Applied Biodynamics — Issue 033 (Summer 2001)
Issue 033 documents JPI’s succession challenge, the June 2001 preparation seminar, and Joseph Stevens’s finished-compost BD 507 proposal as a specific hypothesis for testing.
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Applied Biodynamics Issue 033 continues two conversations from Issue 031: the future of JPI’s preparation work and the timing of BD 507 valerian in compost. Hugh Courtney clarifies his succession plans, Joseph Stevens proposes a finished-compost hypothesis, and the issue invites readers to test it. A photo essay records JPI’s June 2001 preparation-making seminar.
What Courtney clarifies about retirement
“Michaelmas 2000 Revisited for Clarification” does not redefine Michaelmas as a preparation-making method. Courtney says he is not quitting preparation work and is not planning an imminent departure. He wants to retire from the intensity of running JPI seven days a week while also managing a 109-acre farm.
He identifies distribution—not making—as the larger operational burden. Turning preparation production over to the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association would therefore solve only part of the problem. His point about serving as an unpaid executive director was intended to show why a successor would require compensation and why JPI and the Association needed a broader conversation about storage, distribution, staffing, and finance.
Stevens’s proposal for JPI
In a letter to the editor, Joseph A. Stevens argues that JPI should become a research, training, and quality center modeled on Alex Podolinsky’s Australian work. He proposes a small geographically distributed group of skilled practitioners and calls for statistical evidence that can be communicated beyond existing biodynamic circles. These are Stevens’s recommendations, not an adopted JPI plan, but they connect institutional succession with verifiable field performance.
The finished-compost valerian hypothesis
Courtney’s introduction and Stevens’s “Prepared Valerian: The Secret of Finished Compost” question the customary timing of BD 507. Stevens reads the German term Dünger as “fertilizer” rather than merely “manure” and argues that liquid valerian should be applied only after the first five compost preparations have produced finished, colloidal compost. His proposed mechanism invokes polarities of winter/summer, solid/liquid, crystallization/blossoming, phosphorus, and a momentary potentized impulse.
This is a historical-text interpretation and proposed mechanism, not experimental proof. Courtney explicitly asks readers to suspend judgment and conduct practical comparisons. He also reports a separate warning from Maria Thun, relayed through Walter Stappung, that inserting valerian can make compost black and clumped—possibly depending on when it is applied.
JPI’s current BD 507 handout provides present-day product context, and the BD 502–507 set supplies the complete compost preparations.
A decisive repeatable trial
Build multiple matched compost piles from one homogenized feedstock. Randomly assign at least four protocols: no BD 507, water-only control, BD 507 at initial preparation, and BD 507 after the pile meets a predefined maturity threshold. If resources permit, add a fifth arm that applies BD 507 at both stages. Use the same dose, water, mixing, placement, pile geometry, turning, and cover.
Predefine “finished compost” by measurable criteria such as temperature returning near ambient, stable respiration, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, moisture, pH, and germination index. Track temperature, oxygen, moisture, mass loss, odor, aggregation, color, nutrient retention, and microbial community during composting. Then apply coded finished composts to replicated plant plots and measure emergence, biomass, yield, disease, and soil aggregation. Blinded scoring and replication across sites would directly test both the timing claim and the reported clumping concern.
June 2001 preparation-making seminar
The photo report documents fifteen participants from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. Activities shown include making Barrel Compound, examining unearthed BD 504 stinging nettle, wrapping BD 502 yarrow for summer exposure, harvesting valerian, and learning nettle identification. For current practice, see the Barrel Compound instructions.
Book review
Christy Korrow reviews Tanis Helliwell’s Summer with the Leprechauns. The review presents Helliwell’s encounters with elemental beings as a spiritual narrative and recommends the book for readers interested in human–nature cooperation. It is an account of subjective experience rather than agricultural evidence; any practical idea drawn from it can still be stated as a hypothesis, recorded in advance, and checked against observable outcomes.
Articles
- Michaelmas 2000 Revisited for Clarification (H. J. Courtney)
- Letter to the Editor on JPI’s Future (J. A. Stevens)
- Preparations Making Seminar at JPI—June 2001
- New Insights on the Valerian Preparation—A Call to Examine Old Habits in Biodynamics (H. J. Courtney)
- Prepared Valerian: The Secret of Finished Compost (J. A. Stevens)
- Book Review: Summer with the Leprechauns (C. Korrow)
Key Topics Covered
JPI succession, responsibility, financing, leadership, and the distinction between institutional continuity and any one person.
Hands-on preparation-making education, including BD 504 nettle and group learning.
Finished-compost BD 507 timing as a specific practitioner hypothesis, not an established mechanism or proven result.
Comparison of early, late, internal, surface, and untreated valerian protocols.
Transparent recording, matched compost, randomized field plots, replication, and independent repeatability.
Repeatable Practice
- Prepare one homogeneous compost batch, divide it into equal portions, and randomly assign untreated, early-BD 507, late-BD 507, and water-only treatments.
- Record compost feedstock, pile conditions, BD 507 batch and dose, water, stirring, placement, timing, storage, and weather.
- Apply matched portions to randomized replicated plots on the same date under the same crop and management.
- Measure compost maturity, soil properties, emergence, growth, yield, crop quality, disease, and fixed photographs on a predeclared schedule.
Explore Related Resources
BD 507 Valerian · BD 507 guide · BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course
Citation
Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 33, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2001.
