The One-Straw Revolution: A Must-Read

Once in a blue moon, I read a life-changing book. Recently it was The One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese farmer who practiced Natural Farming,

Natural farming is “Simply as possible within and in cooperation with the natural environment, rather than the modern approach of applying increasingly complex techniques to remake nature for the benefit of human beings”.

One-Straw is not a manual for how to farm most efficiently. It is quite the opposite. One-Straw is a guide for how to live. The book frames global problems of overdevelopment, poor health, pollution, and more in regards to our relationship with nature and living. The way of living aligns closely with freeganism.

It is a must-read and would be an injustice to try to summarize it here. Instead, I’ll leave you with ten foundational quotes to whet your palette.

“Human beings are the only animals who have to work, and I think this is the most ridiculous thing in the world. Other animals make their livings by living. People think the bigger the job, the greater the challenge, the more wonderful it is. For human beings, a life of such simplicity would be possible if one worked to produce directly his daily necessities. In such a life, work is not work as people generally think of it, but simply doing what needs to be done.” – pg. 115

“The more elaborate the countermeasures, the more complicated the problems become” – pg. 83

“If you think commercial vegetables are nature’s own, you are in for a big surprise. These vegetables are a watery chemical concoction of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash, with a little help from seed. And that is just how they taste.” – pg. 94

“To break experience in half and call one side physical and other spiritual is narrowing and confusing.” – pg. 112

“Food and medicine are the front and back of one body. Chemically grown vegetables may be eaten for food, but they cannot be used as medicine” – pg. 100

“If 22 bushels (1,300 pounds) of rice and 22 bushels of winter grain are harvested from a quarter acre field such as one of these, then the field will support five to ten people each investing an average of less than one hour of labor per day. But if the field were turned over to pasturage, or if the grain were fed to cattle, only one person could be supported per quarter acre. Meat becomes a luxury food when its production requires land which could provide food directly for human consumption. Each person should ponder seriously how much hardship he is causing by indulging in food so expensively produced. Meat and other imported foods are luxuries because they require more energy and resources than the traditional vegetables and grains produced locally. It follows that people who limit themselves to a simple local diet need to do less work and use less land than those with an appetite for luxury… If we do have a food crisis it will not be caused by the insufficiency of nature’s productive power, but by the extravagance of human desire” – pg. 104

“Something born from human pride and the quest for pleasure cannot be considered true culture. True culture is born within nature, and is simple, humble, and pure. When people rejected natural food and took up refined food instead, society set out on a path toward its own destruction. Food is life, and life must not step away from nature.” – pg. 138

“Sickness comes when people draw apart from nature. The severity of the disease is directly proportional to the degree of separation. If a sick person returns to a healthy environment often the disease will disappear… Doctors take care of sick people; healthy people are cared for by nature. Instead of getting sick and then becoming absorbed in a natural diet to get well, one should live in a natural environment so that sickness does not appear” – pg. 144-6

“Within one thing lie all things, but if all things are brought together not one thing can arise.” Western science is unable to grasp this precept of eastern philosophy. A person can analyze and investigate a butterfly as far as he likes, but he cannot make a butterfly. – pg. 141