The two paragraphs below were written two weeks ago, along with the rest of the blog that day which I lost. I don’t like losing things, but I do not search, I listen. The voice said Wait.

A little stop start today. There’s a world cup semi-final to watch! I have been reading Masanobu Fukuoka this week, The One-Straw Revolution. It is a wonderful book, a truly great book. It is a book that sets me going, sets me thinking, sets me searching. It is about natural farming in Japan. It has set me asking the question: What is natural farming in England? It’s not an easy question.

Also this week the search for the identity of the little yellow plant that is growing between path and the gravel outside the front door. There is a picture. Some people call plants like this weeds. I don’t.

So I waited, and here I am back. Since writing England have won the World Cup for the first time ever and been bowled out in a Test Match by Ireland at Lords for 85 before lunch. Such is cricket. Nothing really changes.

Nothing really changes. But Mr Fukuoka’s book is having a profound effect on me. It leads me towards a place of knowing nothing, and that is the place I desire to be. Other desires conflict, the desire for disciples in my gardening experiment, the desire to produce food for my family, the desire to save the soil and the planet.

This week I am philosophical. It is too hot today to be anything else. Next week, or the week after, I will tell you more about vegetables. Suffice to say we are eating plums, courgettes, potatoes, lettuce, kale, french beans, some runner beans, garlic, onions, and numerous herbs.

I will end with a quote from Mr Fukuoka’s book, page 119: “When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”