All people --despite artistic pretensions, civilization, and many technologies-- owe their existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.

As topsoils are destroyed at record rates, especially in the tropics, many people are learning how to produce necessary food crops using methods based on the basic principles of nature. By working with the natural forces of our Earth rather than trying to force ourselves against these energies we find our efforts are smoother, easier, and more productive.

The forces of nature are powerful and can work with us or against us depending upon what we are doing. By coordinating our work with the biological and physical energies of the Earth (which will continue in nature despite our intentions) we can enlist the strongest allies we can possibly find. By resisting or ignoring these realities we oppose the very forces that sustain our living Earth. Everyone has the choice and can adopt the direction of his own preference. This booklet was prepared to assist, in a small way, those wishing to take advantage of the positive energies of nature and to benefit from them in their efforts to produce better food in a sustainable system.