“A single step away from the source can only lead one astray” Masanobu Fukuoka
Good Earth is centered on the holistic well-being of people and planet. We try not to separate the physical, mental and spiritual. Everything is connected to everything else.
Our project reaches out as an educational resource for folk who are hungry to learn how to provide healthy food and lifestyles for themselves and others. We believe that nature has created the perfect design, so we are experimenting with, teaching and employing natural farming techniques, like those promoted by Masanobu Fukuoka, as well as the philosophy of Michio Kushi who taught that health could lead to peace.
Everything is done by hand as we transition to no-tillage. Over the next two years we are undertaking a WSARE funded research and education project on organic no-till methods when direct seeding vegetables.
In August 2012 we will be organizing a weekend workshop with Larry Korn, editor of One Straw Revolution and other speakers.
We grow produce, herbs and flowers on a leased acre of land at Talking Horse Farm, a beautiful 160 acre working farm on San Juan Island. Produce is sold locally and although the emphasis is not on commercial growing we obviously need to distribute our foods and to recognize the reality of sustaining the project financially.
Who are we?
We are a recently married couple who met each other at Navdanya in the hills of northern India 2009, fell in love and were inspired to create Good Earth, expanding on Gary’s five year operation at Talking Horse Farm. We are motivated as educators, believing the nuturing of self-awareness to be even more valuable than all those practical skills.
Gary Miller has been growing produce organically since he was in his early 20s and has a great deal of knowledge and experience. He is our primary educator and has a natural gift for teaching. Gary studied with Mishio Kuchi and has a fantastic understanding and passion for natural, healing foods and cooking as well as body work. He is also a highly skilled sustainable building constructor, has practiced yoga for 40 years and writes beautiful poems.
Amy Plant has a long background as a community-based artist/activist, playfully bringing people together on common goals, creating space for sharing many voices, ideas and skills. She is inspired by Ghandian ideals, alternative education and the philosophy of deep ecology. She loves to work with people and co-operatives and although she still considers herself a greenhorn, is totally smitten with natural gardening.
Our educational outputs are an internship program and workshops. Interns learn all aspects of running a small, natural farm informally, in the field as well as pursuing a related personal study of their choice.
In the future we will also be posting some tips and discoveries relating to our organic no-till experiments and other topics on the learn page of this website.
