Applied Biodynamics — Issue 021 (Fall 1997)
Issue 021 links Gunther Hauk’s teaching and research standards with laboratory analysis of BD 507 and BD 508, farm observations at Shepherd Hill, and critical book reviews.
Published by The Josephine Porter Institute Download PDF ↗
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Applied Biodynamics Issue 021 brings together four ways of learning: apprenticeship, disciplined field observation, laboratory measurement, and critical reading. The strongest thread is methodological. Whether the subject is teaching, preparation chemistry, or livestock behavior, contributors repeatedly ask how experience can be recorded well enough to compare and repeat.
Gunther Hauk on training, judgment, and comparison
Nick Franceschelli’s interview with master gardening teacher Gunther Hauk presents biodynamic competence as something developed through study, apprenticeship, and repeated work. Hauk recalls learning in Germany through close contact with experienced practitioners, including work at a sloping Waldorf school garden in Stuttgart and at the Talhof associated with Friedrich Sattler and Hilde Pfeiffer.
Talhof is described as a difficult frost-prone site with late sun and early shade. Hauk uses it to illustrate how long observation, careful technique, and accumulated local knowledge can support farming under severe constraints. He also distinguishes biodynamics practiced as a marketing label from biodynamics practiced as an evolving method grounded in study, including continued work with Steiner’s Agriculture Course.
For teaching and research, Hauk is specific: spraying can involve children when the work is well organized, while stirring requires sustained attention and suitable timing. Most importantly, he argues that credible comparison requires leaving some ground untreated. That recommendation gives readers a direct experimental standard: define the comparison area before application, treat both areas alike except for the preparation, and record the result.
Spectroscopic analysis of BD 507 and BD 508
Don Jensen’s “Observations and Experiments” applies laboratory spectroscopy to BD 507 valerian and BD 508 horsetail. The article describes the extracts closely enough to support a repeat:
- BD 507: tightly pack valerian flowers in a glass jar, cover with distilled water, allow 7–10 days for fermentation to begin, strain, and bottle the extract.
- BD 508: place about 10 ounces of slightly dried horsetail in a one-gallon jar, fill with heated water, and ferment or extract for 7–10 days.
A chemistry laboratory measured ten elements in milligrams per liter. In the extracts Jensen tested, BD 507 valerian measured 2,650 mg/L potassium, 55 mg/L phosphorus, and 12 mg/L silicon; BD 508 horsetail measured 888 mg/L potassium, 1,116 mg/L phosphorus, and 177 mg/L silicon. These are concrete measurements for the two extracts analyzed in this 1997 report. Jensen also describes plant source, soil, preparation-making, and fermentation conditions so later researchers can prepare and compare additional samples.
Shepherd Hill pasture observation
In “BD Preps at Shepherd Hill Farm in Kentucky,” Alice Petty describes Cory Watts spraying leftover Barrel Compost, the historical name for the preparation JPI now calls Barrel Compound, on a small pasture patch where cows were resting. When they rose to graze an hour or two later, Petty observed that the sprayed patch was the only place they grazed. She presents this as a direct farm observation that can inspire further recorded field comparisons.
