# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 057 (Summer 2007)

**By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31

_Applied Biodynamics_ Issue 057 (Summer 2007) documents a family farm’s path toward food self-reliance, a practitioner’s woodland-healing observations, and coordinated St. John’s and Michaelmas spray initiatives.

[**Download Issue 057 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-057)

## Feeding a family the biodynamic way

Leonard Ablieter began with eight acres in Oregon, neglected pasture, a hard and weedy garden, little equipment, limited labor, and a desire to feed his family from the land. His account is valuable because it follows the work year by year and connects each change in practice with visible results.

In the first season he built straw-bale compost bins, broadcast red clover and vetch, planted only part of the 9,000-square-foot garden, sowed buckwheat on the remainder, and began using [Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray). A deer fence followed. By the second season, cows, hens, a goat, neighboring horse manure, a tunnel greenhouse, fruit-tree pruning, and locally shared biodynamic knowledge had begun turning the property into a more complete farm organism.

The buckwheat that had reached knee height in 2004 grew shoulder high in 2005, and earthworms became abundant. Ablieter used [Pfeiffer Compost Starter](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-compost) in the livestock area, then composted the accumulated manure and spoiled hay. He applied Field Spray around fruit-tree drip lines, compared alfalfa mulch, followed the sowing calendar, and saved seed.

## No-till beds, compost, and measured household results

By year three, enough compost was available to cover full beds. Ablieter shifted to a no-till system: compost over existing vegetation, soaker hoses, woven weed barrier, planting holes at measured intervals, and broadfork aeration without turning the soil. The system made it possible for one person to manage high production.

His recorded results are vivid and specific:

-   Walla Walla onions, leeks, and beets grew successfully in clusters through measured openings.
-   Head lettuces were exceptionally large and flavorful; cabbages formed solid heads weighing five to seven-and-a-half pounds.
-   Broccoli supplied the family from late May through October, corn reached eight feet, and Scarlet Runner beans produced both green and dry beans.
-   Ever-bearing strawberries produced large, flavorful fruit from May 15 until frost.
-   Only about 10–20 percent of the bumper apple crop showed worms, and the family made roughly 100 gallons of cider.
-   Red cabbage remained crisp inside through April; yellow apples kept until late March; Newton Pippins remained in good condition into May.
-   In 2007, the same system repeated and in places exceeded the prior year’s production.

Ablieter credits biodynamic growing with the garden’s flavor, keeping quality, and household self-reliance. These are detailed practitioner observations from a changing whole-farm system—not a controlled comparison—because livestock, compost, cover crops, fencing, irrigation, weed barrier, cultivars, and management also changed. Apart from staples such as flour, salt, oil, and vinegar, he reports that the farm supplied nearly all the food his family ate.

## A repeatable household-farm record

A family can build on this example with a simple annual record: map the beds; list compost sources and quantities; record preparation dates, stirring times, and weather; note sowing and harvest dates; weigh representative crops; score flavor in blind comparisons; record pest loss; and inspect stored produce monthly. Photographs from fixed points and a yearly soil test add another layer. The power comes from repeating the same observations through several seasons.

## Healing a wounded woodland

Maria Mihok moved onto land in New York where heavy logging had left deep ruts, damaged trees, blocked passages, abandoned timber, and a pervasive sense of distress. She began physically, clearing selected obstructions and listening carefully before acting. She then worked through dowsing, intentional relationship with places, and treatments recommended by JPI.

After applying Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, Mihok reported experiencing the most damaged places as peaceful, light, and welcoming. She sprayed about six acres, treating some areas twice, and perceived the influence extending beyond the exact spray boundary. She also associated Tree Harmonizers with a quieter, grounding effect and observed tent caterpillars disappear from a maple and nearby trees one week after treatment. These are first-person observations and spiritual interpretations; without untreated comparison trees and repeated measurements, they do not establish causation.

Her sequence offers a strong woodland protocol: establish fixed observation points; document damage, plant response, animal presence, canopy, soil cover, moisture, and the felt character of each place; make one defined intervention; return on a regular schedule; and map where changes appear. Biodynamic preparations become instruments for restoring relationship as well as supporting living processes.

## From Three Kings to an Earth-wide spray impulse

Jennifer Greene traces the worldwide initiative to a 1999 experience with the [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8). Applied on January 5 and again on Three Kings Day, it brought a marked change in the atmosphere—from rigid and closed to supple, responsive, and open. That experience helped inspire simultaneous preparation work across many regions.

