# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 088 (Fall/Winter 2015) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 Issue 088 is a practical winter-season handbook. It brings together Dr. Basil Williams’s festival-spray work, Karen Davis-Brown’s September–March farm rhythm, Jamie Fochuk’s preparation sequence at SOACH Wine Estates, Mac Mead’s controlled comparisons of winter-buried seed, and Abigail Porter’s measurable compost guidance. In **“Reconnecting with the Forces of Nature: Festivals and Healing Substances,”** Abigail Porter interviews Basil Williams, DO, about a practice he and Christiana Williams began in 1996. Community members combine seasonal observation, gratitude, music, verse, biodynamic preparations, and carefully chosen substances at St. John’s, Michaelmas, Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Whitsun. Williams describes grinding the materials together, stirring them rhythmically, and applying them as a shared act of land care. **“The Honoring of the Elementals with the Festival Sprays”** turns that background into a repeatable method. Participants grind very small quantities of the chosen substances in a porcelain mortar for about 15 minutes, add them to spring or rainwater, and stir for one hour by repeatedly forming and reversing a deep vortex. The issue gives 2.5 gallons per acre as a working volume and recommends distributing the spray over the property boundary, buildings, and cultivated areas. It also supplies distinct seasonal ingredient lists, including [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) for earth-and-water processes and [BD 501](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501) for light-and-warmth processes. The Epiphany section records Hugo Erbe’s complete [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8) protocol: grind 30 grams each of gold D2, frankincense, and myrrh from 11:30 p.m. December 31 to 12:30 a.m. January 1; mix in 50 grams each of vegetable glycerin and rainwater for five more minutes; then, on January 6, dissolve one teaspoon of stock in two quarts of warm water, stir for one hour, and apply in late afternoon around the property boundary. The issue estimates that two quarts covers about 3,280 feet of boundary, the perimeter of roughly sixteen acres. JPI’s current [Three Kings preparation guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8) carries the ritual forward. In **“The Season When the Earth Is the Most Inwardly Alive: Biodynamic Practice September–March,”** Karen Davis-Brown maps a complete cold-season sequence: apply horn manure, compost or an activated substitute, then sow a winter cover crop; make and bury the seasonal preparations; build compost from barn bedding and manure; apply [tree paste](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-tree-paste) after leaf fall; use valerian, nettle, and [horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) sprays as conditions call for them; plan with a [planting calendar](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar); bury seed through the Holy Nights; spray Three Kings on January 6; and bring cover crops back into the topsoil with BD 500, [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc), or [Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-spray) before spring planting. **“Building Your Farm Strength”** profiles Jamie Fochuk’s SOACH Wine Estates in southern British Columbia: approximately 22 acres of vineyard, eight acres of crops, seven acres of pasture, two acres of orchard, a comparable area of wildflowers, and remaining forest. Fochuk sprays Barrel Compound three times in fall, integrates mowing and cultivation with repeated applications, uses fresh BD 508 before BD 501, waits until after the spring equinox and established growth for BD 501, applies BD 501 about 20 and 10 days before harvest for fruit quality, and makes four annual foliar applications of BD 504. His central method is disciplined repetition: observe local soil and weather, record the response, refine the sequence, and build farm strength through practice. In **“Anecdotes: Winter Burial of Seeds,”** Mac Mead describes a protocol learned from Pfeiffer’s coworkers. Seed is sealed in waterproof glass containers, placed in a protective crate, and buried in fertile, well-drained soil for at least the Holy Nights of December 24–January 7. Mead reports side-by-side growing-season trials in which the buried seed frequently produced greater vigor, vitality, and flavor. The method is easy to repeat with labeled treated and untreated lots, identical planting conditions, and recorded emergence, growth, yield, and flavor observations. **“Frequently Asked Questions: Compost”** supplies field-ready benchmarks. Garden beds generally receive a thin ¼–½-inch layer; farm applications are commonly around ten tons per acre. Pfeiffer’s seasonal method places summer-made compost on open ground in fall and incorporates it into the top three to four inches. Porter recommends checking a new pile weekly during its first month and at least monthly thereafter, correcting excess moisture with dry, fluffy material and correcting heat or dryness with green material and water. One unit of [Pfeiffer Compost Starter](https://go.jpibd.org/product-pfeiffer-compost) treats up to 1½ tons or about 2.25 cubic yards; one [set of compost preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) treats up to fifteen tons. The issue closes with Demeter USA’s 40,000-square-foot biodynamic garden, classroom, and lounge at the National Heirloom Exposition, JPI volunteer activities, and seasonal resources for continued study. ## Articles - Reconnecting with the Forces of Nature: Festivals and Healing Substances — Abigail Porter interviews Basil Williams, DO - The Honoring of the Elementals with the Festival Sprays — Abigail Porter with Dr. Basil Williams - Epiphany Meditation - The Season When the Earth Is the Most Inwardly Alive: Biodynamic Practice September–March — Karen Davis-Brown - Building Your Farm Strength: A Conversation with Jamie Fochuk — Hunter Francis - Frequently Asked Questions: Compost — Abigail Porter - Anecdotes: Winter Burial of Seeds — Mac Mead - Demeter Hosts Biodynamic Garden and Lounge — Hunter Francis - JPI Volunteer Days - Holiday Gift Suggestions ## Key Topics Covered - Community festival practice developed from 1996 onward - Fifteen-minute grinding and one-hour vortex stirring - Festival spray working volume of 2.5 gallons per acre - Complete Three Kings stock and boundary-application protocol - Seasonal formulations for Christmas, Easter, Whitsun, St. John’s, and Michaelmas - September–March preparation making and land care - Horn manure, compost, and winter cover-crop sequence - Tree paste and botanical sprays for cold-season plant support - SOACH Wine Estates’ preparation timing and repetition - Holy Nights seed burial with side-by-side comparison - Compost depth, tonnage, temperature, moisture, and correction benchmarks - Pfeiffer Compost Starter and compost-preparation treatment capacity ## Related JPI Resources - [Biodynamic calendar guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-calendar) and [Stella Natura](https://go.jpibd.org/calendar-stella) - [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) - [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-8) - [Biodynamic Tree Paste](https://go.jpibd.org/product-tree-paste), [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) - [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bc), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc) - [Pfeiffer Field & 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), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-pfeiffer-compost), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-pfeiffer-compost) - [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) ## Citation _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue 088, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Fall/Winter 2015. [**Download Issue 088 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-088) **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, Compost, Orchards and Perennials, Research Methods, Seeds and Propagation --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-088-fall-winter-2015)