

Japanpolyculture.com is a place to share our progress and what we learn.

We are a husband and wife team living in the mountains of southern Nara Prefecture, Japan with our elementary school aged daughter.
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We do a lot of things and have many interests, and polyculture seems to be at the heart of it all. Polyculture is a recurring theme in our lives. You could say we are a polycultural family. Amy grew up in Vermont in the US, and Akira grew up in Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
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Our extreme polyculture satisfies our novelty seeking drive. Everyday we see something new! a new sprout, a new bug, a new mushroom. Join us in celebrating the biodiversity in our gardens and see something new almost everyday on our instagram. (button at the bottom)
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Our philosophy so far

Stay away from synthetic fertilizers and chemical interventions like herbicide or pesticide.
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Less till, if we disturb the soil, there is another reason: harvesting tubers, digging out invasives, earthworks.
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Keep the ground covered.
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If it's not hurting anything leave it be.
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If we messed it up, surely we can fix it, maybe even better than it was before.
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We want to leave an abundant, regenerating landscape to our daughter and future peoples.
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