# Applied Biodynamics — Issue No. 024 (Fall 1998)

**By JPI Admin** · 2026-01-02

Issue 024 is a method-rich issue centered on preparation quality, controlled observation, practitioner reports, and hands-on preparation making.

[**Download Issue 024 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-024)

Hugh J. Courtney’s **“Time Marches On—Progress at JPI”** records the institute’s developing infrastructure, production work, staffing, and shift toward on-site education. The operational details show that preparation production depends on buildings, equipment, trained labor, material supply, and repeatable handling—not simply on a finished recipe.

**“Valerian and Frost Protection”** summarizes Kachina Via’s school experiment comparing basil sprayed with fermented nettle tea, kelp tea, fermented [BD 507 valerian](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507), plain water, or nothing. Plants received eighteen simulated cold exposures over about two months, and experienced farmers independently rated coded plants immediately after exposure and one week later. In the reported groups, water gave short-term protection while valerian received the strongest delayed hardiness ratings; nettle and kelp were associated with greater growth and greater cold injury. The sample size and rating design limit generalization, but the blind assessment and repeated exposure offer a useful basis for a larger replication.

Malcolm Ian Gardner’s **“Observations and Experiments”** includes a multi-year hawkweed peppering report and a chlorosis report following [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) applied through aerated water and traditional stirring. Both are practitioner case reports, not controlled experiments. Their value lies in documented timing, dilution, application, mowing, soil penetration, and observed changes that can be converted into pre-mapped treated and comparison plots.

Courtney’s **“The Michaelmas Preparation: BD #504—Stinging Nettle”** argues from Rudolf Steiner’s wording that [BD 504](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504) should remain underground through winter and the following summer rather than merely for a calendar year. The article describes pit, screening, peat, and clay-drain-tile methods; material dimensions; packing; sealing; burial; recovery problems; and qualitative assessment by color, aroma, texture, smearing, and biological activity. These criteria are experiential. Coded grading and matched seed or compost comparisons can test how consistently they relate to performance.

Patrick Moser’s **“JPI Summer Prep Seminar”** documents practical work with BD 502, BD 504, and [BD 501](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), including plant harvest, animal-sheath sourcing, stuffing density, screening, silica grades, and burial timing. The report reinforces preparation making as a learned craft whose variables should be recorded from batch to batch.

## Articles

-   Time Marches On—Progress at JPI (H. J. Courtney) 
-   Valerian and Frost Protection (K. Via) 
-   Observations and Experiments (M. I. Gardner) 
-   The Michaelmas Preparation: BD #504—Stinging Nettle (H. J. Courtney) 
-   JPI Summer Prep Seminar (June 26–28, 1998) (P. Moser) 

## Key Topics Covered

JPI infrastructure, preparation production, staffing, and hands-on education.

Blinded plant ratings after repeated simulated frost exposure.

Hawkweed peppering and chlorosis reversal as practitioner reports requiring comparison plots.

BD 504 plant identification, burial duration, containment, recovery, and quality assessment.

Seminar methods for BD 502, BD 504, and BD 501.

## Repeatable Practice

1.  Repeat the basil trial with larger coded groups, measured temperatures, the same eighteen exposures, immediate and delayed ratings, and a post-frost valerian group.
2.  Pre-map treated and untreated peppering areas; document seed collection, ash making, timing, dilution, mowing, weather, plant cover, and species recovery.
3.  Prepare coded BD 504 batches from one nettle harvest and compare burial durations and containment methods for recovery, sensory grades, and plant or compost performance.
4.  Use a written preparation-quality scorecard and blind graders to reduce expectation bias.

## Explore Related Resources

[BD 504 Stinging Nettle](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-504) · [BD 507 Valerian](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507) · [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) · [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501)

[Making and Using Biodynamic Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations)

## Citation

Source: _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue No. 24, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Fall 1998.

**Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, BD 502-507, Pests and Diseases, Research Methods, Weather and Climate

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> Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-no-024-fall-1998)