Tea has been a dominant beverage in Japan for centuries although recent years they have experienced major shift in styles of tea consumption. I had an opportunity to visit famous tea regions in Kyushu and Okinawa to learn their way of tea production, quality control and tea as part of food culture. Japanese are known […]
Disease can’t kill the host or it will perish. It needs the host so it affects only parts of the plant. In a wet year, there are a lot of “brown spots” on leaves of tea plants. It does not affect young tips that we harvest, but affect mature leaves that produce energy to regrow […]
Here you can read about our natural farming philosophy, what techniques we utilize to make natural farming work, and how we examine the result of effectiveness of natural farming. Overview The most effective way of natural farming is to do nothing and let nature take care of the farm and plants. This is our ultimate […]
Natural Farming is a farming practice that imitate the way of nature. It can be interpreted in many ways and sometimes people misinterpret the notion of Natural Farming since the word “Natural” is used so casually in many places. Natural Farming is to do nothing… Basis of natural farming is to do nothing. When you […]
Sustainable farming is an important concept in natural farming to maintain health of soil, crops and various living organisms. It also helps to decrease dependence on limited non-renewable resources such as petroleum based products and importation of organic materials. Do you think importing fertilizers, pesticides and minerals both chemical and organic from the other side […]
Mr Fukuoka’s approach to natural farming is such a noble act in itself. Once many people including myself acquire the knowledge in farming, often they try to implement new ideas by creating more work. I often find myself struggling with a lot of projects because of this. I am sure that he went through a […]
Preserving Native Forest is very important for various ecological functions from native birds and insects to even tiny soil organisms. We at Mauna Kea Tea respect our land and the presence of native forest which connect us to the unique local environment. Why is it important to preserve Native Hawaiian Ohia Forest? Native Hawaiian Ohia […]
Modern farming practices do not sustain life My interest in farming began from the doubt in modern farming practices which we abuse nature so much. Nature has its own balance and yet we are ignorant to see that broken balance. In the end, nature has all the time she needs to fix the problems and […]
Generally aerobic decomposition is considered good composting and anaerobic bad. If you are composting in a composting bin, probably water logged, O2 deficient zone of compost smells rotten and that’s why they say this, but in nature there are both aerobic and anaerobic decomposition occurring at proper places. If you make a small pond and […]
What if I didn’t use any fertilizer at all, both chemical and organic. Does it express more natural rhythm of the plant and encourage stronger growth? I found the answer in “natural farming.” It is a philosophy of soil. It teaches us to observe the great power of soil and nature to utilize it in […]