Say hello to these beauties – summer fruit that is beginning to sprout in our garden. It was an experiment using techniques of ‘nature farming’ as it is known. The concept was formed in Japan by Mokichi Okada -founding an agricultural system without the use of fertilizers. I’ve been trying to adopt this method in my gardening.
The process is highly organic. It begins with trying to clear the soil of pollutants, not using tilling machines but the use of micro-organisms that can better purify the soil. Absolutely no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides are used. On a more holistic level, the idea promotes methods such as growing weeds to protect against pests. This way the food need not get affected by harmful chemicals. As a result, the soil ventilates better, the micro-organisms are able to turn the soil more evenly retaining its moisture, and pests are kept away. Sounds like a good environment to grow food, wouldn’t you say?
Keeping in close connection with our philosophy at Naturally Chinese, I have been taking steps to practice this is small ways. It’s not always the easiest thing to do as there is still much to learn about the methods of nature farming, even understanding how to care for the soil and preserve it. But there comes much satisfaction in seeing the results. Also knowing that the fruits of that labour brings goodness to the body, and therefore bettering our health in the long run.
Please feel free to share your thoughts and talk about produce you might have grown in your garden by organic methods. Would love to hear about them.
