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Natural Farming and Permaculture-an essay introduction

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At Caretaker Farm since the beginning of my time there in 1989 I have tried to follow the natural farming recommended and practiced by Masanobu Fukuoka-his book the One Straw Revolution which I read in the early 1980s  had a huge impact on the way I thought about and interacted with nature.  Later I discovered Permaculture with its design planning system using zones and organic methods. As a result I  use a combination of both methods in what I am trying to create on Caretaker Farm in NZ. In this essay I will describe and explain permaculture as I understand it after having attended a two week Permaculture Design course in the north of New Zealand back in 2005 and have implemented on Caretaker Farm, Whangateau, Aotearoa(NZ).  Permaculture was developed by two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, as a response to pollution of the soil, water and air; the increasing reduction of non-renewable resources; the continued loss of animal and plant species and;...
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Natural Farming-the wisdom of Masanobu Fukuoka

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Masanobu Fukuoka (1913-2008) was a Japanese philosopher and farmer from the Island of Shikoku. He used what can be called natural farming techniques which went against the usual ploughing, tillage and scientific agricultural methods used so much today Natural farming requires no machinery or fossil fuels, no chemicals, no prepared compost and very little weeding. Even though his methods were controversial-i.e he did not plough the soil or hold water in his fields of rice as other farmers-he managed on his farm to achieve yields either comparable to or higher than the most productive Japanese farms at the time. Natural farming creates no pollution and actually improves the fertility of the soil every season which of course poses a threat to scientific and business in agriculture where they push fertilisers and pesticides and of course machinery to till the land or irrigate. On Caretaker farm I have tried to follow some of the principles expressed by Fukuoka in his book "The O...
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Halloween or Beltane? It depends what part of the world you live in!

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More and more New Zealand children with the support of their unfortunately ignorant parents and those commercial  businesses wanting to make a dollar are celebrating the Wiccan festival of Halloween or Samhain or All Hallows' Eve as it is properly called on October 31. As a Wiccan myself for over 25 years and therefore someone who considers this day as one of my 8 sabbats (special celebratory days), I am getting more and more irritated at the misuse of this festival and particularly as it is being celebrated in this country of NZ at the wrong time of the year. All Hallows' Eve or Samhain the Witches New Year, is the night when the veil between the world of spirit and daily life is thin and able to be transcended, is in fact an Autumn festival which is why you can traditionally see pumpkins hollowed out with candles sitting inside shining their light in the windows of houses. It amazes me that "kiwi" parents think that it is appropriate to celebrate this autumn festi...
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