"Do-Nothing Farming"

Recently, someone at church gave me a copy of The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka. I've only begun to read it, but what a treat so far!


Fukuoka lived in Japan and was the son of a farmer. As a young man, he experienced a sort of enlightenment moment that led him to understand that human intelligence was fallible and that nature actually knew how to grow plants better than humans did. That sounds rather obvious, perhaps, but it truly is an utterly unconventional way of thinking.

Fukuoka believed that agricultural techniques developed by humans only seemed necessary because humans had thrown the natural processes out of balance through previous interventions. As a result, the land and its plants had become, to a great extent, dependent on them. Most agricultural practices, he concluded, were really unneccessary.

"Human beings with their tampering do something wrong, leave the damage unrepaired, and when the adverse results accumulate, work with all their might to correct them. When the corrective actions appear to be successful, they come to view these measures as splendid accomplishments. People do this over and over again. It is as if a fool were to stomp on and break the tiles of his roof. Then when it starts to rain and the ceiling begins to rot away, he hastily climbs up to mend the damage, rejoicing in the end that he has accomplished a miraculous solution."

Fukuoka developed a farming system - and a philosophy - which he called "Natural Farming" or "Do-Nothing Farming," which, although he hasn't used the term in the book so far, reminds me of the Taoist principle of wu wei or "non-doing." After reading his chapter on "Do-Nothing Farming," I think finally understand better the 29th chapter of the Tao Te Ching, which I've read translated by Peter Merel as:

Those who wish to change the world
According to their desire
Cannot succeed.

The world is shaped by the Way.
It cannot be shaped by self.
Trying to change it, you damage it;
Trying to possess it, you lose it.

My favorite translator of the Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell, has interpreted the same passage to read:

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.
The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

His interpretation of the chapter continues:

The Master sees things as they are
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way.
And resides at the center of the circle.

Ironically, despite my interest in farming and the natural world, in the past, I've always understood this portion of the Tao as a reference to the world's social problems. I've usually interpreted it to mean, rather pessimistically, that we ought not bother trying to change those things that are troublesome about the world, such as the poverty, the racism, the human rights violations, and even climate change. As such, I've really wrestled with this passage.

But perhaps when Lao Tse said "the world," he really did mean "the earth" - "the natural world," rather than the society that humans have created, complete with all of its problems. What is climate change, after all, but the world thrown out of balance by human intervention? To not address it, Fukuoka would say, would be abandonment. He might recall the time when, as a young man, he was handed charge of his father's orchards and, eager to put his new way of thinking into action, he too suddenly allowed the trees to take care of themselves without first doing what he could to ease them back into a place of natural balance with their surroundings. As a result of his inaction, the trees withered and failed to produce fruit. There is an immense difference between "Do-Nothing Farming" and neglect, he learned, just as there is a difference between wu wei (non-doing), and not doing anything at all.

The Great Post-Thanksgiving Clean-Out

I'm racing like a mad woman to eat all of the vegetables that came in the waxed-box from the Community Farm where we have our CSA share. The next (and final for the season) pick-up will be December 5th, and we still have quite an inventory from the last pick-up, including...carrots, radishes, turnips, rutabega, collards, bokchoy, leeks, brussel sprouts, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, napa cabbage, and mixed greens. Oh, and the potatoes in the basement and the onions, shallots, sweet potatoes and squash in the attic. How am I going to pull this off?