# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 014 (Winter 1995)

**By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31

Issue 014 is primarily an organizational record of a difficult year at the Josephine Porter Institute. “A Word of Thanks” credits gardeners, farmers, herb contributors, writers, customers, staff, and volunteers with sustaining JPI’s work. “1995 — A Year of Change and Reaffirmation” then reports a staff departure, expanded hours for remaining workers, Chris Stearn’s arrival, and simultaneous planning and negotiations over JPI’s future.

The issue says that on August 22, 1995, JPI reached an agreement with the Pfeiffer Foundation and General Compost Corporation to assume production of [Pfeiffer BD Compost Starter](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-pfeiffer-compost) and [BD Field Spray Concentrate](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray), together with agricultural and horticultural distribution rights. JPI presents the transfer as both stewardship and a major operational burden. Its article also claims a long international reputation for the products and criticizes imitations; those are the newsletter’s assertions, not independent evidence supplied by the issue.

Several notices describe the practical consequences. JPI solicits help for a dedicated production building, reports that _Applied Biodynamics_ is temporarily without an editor, and says cost and workload may force a briefer newsletter. A short item announces an early JPI “Home Page,” while the associative-contract notice explains how advance commitments helped schedule spring preparation orders.

A preparation-work report gives unusually specific production figures. Volunteers and interim staff reportedly stuffed 1,000 horns for 500X and 800 for [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), packed more than 42 pounds dry weight of blossoms for [BD 503](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-503), processed about 36 cow skulls, and collected and ground [oak bark for BD 505](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-505). It also lists unfinished seasonal work and upcoming conferences.

Taken together, the issue is especially valuable as an institutional snapshot: it connects staffing, facilities, production responsibilities, and volunteer labor to JPI’s effort to expand dependable access to biodynamic preparations.

## Articles and features

-   A Word of Thanks
-   1995 — A Year of Change and Reaffirmation (beginning and later continuation only)
-   Realizing the Mission — Further Progress
-   Applied Biodynamics — An Uncertain Future
-   JPI on the “World Wide Web”
-   Associative Contract — Time to Renew/Subscribe
-   The Pfeiffer BD Compost Starter and BD Field Spray: A New Responsibility for JPI and Its Meaning for the Future
-   Preparation-making and staffing report on printed page 5

## Key themes

-   Staff transition and governance strain
-   Transfer of Pfeiffer product production and distribution responsibilities
-   Facility construction, fundraising, and workload planning
-   Volunteer-supported preparation making
-   Publication limits and JPI’s first planned web presence

[**Download Issue 014 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-014)

## Citation

Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue 014, Josephine Porter Institute, Winter 1995. Surviving archive scan: printed pages 1–2 and 5–6.

**Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, Biodynamic Agriculture

---

> Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-014-winter-1995)