The initiative joins local practice with shared human intention. Each farm responds to its climate, soil, and season, while “etheric conditions,” elemental nourishment, and the intention to harmonize weather belong to the issue’s biodynamic spiritual-scientific framework rather than scientific consensus.

## The 2007 Michaelmas sequence

The issue gives a historical Michaelmas sequence for properties where all nine foundational preparations had already been used:

-   Michaelmas eve: stir [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) for 20 minutes and spray.
-   Michaelmas morning: stir [BD 504 Stinging Nettle](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504) with the Michaelmas Preparation for one hour and spray.
-   Michaelmas evening: stir [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) for one hour and spray.
-   The following morning: rest after the three principal sprays, or add fermented [BD 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508), [Hugo Erbe’s No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-9), or another preparation called for by the place.

Current users can pair the archived sequence with JPI’s [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc), [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500), [Hugo Erbe No. 9](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-9), and [Three Kings guides](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8).

## The St. John’s Day worldwide spray

The shared 2007 St. John’s rhythm began Friday evening with BD 500 stirred for 60 minutes, continued Saturday afternoon with Barrel Compound stirred for 20 minutes, and culminated at dawn Sunday with [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501) stirred for 60 minutes. Fermented BD 508, stirred about 10 minutes, could follow on Monday.

Nancy and Gordon Poer put the initiative into large-scale practice at White Feather Ranch in California. Using flow forms, they stirred more than 150 gallons, sprayed 45 gallons each of BD 500 and Barrel Compound across the ranch, and shared 60 gallons with neighboring farmers. Because their granite soil carried abundant silica, they used Equisetum on St. John’s Day. Their report joins acreage, volume, equipment, sequence, local judgment, and spiritual intention in one practitioner record; it does not provide a controlled test of weather or crop effects.

Hugh Courtney notes that JPI’s usual order places Barrel Compound before BD 500 and regards BD 508 as vitally important, especially in the Western Hemisphere. For the worldwide event, he supported the announced order so every site could participate in one resonant sequence. The article therefore preserves both protocol integrity and the power of collective action.

## Key Topics Covered

Multi-year development of an eight-acre Oregon family farm through compost, cover crops, livestock, no-till beds, weed barrier, seed saving, storage, and preparation use.

Specific household harvest, flavor, pest, and keeping-quality observations with the many simultaneous farm changes made explicit.

Woodland restoration through physical clearing, mapped observation, relationship to place, Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, and Tree Harmonizers.

Three Kings, Michaelmas, and St. John’s Day spray initiatives presented within their biodynamic spiritual-scientific framework.

Large-volume preparation stirring and application at White Feather Ranch, including JPI’s note about sequence and BD 508.

The distinction between shared intention and practitioner perception on one hand, and controlled weather, ecological, or crop evidence on the other.

## Repeatable Practice

1.  Map beds, fields, woodland points, or spray zones and establish matched untreated or standard-practice comparisons where feasible.
2.  Record compost sources, preparation batches, doses, stirring and application times, equipment, weather, soil moisture, crop stage, and every co-intervention.
3.  Use fixed photographs and measurements such as yield, storage loss, pest counts, canopy cover, regeneration, soil cover, infiltration, soil tests, and labor hours.
4.  Repeat through several seasons and sites, preserve null or adverse findings, and report spiritual or sensory observations separately from measured outcomes.

## Explore Related Resources

-   [Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-pfeiffer-spray), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-pfeiffer-spray)
-   [Pfeiffer Compost Starter](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-compost) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-pfeiffer-compost)
-   [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-8)
-   [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) and [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 504 Stinging Nettle](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504), [BD 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508), and [BD 508 instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-508)
-   [Hugo Erbe’s No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-9) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-9)

## Articles

-   Feeding a Family the Biodynamic Way (L. Ablieter) 
-   Healing a Wounded Woodland (M. Mihok) 
-   New Sequential Spray Initiative for Michaelmas (J. Greene) 
-   Worldwide Communal Biodynamic Spray Initiated (C. Korrow) 
-   Participating in the St. John’s Day Worldwide Spray Initiative (N. and G. Poer) 

## Citation

Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue No. 57, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2007.

**Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, Spiritual Science

---

> Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-057-summer-2007)