# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 090 (Fall/Winter 2016) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 Issue 090 shows how biodynamic preparation work can strengthen both land and community. Its center is the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, founded in 1988 as one of the first eight CSAs in the United States, followed by field-tested accounts of community building, estate fermentation and distillation, and the Goetheanum Garden Park’s long-running preparation practice. In **“Community Farm of Ann Arbor: A Healing Center,”** Abigail Porter interviews farmers Anne Elder and Paul Bantle. The farm preserved the original CSA relationship: members fund the annual budget, share risk and bounty, pick up at the farm, volunteer, celebrate seasonal festivals, and participate in monthly and annual decisions. Its consensus process remained effective even with more than one hundred members; in twenty-eight years the farm never had to use its consensus-minus-one or three-quarter-majority provisions. The farm’s land and financial structure is equally durable. After two early moves, the community raised $60,000 for a conservation easement and secured an 89-year lease in 2004. The main farm comprises ten acres, the farmers cultivate another four acres at home, and a twenty-five-acre hay field supports the organism. At the time of the article, 65 shares served about 110 households. A nonprofit educational arm, Chrysalis Biodynamic Agricultural Learning Center, expands field trips, classes, internships, and fundraising. Elder and Bantle describe a complete annual preparation rhythm. They make [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), [BD 501](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc), [BD 504](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504), and [BD 507](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507). Compost is made throughout the year and inoculated as each pile is completed. BD 500 and Barrel Compound are applied across fields as they open over three to five weeks in spring and again in fall; Barrel Compound accompanies cover-crop incorporation; BD 501 is sprayed several times as crops mature; BD 508 supports greenhouse and field balance; tree paste renews bark; and valerian is used in spring and fall when frost threatens. The farm records the results of this long repetition: once-compacted fields became soft and workable across seven distinct soil types; customers repeatedly reported sweetness and exceptional keeping quality in greens, fruits, garlic, and storage crops; and visitors described a recognizable change in their own experience on entering the farm. The annual [Three Kings practice](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8) extends the same commitment to the farm boundary, hay fields, home, Waldorf school, medical group, and Steiner Institute. **“In Memory of Trauger Groh”** honors the co-founder of Temple-Wilton Community Farm and co-author of _Farms of Tomorrow_. When the first edition appeared, only seven known CSAs operated in the United States; the 2012 Census of Agriculture recorded more than 12,600. The article preserves Groh’s central insight: a CSA is an associative social and economic organism in which farmers and members accept responsibility for land, food, and one another. Steven McFadden’s **“Prepping for Resilient Community: Grafting to Our Native Rootstock”** connects biodynamic work with the living wisdom of North American land and cultures. Patricia Frazier identifies Barrel Compound as a practical starting point because a group can make it together, store it after excavation, divide it, and share it widely. The preparation becomes both a soil-building catalyst and a repeatable form for convening people around shared responsibility. In **“Reflections on Biodynamic Community Building in New Mexico,”** Frazier documents that pattern in action. After three months of outreach, gardeners, farmers, teachers, apprentices, authors, compost makers, and community advocates gathered at Morning Star Farm near Taos. The day combined compost building, inoculation with biodynamic and homeodynamic preparations, a farm-wide Purifier/Harmonizer spray, meditation, discussion, and a shared local meal. Participants then committed to continuing preparation work, including making and spraying BD 500 and Barrel Compound at locations around Santa Fe. **“Marian Farm Biodynamic Spirits”** follows Gena Nonini’s 136-acre enterprise: forty acres of vineyard, eighty acres of almonds, eight acres of citrus, and four acres of mixed vegetables. The vineyard became the country’s first Demeter-certified biodynamic vineyard in 1995, followed by citrus in 1998 and almonds in 2003. Marian Farms relies on wild fermentation with farm-resident yeast, estate-grown grapes and citrus, and on-farm distillation. The case study traces the move from medicinal alcohol to barrel-aged brandy, clear Muscat pisquita, and curaçao made with hand-peeled estate oranges. In **“A Visit to the Goetheanum Garden Park,”** Hunter Francis records a nearly thirty-acre farm organism managed by about ten employees and two apprentices. Three cows, four calves, and six sheep rotate through the grasslands; growers tend about fifty vegetable crops and roughly 150 mature orchard trees; all unused plant material returns to on-site compost. The Garden Park grows the herbs and makes every preparation it uses. [Horn manure](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500) is hand-stirred in 60–80-liter vats and applied three times per year, while the farm also serves as an outdoor laboratory, teaching site, and center for worldwide preparation research. ## Articles - Community Farm of Ann Arbor: A Healing Center — Abigail Porter interviews Paul Bantle and Anne Elder - In Memory of Trauger Groh - An Excerpt from Trauger Groh, Agrarian Adept — Steven McFadden - Prepping for Resilient Community: Grafting to Our Native Rootstock — Steven McFadden - Reflections on Biodynamic Community Building in New Mexico — Patricia Frazier - Marian Farm Biodynamic Spirits — Hunter Francis - A Visit to the Goetheanum Garden Park — Hunter Francis - Farewell to Our Editor Hunter Francis — Abigail Porter - Dandelion Thank You - Verse for Farmers and For the Michael Age — Rudolf Steiner - JPI Fall Compost and Chromatography Workshop with Bruno Follador - JPI Volunteer Days for Fall Preparations - Fellowship of Preparation Makers Conference Announcement ## Key Topics Covered - One of the first eight US CSAs and twenty-eight years of continuity - Consensus governance that included more than one hundred members - Sixty-five shares serving about 110 households - An 89-year lease and $60,000 community-funded conservation easement - Spring and fall BD 500 and Barrel Compound field sequence - Cover crops, compost, horn silica, horsetail, tree paste, and valerian - Long-term improvements in soil tilth, flavor, and keeping quality - Three Kings boundary work as a community festival - Barrel Compound as a transferable community-making practice - New Mexico field-day and follow-up group protocol - Wild fermentation and estate distillation at Marian Farms - Goetheanum preparation making and three annual BD 500 applications ## Related JPI Resources - [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-500) · [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) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-501) - [BD 504 Stinging Nettle](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-504) - [BD 507 Valerian](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-507) - [BD 508 Horsetail](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-508) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-508) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-508) - [Barrel Compound](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bc) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bc) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bc) - [Biodynamic Tree Paste](https://go.jpibd.org/product-tree-paste) · [protocol](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-tree-paste) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-tree-paste) - [Three Kings Preparation](https://go.jpibd.org/product-erbe-8) · [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-erbe-8) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-erbe-8) - [BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) · [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-502-507) - [Preparation guides and instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations) ## Citation _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue 090, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Fall/Winter 2016–2017. [**Download Issue 090 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-090) **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, Crop and Garden Practice, Farm Economics and Community --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-090-fall-winter-2016)