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Kenta Farm

Kenta means in Japanese "a healthy child". My wife and I named our garden "Kenta Farm", wishing the well-being of our next generation to come. In the summer of 2000, after our first to Pender Island, British Columbia, we were driven by an impulse to start organic farmin on this peaceful island. We thought we would be able to raise our children with healthy mindds as well as sound bodies through working with nature.

Paying our respect to Mother Earth, we try to ehance biological diversity of the agro-ecosystem as much as possible by applying zero-tillage, multiple intercropping systems which enable non-crop species to coexist. Native grasses or insects, for example, are considered by many farmers to be "unwelcome guests" because they are just "weeds" or "pests" which disturb the growth of crops. However, there must be some significant reason why Mother Nature fosters various kinds of plant and animal species, giving them the means to proliferate in this world. Learning from the natural ecosystems, we've found that so many kinds of plants and animals co-prospering on the Earth indicate that billions of micro flora and fauna also cohabit the soil, playing the vital role of maintaining balance of the entire ecosystem. We believe diverse life forms can live in diverse ecosystems, and our culture can then become diverse and harmonious.

Ultimately, respect for biological diversity will be deemed as essential as respect for diversity of human races. Organic agriculture with diverse species and ecosystems will enable people to become aware that all people and species have an inherent value and wqual right to live and blossom on the Earth. Caring fo rthe happiness and will-being of all forms of life on this planet is at the heart of our desire to practice organic farming on Pender Island. The happiest moments for our family occur when we encounter lots of wildlife in the middle of farm work. The field appears to be alive as if it is one organism i nature, and we're delighted to find ourselves being part of it. Through organic farming, we'd like to keep pursuing the question of how to insure that we bequeath this blue and beautiful planet to future generations.

Submitted by:

Arthur Kikuchi
Kenta Farm
I.O.P.A. Certified Organic #1104
2235 Port Washington Rd
Pender Island BC
V0N 2M1

Phone: 250 629-6283

v.island@telus.net