Applied Biodynamics — Issue 029/030 (Spring/Fall 2000)
Issues 029/030 document JPI’s photographed BD 507 making method, competing compost-placement traditions, testable valerian uses, and reviews of biodynamic history.
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Issues 029/030 form a double issue centered on BD 507 valerian: a photographed making protocol, competing placement traditions, proposed agricultural uses, and clear opportunities for side-by-side tests.
Patricia Smith’s “How to Make the Valerian Preparation (BD 507)” begins with fully open white to pink-white Valeriana officinalis flowers, excluding green or browning heads. The flowers are lightly misted, ground to a green paste, wrapped in pre-moistened cotton, and pressed. Equipment is cleaned to reduce yeast or fungal contamination; the juice is sealed with a fermentation lock and labeled with date and process notes.
The historical method gives a fermentation range of six weeks to three months, optional staged filtration, and cool dark glass storage. It defines one unit as 1–2 milliliters added to about two gallons of water and stirred for 10–15 minutes, sometimes longer. For current handling and application, readers should follow JPI’s present BD 507 information rather than treating an archival article as a product label.
Hugh J. Courtney’s “The Valerian Preparation—Some Additional Perspectives” compares surface spraying of compost, internal placement, and a combined method. The article does not resolve the disagreement. Matched piles from one feedstock could be randomly assigned to surface-only, internal-only, combined, and untreated protocols, with temperature, moisture, oxygen, odor, mass loss, maturity, nutrient analysis, and plant response recorded.
The issue associates valerian with warmth, phosphorus, frost protection, flowering, seed baths, color, aroma, disease resistance, ripening, and a reported vineyard Brix change when combined with BD 501. These are historical indications and practitioner observations, not controlled proof. Each can be separated into a defined trial with untreated and carrier controls, replication, blind scoring, fixed measurements, and repeated sites.
“Saying Goodbye to the Twentieth Century” is an editorial compilation marking the end of the century and drawing on Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s lecture “The Threshold Experience.” Bob Lehman reviews Penny Kelly’s Robes. Patricia Smith reviews Adalbert Graf von Keyserlingk’s The Birth of a New Agriculture and Developing Biodynamic Agriculture, covering Koberwitz, early researchers, preparation work, and the disruption of research during World War II.
Articles
- Saying Goodbye to the Twentieth Century
- How to Make the Valerian Preparation (BD 507) (P. Smith, with contributions from H. J. Courtney)
- The Valerian Preparation—Some Additional Perspectives (H. J. Courtney)
- Book Review: Robes (B. Lehman)
- Book Reviews: The Birth of a New Agriculture and Developing Biodynamic Agriculture (P. Smith)
Key Topics Covered
BD 507 flower selection, cleaning, grinding, pressing, fermentation, filtration, storage, dilution, and labeling.
Surface-only, internal-only, combined, and untreated compost-placement comparisons.
Valerian and proposed effects on warmth, phosphorus, frost, flowering, ripening, disease, aroma, color, and Brix.
The difference between archival instructions, spiritual-scientific interpretation, practitioner observation, and controlled evidence.
Twentieth-century biodynamic history, threshold experience, Koberwitz, early research, and book reviews.
Repeatable Practice
- Record valerian species, flower stage, harvest time, weather, fresh weight, pressing method, juice yield, sanitation, vessel, temperature, and fermentation duration.
- Label stored bottles and monitor gas production, aroma, clarity, contamination, storage temperature, and usable yield.
- Compare compost-placement methods in matched piles made from one feedstock and measure process and finished-compost outcomes.
- Test frost, seed, flowering, or Brix claims separately with pre-defined controls, replication, measurements, and reporting.
Explore Related Resources
BD 507 Valerian · BD 507 guide · BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · BD 501 Horn Silica
Citation
Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issues 029/030, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Spring/Fall 2000.
