# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 056 (Spring 2007) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 _Applied Biodynamics_ Issue 056 (Spring 2007) connects Slow Food and Terra Madre with biodynamic food quality, field succession, bee research reporting, dry-weather spray guidance, and the life and legacy of Elizabeth Courtney. [**Download Issue 056 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-056) ## Taking time for food and agriculture At the 2006 Terra Madre gathering in Turin, more than 8,000 farmers, orchardists, vintners, dairy and meat producers, fishers, fiber producers, educators, and activists came together from 148 countries. The gathering made food culture visible as a network of land, craft, nourishment, ecology, and human relationship. Francis identifies pleasure as Slow Food’s powerful starting point. People protect what they know, enjoy, and love. A memorable meal therefore becomes more than consumption: it carries the place where the food grew, the skill of the producer, the freshness of the harvest, the company at the table, and the rhythm in which it is eaten. ## Where Slow Food and biodynamics meet The issue connects the two movements through shared measures of quality. Flavor, nutrition, shelf life, biodiversity, regional identity, ecological care, and fair recognition of the farmer all reveal the strength of a food system. Biodynamics deepens this picture through the farm organism and the spiritual-scientific relationships among soil, plant, animal, human being, and [cosmos](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-cosmos). Slow Food’s phrase “good, clean, and just” names a practical social ideal. Its local convivia organize taste education and relationships with producers. The Ark of Taste documents foods and practices in danger of disappearing, while Presidia support communities of artisan producers. These tools help living food traditions remain economically and culturally active. ## Taste as disciplined observation Taste is not an escape from careful inquiry; it is a cultivated human faculty. A grower group can compare harvests from matched plots through blind tasting, consistent harvest timing, identical preparation, and written scoring for aroma, flavor, texture, balance, and keeping quality. Field records can add yield, Brix, nutrient analysis, storage loss, and customer response. Repeating the comparison across seasons turns lived experience into a useful body of evidence. Francis gives biodynamic food a clear place in this work. Flavor, keeping quality, crop condition, and other characteristics can be observed, shared, and measured, while “vitality” and dynamic forces remain biodynamic interpretive concepts rather than scientific consensus. Matched plots, blind tasting, laboratory measures, full records, and replication are needed to test specific claims. ## Traditional knowledge and scientific participation Terra Madre deliberately brought farmers, cooks, researchers, academics, policy-makers, and indigenous knowledge holders into conversation. The issue values the practiced intelligence of people who work directly with land while inviting researchers to document that knowledge, compare results, and help transmit it. This is a strong model for biodynamic research: begin with the practitioner’s exact observation, make the conditions and method explicit, repeat the work, measure what changes, and return the findings to the farming community. Science and experience become mutually strengthening parts of agricultural renewal. ## A field is a teacher Sharon Carson follows a Delaware field through several fallow years after long chemical cultivation. Bare areas, grasses, pokeweed, tree seedlings, blackberries, larkspur, groundhogs, birds, and wind-carried seed reveal a landscape actively reorganizing itself. Her central lesson is direct and durable: nature restores herself when given time and room. Growers can extend this kind of observation with fixed photo points, permanent quadrats, plant-species counts, soil-cover estimates, earthworm counts, infiltration tests, aggregate-stability checks, and seasonal notes on birds and other animals. Returning to the same points at the same time each year makes succession visible and gives practical guidance for the next intervention. ## Bees, biological inheritance, and attentive farming Christy Korrow summarizes newspaper reports about a four-year University of Jena investigation in which the researcher described rare transfer of herbicide-resistance genes to microorganisms associated with young honeybees. The issue states that the work had not yet been formally published or peer reviewed, so it should be read as an early reported finding rather than established proof. The article places bees at the center of questions about genetic engineering, biological boundaries, and responsibility for agricultural technology. For present-day growers, the practical response is close stewardship: maintain diverse forage, document bloom and spray periods, observe colony strength and brood pattern, retain planting and seed records, and work with local beekeepers. Biodynamics offers a positive model of cooperation among the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, with the beehive understood as a living community permeated by relationship. ## Sequential spraying when moisture is lacking The issue preserves Hugh Courtney’s two-day abbreviated sequence for dry conditions: - Near sunset on day one, stir [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) with [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) for one hour and spray the soil. - Near sunrise on day two, stir [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501) with [BD 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) for one hour and spray. - Choose a [Leaf/Water constellation](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar) when the intention is to strengthen moisture conditions. - When time allows, Courtney names separate stirring and application of each traditional preparation as the fullest approach. Use the current [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc), [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500), and [BD 501 instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-501) for present-day quantities and application guidance. ## Elizabeth Courtney and the human foundation of JPI Nick Franceschelli remembers Elizabeth “Liz” Courtney as the steady human foundation beneath JPI’s preparation making, education, and hospitality. She welcomed guests, sustained daily life, offered counsel, created community through theater, loved animals, studied Anthroposophy, and brought extraordinary skill and generosity to the kitchen. The Elizabeth Scott Courtney Memorial Fund was established to secure land, strengthen educational facilities and gardens, and provide workshop scholarships. These purposes turn remembrance into continuity: a home for the preparations, a place to learn, and access for people called to the work. Readers who wish to carry that impulse forward can [support JPI today](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/pages/donate). ## Key Topics Covered Terra Madre, the international Slow Food movement, and the shared values of flavor, locality, biodiversity, cultural continuity, and respect for producers. Taste as disciplined observation supported by matched plots, blind comparisons, fixed harvest timing, laboratory measures, storage records, and replication. Traditional farmer knowledge in dialogue with researchers, cooks, educators, and policy-makers. Natural succession in a fallow field and the value of fixed ecological observations over time. Early newspaper reporting on possible gene transfer involving honeybee gut microorganisms, explicitly noted as not yet peer reviewed in the issue. Hugh Courtney’s historical two-day sequential-spray guidance for dry conditions and Elizabeth Courtney’s contribution to JPI. ## Repeatable Practice 1. Choose one question—food quality, field succession, bee forage, or a spray sequence—and define treatment and comparison plots or batches before work begins. 2. Keep harvest timing, preparation, cultivation, water, seed, and other co-interventions consistent; record dates, weather, doses, stirring, acreage, and departures from the plan. 3. Measure fixed outcomes such as yield, Brix, blind flavor scores, storage loss, plant cover, species counts, infiltration, bee activity, or relevant laboratory results. 4. Repeat across seasons and locations, report unchanged or adverse results, and distinguish practitioner interpretation from independently measured evidence. ## Explore Related Resources - [Biodynamic Sequential Spray Kit for Weather Extremes](https://go.jpibd.org/kit-sequential) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-sequential) - [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) and [application instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc) - [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 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-508) - [Complete Set of Biodynamic Compost Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-502-507) - [Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course](https://go.jpibd.org/book-agriculture-course) ## Articles - Taking Time for Food and Agriculture: The Slow Food Movement through the Eyes of Biodynamics (H. Francis)  - In Memory of Elizabeth Courtney: 1940–2007 (N. Franceschelli)  - New Fund for JPI  - A Field Is a Teacher (S. Carson)  - Genetically-Modified Genes Found in Honeybees (C. Korrow)  - Best Sequential Spray Periods If Moisture Lacking (recommendations by H. Courtney)  ## Citation Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue No. 56, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Spring 2007. **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, Nutrition and Food Quality, Research Methods, Weather and Climate --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-056-spring-2007)