Bringing the Country to the City

In the middle of the city a small farm revolutionized the idea of what can be done in an very unlikely place! 63 years old self reliant J. Dervaes started his own farm ten years ago, Jules and his children grow all the food they need in the middle of the city. Their produce is organic and their ducks and chickens lay thousands of eggs a year, on their 4000 sqf backyard they raise 400 varieties of vegetable and fruits.

It all started as an experiment, from 1/10th of an acre, four people manage to get over 90% of their daily food and the family reports earnings of $20,000 per year (AFTER they eat from what is produced). This is done without the use of the expensive & destructive synthetic chemicals associated with industrial mono-cropping, while simultaneously improving the fertility and overall condition of the land being used to grow this food on. Scaled up to an acre, that would equal $200,000 per year! 

One of the main reasons why I would not mind to start growing my own food, perhaps not today but down the road for sure..

1. GET THE NUTRITION YOU NEED & ENJOY TASTIER FOOD!
Many studies have shown that organically grown food has more minerals and nutrients that we need than food grown with synthetic pesticides. There’s a good reason why many chefs use organic foods in their recipes—they taste better. Organic farming starts with the nourishment of the soil, which eventually leads to the nourishment of the plant and, ultimately our bodies.

2. SAVE MONEY
Growing your own food can help cut the cost of the grocery bill. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars and month at the grocery store on foods that don’t really nourish you, spend time in the garden, outside, exercising, learning to grow your own food.

3. PROTECT FUTURE GENERATIONS
The average child receives four times more exposure than an adult to at least eight widely used cancer-causing pesticides in food. Food choices you make now will impact your child’s future health.

I also know that not everyone can become like Mr. Dervaes due to lack of space but at least the video documentary inspires people and opens up horizons to those unfortunate that are left behind by consuming a daily dose of MSG and pesticide.. I can also tell you that I am one of it as well!

So, lets jointly hope for the best and a self sufficient thought is a good start for the day! 

The Basics of Natural Farming

Here is something interesting for all of you guys, a Tsunami of information to cure or at least to reduce some of our ignorance is often necessary; we don’t need millions of dollars in equipment to run a farm nor thousands of dollars to build our own Eden on earth.

Natural Farming recognizes that farmers and gardeners must first attend to nature so that they may then learn how to tend. This gentle practice turns farming from the science it has become in the West into a craft; where this craft is a focused understanding of the primacy of nature.

Temperate Natural Farming proceeds from simplification applying the ‘do-nothing’ approach from deep observation through opening ourselves to nature, which is the work of a lifetime. Curiously, as we progress along the path of Natural Farming there comes the realization this is not agriculture at all because it wants to go nowhere and seek no victory and, ultimately, it is not about the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.

Natural Farming is truly inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s practices, in 1975 he wrote a book called The One-Straw Revolution that described his journey, his philosophy, and farming techniques. The One-Straw Revolution, in short, was Fukuoka’s plea for man to reexamine his relationship with nature in its entirety. In his most utopian vision, all people would be farmers. If each family in Japan were allotted 1.25 acres of arable land and practiced natural farming, not only could each farmer support his family, he wrote, but each "would also have plenty of time for leisure and social activities within the village community. I think," he added, "this is the most direct path toward making this country a happy, pleasant land."

I would highly recommend buying and reading it again and again because it tells so many facts and common sense of agricultural practices. In other words, it idiot proof that learning the basics of Natural Farming makes it really easy.


There are five principles to Natural Farming;

No plowing – because it destroys the cycles of life in the soil,
No fertilizers – because they deplete the land from which they are taken and disrupt the balance of the soils on which they are used,
No pesticides – because there are no ‘pests’,
No wedding – because there are no ‘weeds’,
No pruning – because a tree left undisturbed knows far better how to grow.


Natural farming is founded on the laws of nature. It assumes that all that is needed to successfully produce crops can be found in the natural environment. Engaging in natural farming, therefore, is a desirable venture. I don't have the opportunity to make use of these practices in Singapore, but I have to be patient. Good things come to those who wait!