatically balanced.
Later in the book he also points out that crude oil is produced by plants being under high pressure of earth for millions of years and they turn into crude oil which are extracted, transported and processed. Eventually they are given to end users after adding all the extra costs. So which is better buring a fuel like that at home or branches from pine tree in front of your house? Both are the same thing but just that one traveled a very long route to reach back while the other is within your hands reach.
If you think deeper about it, we have caused a lot of misery to our selves. We have to work in four walled offices most of our life because we have another four walled house and luxuries to maintain. All that we earn are being spent excessively on commercial products, restaurants & buying bigger houses. It's like going for work and spending the earned money to buy a car so that I can travel to work. To me it doesn't yet strike as though I should quit my current way of modern life, but I realize that there is a simpler way of living and spending the money on temporary pleasures.
Four principles of natural farming:
1. No Cultivation: i.e. no ploughing or sowing up of soil. ( sometimes this helps weeds )
2. No chemical fertilizers or composts - Soil automatically stabilize fertility.
3. No weed control - only mulch and temp flooding. weeds help in fertilization of soils
4. No chemical dependencies
Quick notes from One Straw Revolution:
The author also explains some profound insights into human nature and mostly opposes all the progress we have made to become the leading species.
Until now even I had a notion that humans were the most superior species above all others.
He says, a frog eat the insects in the farm, a snake eats the frog, the eagle eats the snake, the snake gets hunt by a wolf, a human eats the wolf and the human dies by tuberculosis. Meaning, however superior we are there are still lot of stupid ways to die and most of all there are plenty of invisible bacteria and viruses that are ready to consume humans as they age. Those invisible bacteria should be considered above the human class. So don't be under the illusion that humans are above nature. She got plans for everyone.
It not only talks about natural farming, but also leading a simple way of life.
Modern life and science has only found solution to the problem they have created. A person living in nature doesn't need schooling, he needs it only when he has moved far from nature. Similarly, modern farming has only found solution to the problem they have created. It is like this.
A scientist read over thousands of journals and theory papers in his quest for inventions. And when he pause to find what is his quest it is 'inventing eyeglasses'.
Every farm balances itself out. Insects and plants are automatically balanced.
Later in the book he also points out that crude oil is produced by plants being under high pressure of earth for millions of years and they turn into crude oil which are extracted, transported and processed. Eventually they are given to end users after adding all the extra costs. So which is better buring a fuel like that at home or branches from pine tree in front of your house? Both are the same thing but just that one traveled a very long route to reach back while the other is within your hands reach.
If you think deeper about it, we have caused a lot of misery to our selves. We have to work in four walled offices most of our life because we have another four walled house and luxuries to maintain. All that we earn are being spent excessively on commercial products, restaurants & buying bigger houses. It's like going for work and spending the earned money to buy a car so that I can travel to work. To me it doesn't yet strike as though I should quit my current way of modern life, but I realize that there is a simpler way of living and spending the money on temporary pleasures.
Four principles of natural farming:
1. No Cultivation: i.e. no ploughing or sowing up of soil. ( sometimes this helps weeds )
2. No chemical fertilizers or composts - Soil automatically stabilize fertility.
3. No weed control - only mulch and temp flooding. weeds help in fertilization of soils
4. No chemical dependencies
Quick notes from One Straw Revolution:
- Look at the forest and huge trees growing without loosing fertility.
- Important points on growing vegetables in Chapter 17. Non cultivation (no ploughing) and direct seeding is always recommended.
- Everything is timing of sowing the seed according to season by balancing it with winter and summer weeds. Sow while one dies and before other start growing.
- Spinach seed can be soaked in water for 1-2 days and put in clay pellet before throwing randomly.
- Weeds are good to protect the plants from insects and predators.
- Just controlling weeds are enough once the plants grow stronger you can let the weeds grow as well.
- The reason for flooding the rice fields is weed control. Nothing else.
- One point is that if you don't tamper the fields in any way there will be lot of spiders to take care of grasshoppers and other pests.
- Spiders are sensitive to the slightest human tampering. So it's critical that your do not use any chemicals when doing natural farming.
The author also explains some profound insights into human nature and mostly opposes all the progress we have made to become the leading species.
Until now even I had a notion that humans were the most superior species above all others.
He says, a frog eat the insects in the farm, a snake eats the frog, the eagle eats the snake, the snake gets hunt by a wolf, a human eats the wolf and the human dies by tuberculosis. Meaning, however superior we are there are still lot of stupid ways to die and most of all there are plenty of invisible bacteria and viruses that are ready to consume humans as they age. Those invisible bacteria should be considered above the human class. So don't be under the illusion that humans are above nature. She got plans for everyone.
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