The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

the seeds and spread the straw across a quarter acre. With the exceptionof the job of harvesting, winter grain can be grown single-handedly, andjust two or three people can do all the work necessary to grow a field ofrice using only the traditional Japanese tools. There is probably no easier,simpler method for growing grain. It involves little more thanbroadcasting seed and spreading straw, but -it has taken me over thirtyyears to reach this simplicity.This way of farming has evolved according to the natural conditionsof the Japanese islands, but I feel that natural farming could also beapplied in other areas and to the raising of other indigenous crops. Inareas where water is not so readily available, for example, upland rice orother grains such as buckwheat, sorghum or millet might be grown.Instead of white clover, another variety of clover, alfalfa, vetchBy December the winter grain sprouts through the straw, the rice seedsremain dormant until spring.45