Speaking biologically, fruit in a slightly shriveled state is holding its respiration and energy consumption down to the lowest possible level. It is like a person in meditation: his metabolism, respiration, and calorie consumption reach an extremely low level. Even if he fasts, the energy within the body will be conserved. In the same way, when mandarin oranges grow wrinkled, when fruit shrivels, when vegetables wilt, they are in the state that will preserve their food value for the longest possible time.
Masanobu FukuokaThe final principle of natural farming is NO PESTICIDES. Nature is in perfect balance when left alone.
Masanobu FukuokaThe healing of the land and the purification of the human spirit is the same process.
Masanobu FukuokaThe ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
Masanobu FukuokaMany people think that when we practice agriculture, nature is helping us in our efforts to grow food. This is an exclusively human-centered viewpoint... we should instead, realize that we are receiving that which nature decides to give us. A farmer does not grow something in the sense that he or she creates it. That human is only a small part of the whole process by which nature expresses its being. The farmer has very little influence over that process... other than being there and doing his or her small part.
Masanobu Fukuoka