Working With Nature

Some people are working to help with our food problem and climate change as well. Sepp Holzer is one of those people.

I am reading a book that he wrote, He started doing Permaculture before it was a word. If you have no idea what Permaculture is, no problem. I didn't know what it was until recently either. 

per·ma·cul·ture

  [pur-muh-kuhl-cher] Show IPA

noun

a system of cultivation intended to maintain permanent agriculture or horticulture by relying on renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Here is the link this came from: 

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Permaculture

I think that doing agriculture should be for the long term instead of to make a quick buck and leave a mess to clean up. 

Sepp Holzer seems to be trying to work with the rest of our planet with his agriculture instead of against it. I have been interested in his sort of approach for a long time. I read about a Japanese man who does "no till" agriculture. He has been working on his method even longer than Sepp Holzer.

Masanobu Fukuoka is the name of the Japanese man who practiced no-till farming. People came from all over the world to learn how to do this kind of agriculture.

The thing I read said that the journalist who came from the US to watch Masanobu Fukuoka at work, didn't see much. He said he followed him around on his land for several days. 

The journalist said that Masanubu just appeared to run around on his land and lie down and watch bugs and plants. He spread a few seeds on top of some dirt. Apparently the journalist thought that was the most agricultural sort of thing he saw done.

Sepp Holzer said right at the beginning of his book that his sort of agriculture is something you have to learn by doing and watching. He said you can't really learn it from a book and there are no recipes to follow. Every place is different and must be treated differently.

I suspect the American journalist got to see Masanubu doing the observing part of his version of Permaculture.

I think the world is sick from people being cut off from nature and the land. It is part of humanity to belong to the earth and its systems and rhythms. Most of us only see small slivers of green amidst concrete and asphalt.

It is time we healed ourselves by getting into contact with nature. It is also time for us to begin to heal the damage we have done to nature, before we destroy the planet, including ourselves.