Ken'ichi Shizen Nōen Tea-Farm
Teaching people about the environmental problem, while caring for everyone’s health.
IMPROVING SOCIETY THROUGH NATURAL FARMING
Ken'ichi Shizen Nōen Tea-Farm
Ikawa Kenichi is a young and driven tea farmer of organic and naturally grown tea. He raises his tea bushes without the application of any agrochemicals and omits any type of fertilization. His focus is to grow a natural product that was raised and nurtured by the surroundings in which it grows. In doing so, he hopes to become an inspiration to others to discover a better way for humans and nature to successfully coexist, and in effect together build a better world.
Born in 1981 Kenichi became aware of a variety of problems we face as a product of society. During his youth he had dreamt of becoming a doctor so he could help people that were ill or injured. During high school his focus shifted to the suicide problem in Japan. To help young people who may be facing a similar fate, he wanted to become a teacher. At age 17 he was introduced to our environmental problem through a TV documentary. He felt that while it is important to approach our societal problems, he couldn’t successfully solve them without doing anything to preserve the greater environment, Mother Nature, earth.
The first garden he rented was an overgrown plot of land, a 37 ares tea garden that hadn’t been taken care of for over 13 years. It was a jungle overgrowing with weeds and more than 3m high tea bushes that needed to be maintained. His choice, however, was a conscious one. The soil on a plot of land that hasn’t been maintained for so long will have had the opportunity to decompose most of the fertilization and other unnatural substances that were added to it previously. He figured that it would be the perfect place to begin his natural approach to farming. Now, 18 years later, Kenichi maintains over 30 plots of land, amounting to a total of 12 acres. Most gardens were overgrown plots of land that he reorganized as a tea garden, or tea gardens that he has converted to his natural farming methods.
Kenichi is a tea farmer who has been able to bring all his aspirations together in his activity as a tea farmer. Through implementing his natural approach he has been able to approach the environmental problem. Aware that he can’t solve the whole issue alone, he educates and guides other farmers to follow in his footsteps. The product he manufactures is healthy and aids us with the preservation of health. In a way this makes him a teacher and a doctor.
Ken'ichi Ikawa
Independent Farmer at Ken’ichi Shizen Nōen
Born in 1981. A doctor, crafting a tea that helps us preserve our health. A teacher; constantly bringing awareness to our environmental and societal problems.
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Ken'ichi Shizen Nōen Tea-Farm
Teaching people about the environmental problem, while caring for everyone’s health.
