One of the most important discoveries I made in those early years was that to succeed at natural farming, you have to get rid of your expectations. Such "products" of the mind are often incorrect or unrealistic . . . and can lead you to think you've made a mistake if they're not met.

Of course, I have made mistakes . . . just as every grower does. However, I never really think of them as mistakes!

There is no time in modern agriculture for a farmer to write a poem or compose a song

Life on a small farm might seem primitive, but by living such a life we become able to discover the Great Path. I believe that one who deeply respects his neighborhood and everyday world in which he lives will be shown the greatest of all worlds.

One thing is all things. To resolve one matter, one must resolve all matters. Changing one thing changes all things. Once I made the decision to sow rice in the fall, I found that I could also stop transplanting, and plowing, and applying chemical fertilizers, and preparing compost, and spraying pesticides.

If we throw mother nature out the window, she comes back in the door with a pitchfork.

The irony is that science has served only to show how small human knowledge is.