The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback – June 2, 2009

This is an awesome book for numerous reasons, waayyy too many to count. The original author is perhaps a genius who was way ahead of his time. It is very interesting to learn that you can 'farm" without a ton of Chemical fertilizers, sustain a family of 5 on about 1.25 acre plot, do not need a rice Paddy for growing rice and can grow it in a "dry field", typically "green manure" and some animal &/or human manure (yes, human) are enough to replenish the nutrients in a field or growing plot (if I understood that part correctly), vegetables grown without chemical fertilizer in a "natural setting" taste much better and have more nutrients for your body, when sowing seeds you can do so "randomly" instead of in rows and can/will get better results, daikon radish and other vegetables can/will resow themselves year after year if done so properly (how?? read this book), it is actually cheaper to grow organic vegetables, however, consumers typically think a lower price means lower quality and vice versa, I could go on and on but I'm fDone writing this. If you enjoy farming or growing vegetables then this book will not disappoint you, especially if you would prefer to grow them more naturally and healthier for you and your family, plus easier too!. The author of this book makes many good points about farming, growing vegetable sustainably, and how to do so much easier than the typical farmer/person does these days. You ask Who should you blame this on? The chemical companies, of course. The "big pharma" of the farmer. He said in the past Farmers in Japan would typically take off 3 months during the winter time to go hunting animals/game for food because they had the time to do so and it was enjoyable. As chemicals became more prevalent in the farming process the farmers work actually got harder and took more time. Sounds crazy to me but I 100% believe it. I can't say enough good things about this book I wish the author were still alive and I was able to meet him. After reading this book I am noweven more interested in a "living off the grid lifestyle" & growing food sustainably for myself, without all the backbreaking work I thought was involved with farming. This 'new method' of farming the author describes is actually a very very old method & by not using chemicals & using a more natural approach to farming, it will actually make things easier for you the farmer/grower, plus make the food you grow taste better and be better ( nutritionally) for you.

Since I don't want to get cancer from my own garden, I have been researching ways to make the vegetables grow without poisoning them/us. Excellent book here. I started experimenting with cover crops, then grew things amidst the native plants that were already in the field. When I have success with a certain crop, say red beans, I know they work well with my cover crop (red clover for the honey bees). I no longer have to water the garden -- watering it just attracts things that prey on my vegetables, so it never made any sense, but the stuff can't get dry... Then I planted native edibles like plantain, chicory, and dandelions. They bring in pollinators, too. We had a great crop of beans, bitter melon, mints, lavender, and sweet potatoes, along with tons of dandelion salad. And, almost NO WEEDS. The soil looks healthier, too. I'll put the leaves from the parking area on the garden later.A spring tip: Plant garlic and bitter greens of some type (healthy) first. The animals will sample it and become disgusted. Start bitter melon indoors, add that next. The deer hate it -- they nibbled the tips, only one time, hehe. Fry the bitter melon with pork/meat/ghee.The American translator added a note that said you can't do this in the US...that makes no sense, I implemented it just fine. I doubt that gardens in Maryland and New York are different from the rest of the country.

Masanobu Fukuoka saw what modern industrial farming was doing to the water, land and the farmers (both in terms of lifestyle and debt), and spent his life working on finding ways that food could be grown in a non polluting, sustainable manner. After a number of years he had rebuilt the soil on his family farm and proved that he could equal or better the yields of the "petroleum farmers" with his no chemical, lazy man's way of natural farming. Although the book discusses his methods and rationale, much time is devoted to showing what is wrong with the currently popular methods of farming.Throughout the book Mr Fukuoka lament's the change in farmer's lives from many years ago when there was much more leisure in the village life, whereas today they have to struggle to survive working long hours everyday and still cannot get out of debt. Debt created incidentally by being sold a system that relies on pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, as well as large amounts of motorized equipment. The revolving door between the chemical companies and agricultural departments in government as well as school reliance on grants from these institutions are discussed, consumerism, our fetish for perfectly formed produce, and much, much more.This book can be read in a short period and is written in a nice conversational manner (kudos to Mr Larry Korn for his work there as well). For me this is such an important book that I have given a number of copies to friends. This book will change the way you think- read it today!