# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 069 (Summer 2010) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 _Applied Biodynamics_ Issue 069 (Summer 2010) profiles Frey Vineyards’ conversion, cellar practice, and regional preparation community, then answers practical questions and introduces Hugo Erbe’s HE 9 Harmonizing Preparation. [**Download Issue 069 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-069) ## Frey Vineyards: Practice, Perception, and Community The Frey family began making wine in 1978 and became bonded in 1980. Around 1984 they committed to non-sulfited wine, learning through repeated cellar trials how strong fruit, clean technique, and careful fermentation could produce a distinctive wine without the additive. Biodynamics entered the vineyard in 1993–94; Luke built a stirring station and spray rigs, began applying the preparations across the home ranch, and joined the Biodynamic Association of Northern California. Frey began making **[BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500)** and **[BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501)** onsite in 1994 and all of the preparations by 1996, the year the winery achieved Demeter certification. Training at JPI, work with regional makers, and practical organ sourcing supported consistent quality. Preparations made with the regional group were distributed through BDANC, with sales helping fund the association—a durable model for shared skills, materials, and responsibility. Frey’s observations are richly specific. Across seasons he saw soil hold moisture differently, turn and move more readily, and develop a changed aroma. Plant diversity increased, and vine, leaf, and weed colors carried a stronger presence. Grapes developed thicker skins and a denser, more uniform native-yeast layer; mildew decreased; and fermenting grapes released fuller fruit aromas during punch-down. These practitioner observations show how soil, plant, fruit, and wine can be followed as one continuous quality process; the issue does not describe randomized controls sufficient to attribute the changes to biodynamic treatment alone. Luke also describes biodynamics as a spiritual practice that changes the practitioner’s perception. The farm’s extended family, preparation workshops, BDANC gatherings, and educational work embody that insight socially: preparation quality grows through community, and community grows through shared work with the land. ## Practical Answers from Hugh Courtney For **[Biodynamic Tree Paste](https://go.jpibd.org/product-tree-paste)**, Courtney begins with the classic equal parts of fresh cow manure, clay, and sand, then notes the successful modern tendency toward more clay and less sand. Greensand can be part of the mineral fraction when the manure and clay remain substantial. A minute amount of castor or linseed oil strengthens adhesion. **[JPI’s Tree Paste Instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-tree-paste)** and **[field protocol](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-tree-paste)** provide the current application pathway. Fresh **[BD 508 Horsetail tea](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508)** is best used within about 48 hours. If it remains unused, Courtney recommends allowing it to continue into fermentation, creating the stable form described in Issues 067–068. For BD 501, he directs makers to true pulverized quartz, orthoclase, or feldspar silica rather than diatomaceous earth; ceramic suppliers can provide an appropriately fine mineral source. ## Hugo Erbe’s No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation Issue 069 announces HE 9 at 12 grams per acre. Egg whites, honey, cow’s milk, red grape juice, sunflower oil, cooking salt, and whole wheat are brought together through a long anaerobic fermentation. Within Erbe’s spiritual-scientific framework, these familiar human foods were conceived as an offering of gratitude to the elemental world and as a harmonizing companion to the **[Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8)**. Courtney places HE 9 within a consistent program of BD 500–508 and interprets it as sustaining elemental beings before and after the seasonal offering; this is a spiritual-scientific interpretation, not scientific consensus. The recommended window is the [Michaelmas season](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar), from the fall equinox to Advent. JPI’s **[HE 9 Instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-9)** and **[Three Kings practice guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8)** make the two offerings easy to coordinate. ## Key Topics Covered Frey Vineyards as a family and social organism Non-sulfited winemaking and repeated cellar practice On-farm preparation making and Demeter certification Regional preparation training, distribution, and funding Reported soil, plant, fruit, mildew, yeast, and fermentation observations Tree-paste proportions, greensand, and adhesion Fresh BD 508 storage and continued fermentation Quartz mineral sourcing for BD 501 HE 9 ingredients, rate, Michaelmas timing, and spiritual-scientific purpose ## Repeatable Practice 1. Choose adjacent or matched vineyard blocks and predefine the management difference; randomize treatment placement where feasible. 2. Record every preparation, batch, dose, stir, date, crop stage, weather condition, cellar practice, and other intervention. 3. Use fixed soil tests, moisture readings, canopy and mildew scores, grape measures, yield, fermentation records, and blinded sensory evaluation with the same rubric. 4. Repeat across seasons and sites, retain null or adverse findings, and distinguish Frey’s practitioner observations and spiritual interpretations from controlled evidence. ## Explore Related Resources - [Hugo Erbe No. 9 Harmonizing Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-9), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-9), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-9) - [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-500), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500) - [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-501), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-501) - [Biodynamic Tree Paste](https://go.jpibd.org/product-tree-paste), [field protocol](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-tree-paste), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-tree-paste) - [BD 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-508), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-508) - [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8), [practice guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-8) ## Articles - Frey Vineyards: Cultivating Biodynamics in an Evolving Social Organism (H. Francis interviews L. Frey)  - Anecdotes and Antidotes — Biodynamics at Work (H. J. Courtney)  - Harmonizing Preparation of Hugo Erbe Now Available (H. J. Courtney)  - New Book Titles: _Deep Gardening_ by W. Wodraska and _Farming Soul_ by P. Damery  - Other Newly Acquired Titles: _Metamorphosis_ by A. Suchantke and _Wisdom of the Bees_ by E. Berrevoets  ## Citation Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue No. 69, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2010. **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, BD 501, BD 508, Farm Economics and Community, Orchards and Perennials --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-069-summer-2010)