# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 044 (Spring 2004) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 _Applied Biodynamics_ Issue 044 (Spring 2004) combines Philippines rice case reports, milk-and-honey and BD 508 protocols, a speculative Venus-transit spray sequence, a contemplative farm account, and regional preparation-making work while keeping measured practice, observation, spiritual interpretation, and community process distinct. [**Download Issue 044 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-044) ## Rice production in the Philippines Maria Helenita Betsy Ruizo-Gamela reports on a biodynamic program working with more than 3,300 small-farm families in Cotabato, including 1,196 rice farms. The group had experience with [Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray), [compost preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set), [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc), [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), [BD 501](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), and [BD 508](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508). The report’s first “breakthrough” is the use of fresh [BD 508 horsetail tea](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) in fields affected by tungro disease and its leafhopper vectors. Its second is a milk-and-honey spray used in five farmer case histories involving stem borer, whorl maggot, brown planthopper, and tungro. Reported starting damage ranged as high as 75%, 85%, and 98% in individual fields. The farmers describe new tillers, beneficial-insect activity, crop recovery, and low damage after treatment sequences that sometimes combined milk-and-honey, BD 508, BD 500, and BD 501. The issue gives an unusually specific basic formula: one part milk to nine parts water, with honey sometimes added at about 1:100 of the total spray volume. The mixture is stirred biodynamically for twenty minutes and applied as a medium-to-fine mist. Larger field batches used lower concentrations, so an exact trial must record the milk source, ratios, total volume, stirring, application timing, crop stage, weather, and every concurrent treatment. Converted farms are reported to average 7.11 metric tons of rice per hectare, compared in the article with a Cotabato average of 3.4 and a Philippine average of 2.9. These figures are striking but not a controlled comparison: farm selection, cultivars, soils, weather, prior management, and measurement methods are not standardized. They justify a stronger trial, not a causal conclusion. ## A repeatable rice trial A practical design uses replicated, randomized blocks for untreated, milk-and-honey, BD 508, combined treatment, and the farm’s current integrated-pest-management standard. Confirm the pest or disease diagnosis, record baseline severity, and use fixed scoring dates. Count beneficial insects with the same sampling method and measure tiller recovery, survival, grain moisture, marketable yield, quality, and cost. Repeating the protocol across farms and seasons would show which response is dependable. The report also describes saving and selecting locally adapted rice seed and looking for local substitutes for preparation plants that do not thrive in the climate. Those are separate, testable management practices. Plant identity matters: any local horsetail substitute should be botanically verified, evaluated for safety, and compared directly with _Equisetum arvense_. ## The Venus Transit of 2004 Hugh J. Courtney treats the June 8, 2004 transit of Venus as an opportunity for coordinated biodynamic work. A [Venus transit](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-cosmos) is an astronomical event in which Venus passes across the face of the Sun as seen from Earth. Courtney’s proposed relationship between the transit and preparation effects is a spiritual-scientific hypothesis. He explicitly calls the spray sequence one person’s “best effort” and acknowledges that the proposed resonance is not objectively demonstrated. The two historical schedules combine [BD 502 yarrow](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502), [BD 501 horn silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), [BD 500 horn manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), fermented [BD 508](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508), and [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) around June 1–11, 2004. These dates are archival, not current application instructions. The sequence is best understood as a record of coordinated intention that could only support an agronomic claim if compared with simultaneous controls and pre-specified measurements. Solar observation also requires certified solar-viewing protection; the Sun should never be viewed directly without it. ## Harmonic Concordance at Chrysalis Farm Steven Adams describes a November 2003 sequential spray walk across Chrysalis Farm. The account is contemplative rather than a crop trial: he records the route, dawn timing, respect for an eagle nesting area, prayer, heightened attention, and the later sight of an eagle circling over the fields. The experience belongs in the archive as a first-person spiritual practice, not as evidence that the spray caused wildlife behavior. ## Preparation making and community building Elizabeth Schaldach reports on the Third North American Future of the Biodynamic Preparations Conference at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. Thirty-six participants from ten states shared regional work. Walter Goldstein discussed living forces, BD 502, preparation testing, and a nettle compound preparation; the group also addressed material supply, distribution, regional reports, and the relationship between JPI and local preparation makers. The conference’s durable research lesson is shared documentation. Regional groups can compare plant and sheath identity, legal and traceable sourcing, dates, weights, moisture, storage, application rates, field conditions, and outcomes while still recording local adaptations. That combination supports experience-based learning that is both confident and repeatable. ## Key Topics Covered Milk-and-honey spray formula, fresh BD 508 tea, and five rice-farm case histories involving insects, tungro, recovery, and yield. Reported farm-level yields and damage figures as observational comparisons rather than standardized causal evidence. Randomized rice blocks, confirmed pest or disease diagnosis, fixed scoring dates, beneficial-insect sampling, yield, quality, and cost. Local rice-seed selection and botanical verification of possible preparation-plant substitutes. Astronomical fact, spiritual-scientific hypothesis, historical spray timing, contemplative practice, and solar-viewing safety. Regional preparation-making records, legal material sourcing, sample comparison, field conditions, and reproducibility. ## Repeatable Practice 1. Randomize replicated rice blocks among untreated, milk-and-honey, BD 508, combined-treatment, and current integrated-pest-management groups. 2. Confirm pest or disease identity, record baseline severity and every co-intervention, and measure beneficial insects, tillers, survival, grain moisture, marketable yield, quality, and cost on fixed dates. 3. For any calendar or celestial-timing trial, predeclare dates, doses, comparison dates, and measurements; retain simultaneous controls and record weather and management. 4. For regional preparation work, use shared records for species, sheath, source, legal traceability, dates, weights, moisture, storage, application rate, conditions, and outcomes. ## Explore Related Resources - [Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-pfeiffer-spray) - [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc) - [BD 508 Horsetail Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-508) - [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500) - [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-501) - [BD 502 Yarrow Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-502) ## Articles - Report from the Philippines: Effects of the Milk and Honey Spray and Other Major Breakthroughs in Biodynamic Rice Production (M. H. B. Ruizo-Gamela)  - The Venus Transit of 2004—A Biodynamic Opportunity (H. J. Courtney)  - Venus Transit 2004 Suggested Sequential Spray Protocol (H. J. Courtney)  - Harmonic Concordance, November 8, 2003, Chrysalis Farm (S. Adams)  - Future of the Preparations Conference (E. Schaldach)  ## Citation Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue No. 44, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Spring 2004. **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, BD 508 --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-044-spring-2004)