book review: the one-straw revolution

i can't even remember where i heard about this one, but something about it (and the reviews it got) piqued my interest so i ordered it from the library. it's been sitting on the shelf for three weeks untouched while i worked on your money or your life by joe dominguez but when i got the renewal email yesterday and realized that a) both books were on hold and so couldn't be renewed, and b) there was no way i could adequately get through the one i was reading, i decided to spend the day reading the one-straw revolution: an introduction to natural farming by masanobu fukuoka between laundry loads.

at 181 pages, i figured it would be a quick, easy read. it was. but the ideas in the book were deceptive in their simplicity. the four precepts: no cultivation, no chemical fertilizers or prepared compost, no weeding by tillage or herbicides, and no dependence on chemicals, seem like a fairy tale, but in his experience have led to the highest, most consistent grain production in his region.

the book reads almost like a series of zen koans or the teachings of buddha, every word about so much more than farming. the anticipated how-to on pest and weed avoidance was really a call to re-evalute your relationship with food, farming, the world and yourself — ironically and oddly similar to dominguez' approach to money management. interesting to have borrowed them both on the same day.

there was a time i would have called this book life-altering, but today i know it would be contrary to the spirit of the book, so instead i will say it was a gentle but powerful reminder of what i already intrinsically know and where i am hoping to take my life but which has been buried in the side-effects of my current life.

i have already chosen a book to add the sell pile to make room for this one on my shelf.