The Theory and Practice of Masanobu Fukuoka’s Natural Farming
A 5-day Workshop with Larry Korn
February 2019
Thailand , Chiang Mai
In this 5-day workshop with permaculture and natural farming teacher Larry Korn we will explore the philosophy and practical techniques of Masanobu Fukuoka, pioneer and world leader of the natural farming movement. Larry lived at Mr. Fukuoka’s farm for two years in the 1970s and translated his best-selling book, The One-Straw Revolution. He also traveled with Mr. Fukuoka on two 6-week visits to the United States. This is a rare opportunity to get an inside look at what natural farming actually is, and who Mr. Fukuoka was as a person.
Some of the subjects that will be covered:
- The philosophy, ethics, and principles of Natural Farming
- Mr. Fukuoka’s life story and why it is instructive
- Natural farming methodology: how Mr. Fukuoka knew what to do, and what not to do
- The design and layout of Mr. Fukuoka’s farm
- Daily and seasonal chores
- Growing vegetables like wild plants
- Orchard trees, mushroom cultivation, fertilising, insect control, animals, and more
- Growing rice and barley in the same field each year without plowing or flooding the rice fields
- Making and using seed balls
- Natural diet
- Differences and similarities between natural farming and Indigenous ways, traditional Japanese agriculture, organic farming, and permaculture
- Natural farming throughout the world
- Future evolution of natural farming
- How to incorporate the spirit of natural farming into your own life
The workshop will be filled with stories and anecdotes from Larry’s time hitch hiking in Japan from one back-to-the land commune to another, living in Mr. Fukuoka’s orchard with the other student workers, and what it was like to travel with him in the United States. He will also discuss how his own understanding of natural farming evolved over the past 35 years.
There will also be a number of hands-on projects around the farm such as making seed balls, establishing a natural garden and more.
Larry Korn:
Larry Korn is an American who lived and worked on the farm of Masanobu Fukuoka for more than two years in the early 1970s. He is translator and editor of the English language edition of Mr. Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution (1978) and editor of his later book, Sowing Seeds in the Desert (2012). Larry accompanied Mr. Fukuoka on his visits to the United States in 1979 and 1986 acting as his guide and translator. He is author of the recently published One-Straw Revolutionary (2015), the first book to look deeply at natural farming and intimately discuss the philosophy and work of Mr. Fukuoka.
Larry studied Asian history, soil science, and plant nutrition at the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked in wholesale and retail plant nurseries, as a soil scientist for the California Department of Forestry, and as a residential landscape contractor in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years. He has taught many courses and workshops about natural farming, permaculture, and local food production throughout the United States. He currently lives in Ashland, a small town in southern Oregon.
Larry also studied permaculture, taking two Permaculture Design Courses in the 1980s from Bill Mollison, one of the founders of permaculture. He was one of three editors for the Tilth publication, The Future Is Abundant: A Guide to Sustainable Agriculture (1982). This book is a practical guide for applying permaculture and natural farming techniques to the Pacific Northwest.
For more information about Masanobu Fukuoka and Larry Korn, please visit www.onestrawrevolution.net.
The host site:
Permaculture Children’s House, a Thai Foundation, is located in San Kamphaeng 20 minutes South East of Chiang Mai city, Thailand.The size of the farm is 10 acre and we are working with combined system of growing rice with ducks.Also we started our first steps in establishing a Syntropic Agroforestry System.
- Permaculture Children’s House is an academy and education center for children and adult based on:
- Permaculture
- Self directed Education (PCH is member of ASDE)
- Sociocracy or dynamic governance as a form of governance
- Collaboration instead of competition
- Agile learning principles (PCH is member of Agile Learning Centers and AERO)
- Dynamic and creative way to teach / learn
- PCH own 7 R principles: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, and Rot.
- Montessori inspired education
- Arts
- Cooking and Languages
- Zero Waste
ACCOMMODATION and FOOD:
The course fee includes camping or dormitory. We will serve three delicious, vegetarian meals per day, organic, grown in the veggie garden or locally sourced, and prepared by the team at Permaculture Childrens Scholl with lots of love!
And of course we shall enjoy plenty of tea breaks with fruit and light snacks.
Course Price:
early bird until 23. October: 250 Dollar shared dorm or camping in own tent for local farmers
early bird until 23. October: 350 Dollar shared dorm or camping in own tent for international participants
afterwards: 300 Dollar shared dorm or camping in own tent for local farmers
400 Dollar shared dorm or camping in own tent for international participants
Limited to 20 participants!!!
Dates 23 – 28th February 2019
Contact information: permaculturainfo@gmail.com
