If you do not try to make food delicious, you will find that nature has made it so.

In my opinion, if 100% of the people were farming it would be ideal. If each person were given one quarter-acre, that is 1 1/4 acres to a family of five, that would be more than enough land to support the family for the whole year. If natural farming were practiced, a farmer would also have plenty of time for leisure and social activities within the village community. I think this is the most direct path toward making this country a happy, pleasant land.

Gradually I came to realize that the process of saving the desert of the human heart and revegetating the actual desert is actually the same thing.

We receive our nourishment from the Mother Earth. So we should put our hands together in an attitude of prayer and say "please" and "thank you" when dealing with nature.

As far as my planting program goes, I simply broadcast rye and barley seed on separate fields in the fall . . . while the rice in those areas is still standing. A few weeks after that I harvest the rice, and then spread its straw back over the fields as mulch.

The final principle of natural farming is NO PESTICIDES. Nature is in perfect balance when left alone.

Left alone, the earth maintains its own fertility, in accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal life.