permaculture

["ontignano" <ontignano@tiscali.fr>]

Hello ..., you wrote,

"This is where Masanobu Fukuoka's natural farming is so
much more profound than permaculture; pointing
outwards instead of inwards, and never falling in
these traps - there just isn't enough there to fall in
a trap... (For those unacquainted with Fukuoka-san,
read "the One-Straw Revolution")."


I rarely join in these discussions now (I've left the Fukuoka_Farming group
at Yahoo) because it seems to me that this form of communication lends
itself to division, even amongst those working for a common cause - this
group has not been so busy since the last disagreement! And, while I agree
with your passion and arguments both in this and your last email, it just
seems to me that such passion and argument should be directed at those not
yet on the path. I do consider myself to be a Fukuokan (it was me that
scanned and uploaded 'One-Straw Revolution' to the group) but have
discovered that my passion and arguments to persuade have, in most part, not
helped the natural farming cause. Fukuoka-san himself, who sadly was not fit
enough to travel to Italy this year (he's 93) for an International Climate
Change Conference and to help initiate a Natural Farm and School, does not
agree with the ecopy of One-Straw, not because it infringes his copyright
(he does not care for his books) but because he will have nothing to do with
the internet. His concern, his only concern, is to regreen the earth and
that is not done by arguing amongst ourselves, but by getting out and
creating permacultures of land we own or friends and family and clients own,
or, and perhaps this is ultimately more important, getting out into the
abused landscapes of old, abused farmland and denuded landscapes and
reseeding them through seedballing.

The earth is common land and common cause: Fukuoka-san has always understood
this and recognises that beyond all techniques, the earth simply requires a
new mantle of green.

Jamie