The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

Orchard TreesI also grow several varieties of citrus on the hill sides near my home.After the war, when I first began farming, I started with 1¾acres of citrusorchard and 3/8 acre of rice fields, but now the citrus orchards alonecover 12½ acres. I came by this land by taking over surrounding hillsideswhich had been abandoned. I then cleared them by hand.The pine trees on several of those slopes had been clear-cut a fewyears earlier, and all I did was dig holes in a contour line and plant thecitrus seedlings. Sprouts had already appeared from the logged stumpsand, as time passed, Japanese pampas grass, cogon grass, and brackenbegan to thrive. The citrus tree seedlings became lost in a tangle ofvegetation.I cut most of the pine sprouts, but allowed some to grow back for awindbreak. Then I cut back the thicket growth and grassy ground coverand planted clover.After six or seven years the citrus trees finally bore fruit. I dug awaythe earth behind the trees to form terraces, and the orchard now appearslittle different from any other.Of course I maintained the principles of not cultivating, not usingchemical fertilizer, and not using insecticides or weed killers. Oneinteresting thing was that, at first, while the seedlings were growing58