Interesting book

I just finished reading an interesting book called "One Straw Revolution" by Masanobu Fukuoka. Mr. Fukuoka lives (or lived possibly) on a mountain in Japan where he farmed with a method he called the do-nothing method. He doesn't till the soil or use any chemicals whatsoever. It sounded so beautiful to work with the rhythm of nature instead of wearing out the land with intensive single crop farming. I enjoyed the book for the most part, but I got bogged down in his philosophies in the end, which I definetely didn't agree with.

His method was quite a contrast from the typical American method of farming. How much of the land do we bring near to ruining because we think it would bring us a greater harvest? How possible would it be to bring our farms back around to community based methods and become dependent more on nature instead of large single crop farms and ranches.

I'm often a little hard on our nation, especially when I read about other nations suffering hunger while we stuff ourselves and cause depletion of fish supplies, red tides, and environmental degradation. But can we really change where we are. Could we of Sacramento live well enough from sustainable agriculture produced solely in California? It's definitely something to think about, but I don't expect things can really change without bringing a heavy toll on the economy.

I wish we could go back to such a method:
"Make your way carefully through these fields. Dragonflies and moths fly up in a flurry. Honeybees buzz from blossom to blossom. Part the leaves and you will see insects, spiders, frogs, lizards and many other small animals bustling about in the cool shade. Moles and earthworms burrow beneath the surface.
This is a balanced rice field ecosystem. Insect and plant communities maintain a stable relationship here. It is not uncommon for a plant disease to sweep through this area. leaving the crops in these fields unaffected." Fukuoka p. 29

At least I can apply some of this method in my own yard.