# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 076 (Spring 2012) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 **Applied Biodynamics 076** is a full monograph on dandelion and [BD 506](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-506). Abigail Porter first follows _Taraxacum officinale_ as food, medicine, pollinator plant, and “dynamic weed.” She then interviews Hugh Courtney for JPI’s complete preparation-making method—from the first-day blossom to the finished material stored in peat. ## Dandelion, Messenger of Heaven Dandelion’s familiar yellow head is a composite of many florets, each offering pollen and nectar. A flower can produce 54–172 seeds, and a mature plant can produce about 5,000 seeds in a year. The perennial taproot opens compacted ground, reaches minerals below the surface, reduces erosion, and leaves organic material for humus. Earthworms favor the soil around dandelions, and Pfeiffer compared the plant’s soil-building work to that of the earthworm itself. [_Weeds and What They Tell Us_](https://go.jpibd.org/book-weeds) is a useful companion to this part of the issue. Porter also restores dandelion’s long cultural place: every part of the plant has been used in kitchens and traditional herbal practice, while the blossoms have supported bees and other insects early in the growing season. In biodynamics, its abundance, yellow color, expansion, and formative relationship to silica connect it with Jupiter. Courtney calls BD 506 the polarity of [BD 503 Chamomile](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-503): Dandelion carries the Jupiter–silica–liver process, while Chamomile carries the Mercury–limestone–digestive process. Together they help the compost organism mediate [cosmic and earthly nutrition](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-cosmos). ## What BD 506 brings to compost Dandelion attracts and mediates silicic acid between the wider environment and the earthly realm. After the blossoms spend winter inside the peritoneal sheath and the living soil, BD 506 carries this organizing silica process into compost, soil, and plants. Courtney describes the six compost preparations as organs of the pile: their influence radiates through its materials, bringing integration, sensitivity, rhythm, and humus formation to the farm organism. The full [BD 502–507 Compost Preparation set](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) puts these complementary processes to work together. ## Selecting and drying the blossoms Harvest young blossoms on their **first day of opening**. The center should still form a firm “bull’s eye” about one-quarter inch across. Blossoms with no central core are already too mature and readily turn to fluff in drying. Pick after the dew has evaporated and no later than one hour before local meridian noon. At JPI this meant approximately 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. during daylight-saving time. If fresh sheaths are ready, let the blossoms wilt for a few hours before filling. Otherwise dry them quickly in warmth, shade, and moving air—never in direct sun—and inspect them daily. Prolonged drying or excess heat encourages the seed head to ripen. For longer storage, vacuum sealing protects the dried flowers from insects until autumn preparation making. ## Choosing and orienting the sheath The peritoneum is the membrane lining the abdominal cavity; the mesentery is a fold of the same tissue that supports the intestines. JPI has used both, but the peritoneum produces the most humus-like BD 506 when its **interior surface faces the blossoms**. Have the butcher mark that side at slaughter; when the tissue is clean and carefully handled, the inner surface is slightly smoother. Correct orientation is confirmed by a dark, fully transformed, humus-like result. Before filling, moisten dried blossoms with warm—not scalding—dandelion-leaf tea. They should be thoroughly damp but should not release water when squeezed. Cut the peritoneum into rectangles, fold each piece with the interior surface inside, stitch both sides and part of the top, and pack the blossoms firmly. A finished “pillow” about six inches across and three to four inches thick is easy to handle and buries evenly. ## Winter burial and spring recovery Dig a pit no deeper than 18 inches, keeping the preparation in fertile topsoil rather than subsoil. Line it with hardware cloth for animal protection and shovel safety, then place fiberglass screen inside the hardware cloth so none of the transformed material is lost at recovery. JPI adds about two inches of peat moss above and below the screen envelope and covers the pillows with roughly eight inches of earth. BD 506 remains in the earth through winter, when the Earth is most inwardly alive. In ordinary practice, lift it in spring after Easter, with Ascension Day as JPI’s preferred time. JPI sometimes leaves workshop pillows until autumn so students can make new preparations and recover the previous batch together. Remove the sheath, allow overly moist material to dry for a day if needed, and rub the finished preparation through a one-quarter-inch screen. Store it in a lidded glazed-clay crock surrounded by peat moss inside a wooden box in a cool root cellar. These physical checkpoints—dark color, humus-like texture, clean transformation, and stable peat storage—make quality directly observable. ## Counted BD 506 field comparisons JPI also used BD 506 independently while maintaining the complete farm preparation program. In a snow-pea row, one unit of BD 506 was mixed with two quarts of water and moved for ten minutes in a one-gallon jug with a lemniscate motion. Half the row was sprayed twice on fruit days, and the treated plants produced much more yield per plant. A green-bean seed-bath comparison used four treatments on a [fruit day](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar): potentized water, BD 506, [BD 505 Oak Bark](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-505), and BD 506 plus BD 505. Each bath was potentized for 20 minutes in a half-gallon jar with a back-and-forth, side-to-side figure-eight movement. Twenty-five plants from each bed were counted at four stages—100 plants per treatment. BD 506 produced much more yield than the water control and modestly more than BD 505; the combined BD 506 and BD 505 treatment was slightly stronger again. This counted sequence gives growers a clear model for repeating a preparation comparison on their own ground. The issue’s practical conclusion is confident: BD 506 is both a compost organ and a focused tool for helping plants draw the nourishment and formative forces they need. Its quality begins with exact plant timing and continues through sheath orientation, winter transformation, careful recovery, and field observation. JPI’s [Making and Using the Biodynamic Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations) guide and Rudolf Steiner’s [_Agriculture Course_](https://go.jpibd.org/book-agriculture-course) provide the broader framework. ## Articles - Dandelion, Messenger of Heaven (Abigail Porter) - The Dandelion Compost Preparation: BD 506 (Abigail Porter interviews Hugh Courtney) ## Key Topics Covered - Dandelion as a dynamic soil-building and pollinator plant - Jupiter, silica, liver, and Chamomile polarity - The organizing role of BD 506 in the compost organism - First-day “bull’s-eye” blossom selection - Morning harvest and shade-drying protocol - Peritoneum, mesentery, and correct inner-surface orientation - Leaf-tea moistening and six-inch pillow construction - Eighteen-inch topsoil burial with screen and peat protection - Post-Easter or Ascension recovery timing - One-quarter-inch screening and peat-buffered storage - Snow-pea foliar comparison with BD 506 - Four-treatment, 100-plant green-bean seed-bath comparison ## Related JPI resources - [Biodynamic calendar guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar) and [cosmic rhythms guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-cosmos) - [BD 506 Dandelion](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-506) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-506) - [BD 503 Chamomile](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-503) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-503) - [BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-502-507) - [BD 505 Oak Bark](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-505) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-505) - [Making and Using the Biodynamic Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations) - [Weeds and What They Tell Us](https://go.jpibd.org/book-weeds) - [Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course](https://go.jpibd.org/book-agriculture-course) ## Citation _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue 076, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Spring 2012. 10 pages. [**Download Issue 076 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-076) **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, BD 502-507, Research Methods --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-076-spring-2012)