○Food Culture in Monetary Society
In a monetary society, people commonly purchase food from supermarkets or convenience stores. As a result, it has become normal to consume vegetables, meat, and processed foods that contain pesticides, food additives, and refined white sugar.
Food additives include substances such as yeast food, shortening (vegetable oil), coagulants, flavorings, emulsifiers, pH adjusters, leavening agents, sweeteners, colorings, preservatives, thickeners/stabilizers, antioxidants, and antifungal agents. These are used to make food look more appetizing, extend shelf life, and enhance flavor, all with the aim of attracting consumers and increasing profits.
Refined white sugar is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream after eating, causing a sharp spike in blood sugar levels. Repeated exposure to this can eventually reduce insulin secretion, increasing the risk of developing diabetes.
If one grows pesticide-free vegetables in a garden near their home, they can harvest and consume the produce immediately while it's fresh. This is the simplest, fastest, and least burdensome way of eating for the body. However, in a monetary society where mass production, long-distance transport, long-term storage, and consumer appeal are required, food transforms into something far removed from its natural state—containing pesticides, additives, and sugar. Combined with factors like stress, overeating, unbalanced diets, lack of exercise, overwork, smoking, and drinking, this leads to modern lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and stroke.
○Cultivation Methods
Pesticide-free cultivation methods include natural farming, organic cultivation, and symbiotic farming. Even within natural farming, practices may vary among individuals. In Prout Village, any of these methods are acceptable, but pesticides are not used because they are often derived from petroleum.
Natural farming is a method of cultivation that avoids harmful pesticides and fertilizers to protect both the body and the land, and is already practiced domestically and internationally. Its pioneer, Masanobu Fukuoka, emphasized a return to nature where various plants grow freely, creating fertile soil inhabited by insects and other organisms. From this rich soil, nutrient-dense crops naturally grow.
Fukuoka’s rice fields were never plowed for over 30 years. No chemical fertilizers, compost, or disinfectants were ever applied. Despite that, he reported yields of nearly 600 kilograms (10 bales) of wheat or rice per approximately 33 square meters. Based on this, one adult male would need about 229 square meters (approximately 15m × 15m) of land per year to be self-sufficient in rice (brown rice: 126 kg/year).
Even with a hoe or plow, humans can only till the soil to a depth of 10 to 20 centimeters. However, the roots of grasses and green manure crops can reach 30 to 40 centimeters or deeper. As these roots penetrate deep into the soil, they carry air and water with them, allowing both to infiltrate underground. When these roots and associated microorganisms die, the soil becomes more fertile and softer. Eventually, earthworms multiply, and even moles begin to dig tunnels, contributing further to aeration and structure. In this way, nature prepares a nutrient-rich environment for cultivation. The soil remains fertile indefinitely, with no factors that cause pollution. The principles of natural farming are: no tilling, no fertilization, no weeding, and no pesticides.
The following table shows the land area required for producing rice and vegetables.
Self-Sufficient Staple Food Model for an Adult Male (Natural Farming)
Calculation of Land Area Required for Vegetable Self-Sufficiency
Total Annual Required Area for One Adult Male (Rice + Vegetables)
Required Area for Annual Food Self-Sufficiency (Square Meter Equivalent by Number of People)
In the case of individual cultivation, water-saving dry direct seeding requires approximately 372 m² of land (approximately 19.3m × 19.3m). However, this is inefficient, so collective cultivation of about 20 people is introduced. Through this, the land area per person can be reduced by approximately 15%, aiming for about 316 m² per person.
Breakdown of Land Area Reduction from Individual Cultivation to Group Cultivation (20 People)
Going forward, considering the issue of water scarcity due to climate change, dry direct seeding (directly sowing rice seeds in dry fields) is prioritized over traditional paddy rice cultivation. In this method, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are mixed with the rice seeds before sowing. This promotes early symbiosis between roots and fungi, enhancing nutrient absorption and water utilization. As a result, plant growth is accelerated, drought resistance is strengthened, and increased rice yields from dry fields can be expected.
Furthermore, seeds are collected from the cultivated crops, then washed, dried, and stored in containers such as refrigerators.
By carrying out this process in each household, everyone can inherit the essential knowledge of food cultivation needed for survival. This ensures food safety and food availability in times of disaster.
○Food-producing house
In Prout Village, one house out of every group of six residences is designated as a Food-producing house, where residents engage in raising chickens, aquaponics, and mushroom cultivation, growing and sharing vegetables, medicinal plants, mushrooms, fish, meat, and eggs.
Aquaponics is a cyclic agricultural system that combines fish farming (aquaculture) and hydroponics (soil-less plant cultivation). The mechanism of aquaponics works as follows:
1. Fish in the tank release ammonia through their gills and urine.
2. Bacteria in the water break down the ammonia.
3. The ammonia is converted into nitrates, which serve as nutrients for plants.
4. A pump sends water to the upper-level vegetable beds.
5. Plants absorb the nitrates and grow, thereby purifying the water.
6. The clean water returns to the fish tank, continuing the cycle.
Fish that can be cultivated in this system include tilapia, carp, crucian carp, catfish, and rainbow trout. Vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, basil, mint, coriander, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, bok choy, and komatsuna are grown. The equipment itself can be designed to be rare-metal-free.
Additionally, medicinal plants like herbs are cultivated so residents can manage common ailments such as colds, sore throats, headaches, fevers, and coughs themselves.
Simultaneously, about 50 chickens are raised in this house. Vegetable scraps and cut weeds from each household are used as chicken feed. In aquaponics, as protein sources for the chickens, small fish like medaka, loaches, freshwater snails such as kawanina and tanishi, and larvae like mealworms are also cultivated.
Food-producing house
Things that can be grown in the Food-producing house
Medicinal plants easy to grow in the Food-producing house
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