Nou-en meeting ~ thoughts from Aidan

We're getting ready to start up Nou-en again after the winter break. People have moved in to Tsuji house and are gearing up to assist neighborhood farmers starting in April. A few weeks ago we held a gathering of all the farmers we helped last season to talk about last year and how we can better work together this year. It was the first time we've held a meeting like this, with all the farmers involved.

One of our wwoofers, Aidan from Tasmania, attended the meeting and had these thoughts to share about his experience so far:

We live in interesting times, with machines as our hands and our food and friends coming from all four corners of the Earth. Maybe, whether by choice, or through necessity, we will all be affected by the principle of Nou-en.

How can we really put a money value on things?

Communities have changed from when people pooled resources. Infrastructure and methods have changed, and the environment and perceptions have been altered to suit the big corporations. Changes to food production and the environment have allowed us to rapidly re-direct our own place in the world, but at what cost?

With the resources we still have, and with the technology we have, there is great potential to explore the knowledge of our peers and forefathers.

Japan has the potential to feed itself if and when the 'ship' turns upside down. By fostering a lifestyle based on local and seasonal food, we can remove the life support system that keeps most of us alive.

It was motivating to attend a meeting for Nou-en with over 20 attendees, mostly local farmers, mostly over 50 years old. All that experience willingly being shared is definitely a step in the right direction.

We can all learn if we listen, and we can do anything if we try.

"...there are two types of people (paths)...the older ones, who understood everything, but did nothing with it, and the younger ones, who understood only partially or not at all, but immediately put suggestions into practice. We obviously trod the younger path in the agricultural movement, we did all our learning in the hard school of experience." (Rudolph Steiner).