
Interesting Quotes
“Who planted the great ancient forests? Who tilled the land? Who provided seed, manure, irrigation, or protection from pests?”
-Bhaskar Save, in The Vision of Natural Farming by Bharat Mansata, p. 3.
“When we assign a value to something in the forest, we are beginning to adjust that object in our focus, and as we bring one thing into focus we simultaneously forces almost everything else out of focus…. For example, for many years rodents were poisoned in the name of forestry, because we perceived only the “negative” value we “thought we saw”; they ate tree seeds we wanted to grow. Today, we have a different view of forest rodents. Some still eat tree seeds, but at the same time they disperse viable spores of mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and yeast.”
-Chris Maser, The Redesigned Forest, p. 22-23.
“When people want to know what Okuninushi no Mikoto, the Shinto deity of agriculture, carries around in the huge sack on his shoulder, they immediately open the sack and thrust their hands in. They think that to understand the interior of the sack, they must know its contents. Supposing they found the sack to be filled with all sorts of strange objects made of wood and bamboo. At this point, most people would begin to make various pronouncements: “Why this is no doubt a tool used by travelers.” “No, it's a decorative carving.” “No, it's most definitely is a weapon.” And so forth. Yet the truth, known only to Okuninushi himself, is that the object is an instrument fashioned by him for his amusement. And, moreover, because it's broken, he is carrying it around in his sack merely for use as kindling.”
-Masanobu Fukuoka, The Natural Way of Farming, p. 52.