While I empathize with Sean and his desire to go forward with
fukuoka's methods of
land management, I would suggest that he's not taking into account the social system that overlays his natural garden system. If you "do nothing" to develop good relationships with your neighbors, your farming will fail, no matter how harmonious he believes it to be.
I wonder if there were missed opportunities to involve the surrounding communities, to educate them (I would suspect that many people in his neighborhood are only now understanding that there is something more to it -- via a news report). Although this is a losing battle, you at least can justify your presence.
A lot of times it starts with one bad neighbor and then escalates as this bad
apple pulls others into their madness. It would be interesting to know if this was a complaint or just some town official came, saw, and started legislating. I imagine the town officials just want his system shut down so they don't have to deal with it anymore.
One adaptation (although for some people doing fukuoka methods it wouldn't go over well) would have been to "do something" in the way of
earthworks or landscaping to make it look like someone is "taking care" of the land, even if in the end you have all your freely growing vegetables. What I'm suggesting is to strike a balance between what you want, what nature wants, and what your asshole neighbors want, because as much as you don't like it, they play a part in your system. Ignoring that aspect can have disastrous effects.
Or just move. Or do it in the back
yard only and put up some hedges.
Or fight the thing to the supreme court, which is the difficult path he's chosen.
William
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