This series of articles on How to Start KNF is not meant to give you recipes. It’s meant to teach you how to cook. So far, we have covered the basics on how to start practicing KNF. This is a quick review of the basics before we cover more advanced concepts. Level one of How to Start KNF focuses on setting up the systems. It’s about setting goals, learning skills, and starting things that take time to be ready for use. IMO is the foundation of the soil, and the foundation of

A 21-nautical-mile stretch of water could trigger a global famine. The Strait of Hormuz controls up to half the world’s fertilizer. The Ukraine war is also a major disruption, and we’ve hit Peak Fertilizer. Cheap, mined minerals are over, and our food system is fragile. What if you could opt out without buying a single bag of fertilizer? It’s a method where you become the supply chain by harnessing the biology already on your land. We’ll get to the solution in a moment. But h

People tend to assume that plants need fertile soil in order to grow well. But that’s not really how nature works. The place where conditions matter most is right around the plant’s roots, the small zone of soil where roots, microbes, and nutrients interact. This zone is called the rhizosphere. Essentially, the rainforest's amazing output isn't due to nutrient-rich soil. It comes from a living biological system that constantly cycles nutrients right where plants need them, ar

As a grower, deciding how to feed plants can make everything better or make everything worse. Many people follow conventional wisdom, not understanding what they have decided or even that alternatives exist. This knowledge can directly affect the bottom line. Modern growing techniques offer prescriptive solutions, directives really. The grower does not need to make many decisions, only to follow directions. • Fertilizer Rates • Soil Test Recommendations • Nutrient Deficiency

In Nature, plants grow abundantly without applied fertilizers. They do so through circular, self-reinforcing systems that recycle nutrients, build organic matter, and make minerals biologically available. These systems run on living soil. When they are intact, fertility is generated internally rather than imported from the outside. Farmers who grow food without fertilizers, whether on small plots or broad-acre land, share this same foundation. They begin by establishing biolo

POTASSIUM DEFICIENCY occurs when soil is lacking potassium. Even when sufficient potassium is present, if the soil contains high levels of lime and magnesium, the plant still suffers from potassium deficiency because these elements suppress potassium absorption. Potassium deficiency can also easily occur in sandy soil, which has less humus, because potassium is readily leached from sandy soil, as with nitrogen. Using a soil foundation with Indigenous Micro-Organisms (IMO)

How are minerals used in KNF if soil amendments are not a regular part of crop establishment and management? In a word, the answer is Seawater. This is not the only source of mineral elements in KNF, but it is the most important. There was a pasture in Hawaii that was doing poorly, with a lot of weeds, but very little edible grass and forage. A livestock expert and KNF practitioner had the rancher apply seawater to the pasture. Nothing else was done, but everything changed. G

While most KNF teachers will have you learn all the inputs for Korean Natural Farming first, that is not my advice. It’s not helpful to make