The Korean Natural Farming (KNF) system mimics Nature by using the Soil Foundation to allow plants to grow naturally and to feed themselves, and we can optimize food production following the Nutritive Cycle using naturally occurring biochemistry to signal plants to grow what we want. The final big piece of the puzzle in transforming food production systems to grow using the Power of Nature is the integration of animals with the plants and microbes.
In Nature, there is always a balance between plants, animals, and microbes. All three elements must be included in order to mimic Nature and grow food using the Power of Nature. We also include people in this equation because we are very much a part of Nature, too.
Understandably, not all operations can incorporate large animals. In those cases, the functions provided by animals can be carried out by small animals, such as worms or black soldier flies.
The goal of KNF is the integration of plants, animals, and microbes into a system for organic material cycling and recycling, with the ultimate goal of zero outside inputs and zero waste or runoff.
In Nature, plants and animals are always found together and are always surrounded by microbes. In the garden and on the farm, they also need each other. Together, they form networks that work synergistically and actually make life possible. No organism on Earth is capable of living in isolation.
You would not be able to digest food without the microbes in your gut. You would not be able to breathe without the oxygen made by plants. The plants you depend on for oxygen need the waste (manure) of animals. They would also be buried in their own waste if not for the animals that eat them and the microbes that decompose them. Each part of the system depends on the other two. Life is not a collection of organisms. Life is a System.
For a living system to thrive, all three components must be available—plants, animals, and microbes, along with the vital forces of air, water and moisture, heat and sunlight.
To seamlessly integrate a living system that uses all three—plants, animals, and microbes—feed animals with locally sourced materials (plants, etc.) and create a living bedding system for them called an Inoculated Deep Litter System (IDLS).
The IDLS is created by inoculating the organic matter used for bedding with Indigenous Micro-Organisms, IMO. The bedding becomes organic matter and nutrition for the crops and the soil. The cost and labor of compost piles are eliminated. All you need to do is feed the animals every day and add organic matter to the bedding about once a month once the IDLS system is installed.
Chickens are ideal, followed by pigs. Chickens are the best all-around animal for cycling organic material because they are opportunistic omnivores, well-adapted to humans, and are small and easy to care for. Additionally, they are an easy-to-maintain source of protein, meat, eggs and feathers, or a source of income.
Pigs are larger omnivores, not as simple as chickens, but still an ideal integrating companion. In small spaces where livestock is not possible, smaller animals can be used. This can include the very small, like worms and black soldier flies. Black soldier flies are much more versatile and much less problematic than worms because they can digest anything that was once living. In addition, when they pupate, they can be a high-protein source of feed for animals.
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