The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

[bradfordwwhite]

I'm new here, but I've been reading the discussions for quite some time now. I thought this book would be interesting for some of you. Wendell Berry writes the preface and the introduction is by Frances Moore Lappe[diet for a small planet]. I love this book so much; Masanobu, which is funnily enough translated to Larry, does an amazing job of explaining his trial and errors, philosophy behind his work, all while incorporating a very simple idea: vegetation has always existed without our compartmentalized forms of agriculture. I suppose one could gather by this book that he would be a patron of the idea that agriculture is killing civilization. It's a book full of interesting methods and inspirtational stories.

[Porter Doran]

One of my dad's favorite books. He gave me a copy a couple of decades ago, but I'm afraid I never read it. I intend to track it down.

[christopher]

Sounds really cool, I'll keep an eye out.

[Josh M]

I've read some of Fukuoka's stuff, and am really impressed by the clarity and simplicity of his writing and farming methods. However, I'm not sure how applicable they are to large or even small-medium scale farming in the US.

Can anyone explain his process for starting new farmland where there is already vegetation? How do establish a cover crop over a large area disturbing the soil? I understand ways to do this on a smaller scale (eg, smothering with a tarp, mulch, hay, straw, sheet mulching, etc), however not sure how efficient those methods would be for even a few acres.

I haven't come across the answers to that question in my limited reading of him yet, though he discuss how to flood new rice fields (again, not really applicable, at least for the land in Indiana I will be working this spring).