In 'The One-Straw Revolution,' Masanobu Fukuoka presents a radical approach to farming that rejects modern agribusiness and traditional agricultural practices. Fukuoka, a trained scientist, returned to his family farm after a life-changing epiphany and developed a system of natural farming over three decades. His method, often referred to as 'do-nothing farming,' avoids the use of chemicals, tillage, and excessive watering, instead relying on natural processes like planting clover and using rice stalks as ground cover. The book emphasizes the importance of living in harmony with nature and proposes a way of life and farming that heals both the land and the human spirit. It has become a cornerstone of the worldwide sustainable agriculture movement and continues to inspire readers with its practical and philosophical insights.
With Lyla June Johnston & Michael Ableman.
We’re going to kick off the season by getting our feet down in the soil to talk about agriculture! Our two guests present a compelling vision of how agricultural systems offer humans a deeper sense of purpose that goes beyond the provisioning of food.
This is because farmers and producers often spend their days immersed in the lifeworlds of the land — in the delicate stalks of green, the humming of pollinators, the beating of bird feathers and the pungent smells of sprouting crops. Their survival depends on them paying very close attention, seeing and interpreting the world through other eyes, and by doing so a whole other human psychology unfolds.
Lyla June Johnston is an indigenous scholar, public speaker, artist, and poet of Diné, Tsétsêhéstâhese and European lineages. Lyla studied human ecology at Stanford and is writing her PhD on Indigenous Food Systems Revitalization. She describes millennia-old methods of agriculture that were ingeniously designed to harness nature’s flows, ranging from expansive clam gardens in the Pacific Northwest to the American grasslands. You’ll hear about governance systems and worldviews required to cultivate such abundant landscapes and how we can restore our relationship to farming and food.
Michael Ableman has been an organic farmer for over 50 years and is considered one of the pioneers of the organic farming and urban agriculture movements. He founded North America’s largest urban farm located in Vancouver, that employs people who have been impacted by long term addiction and mental illness. This experience has proven to Michael how farming can support profound healing, and with us he shares his intimate approach to farming, dropping hints as to how you can also listen to the land.
Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/unexpectedagricultures
Show Links:
Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.
Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL
Photo Credit: Rob Kesseler
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Lifeworlds 
