Applied Biodynamics — Issue 040 (Spring 2003)
Issue 040 (Spring 2003) documents Joe Francis’s 21-day Pfeiffer compost system, crop-by-crop seed soaks, preparation making, and practical trial designs that separate observation from proof.
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Applied Biodynamics Issue 040 (Spring 2003) documents Joe Francis’s 21-day Pfeiffer compost system, Hugh Courtney’s crop-by-crop seed-soak guide, a national preparation-makers’ conference, two book reviews, and spiritual reflections on Good Friday while separating repeatable procedure from untested interpretation.
Joe Francis and a 21-day compost system
Patricia Smith interviews Joe Francis, who worked with Ehrenfried Pfeiffer from 1955 to 1961 and later managed a 300-acre East Texas ranch. Francis describes three manure-and-hay windrows, each about 50 feet long, 10 feet wide, five feet high, and roughly 50 tons. He used one unit of Pfeiffer Compost Starter per ton: the Starter was moistened to a paste the night before, then two units were diluted in five gallons of water for each two-ton spreader load. Windrows were turned every seven days and judged ready after 21 days.
Francis reports decades without a failed batch, richer pastures, abundant earthworms, and healthy cattle. That longevity makes the account valuable, but repetition of one method on one operation is not the same as a controlled comparison. A contemporary evaluation would build matched windrows with the same feedstock, dimensions, starting moisture, and turning schedule; randomize Starter and comparison treatments; and measure temperature curves, moisture, oxygen, volume or mass loss, odor, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, maturity or germination index, nutrients, and later soil or crop response.
Seed soaks: a useful guide with visible gaps
Hugh Courtney’s reprinted guide assigns BD 500, individual compost preparations, BD 507, or Barrel Compound to different crops. The article distinguishes full stirring—one hour for BD 500 and 10–20 minutes for BD 507—from a small-batch method for BD 502–506: place one unit in one or two pints of water, stir vigorously for up to five minutes, stand 20–24 hours, and stir briefly again. Most seed is soaked for 10–15 minutes, drained, dried promptly, and planted within 24–48 hours. Hard-coated seed may need longer; peas and beans can lose their seed coats and germination capacity if over-soaked.
The table contains many question marks, and Courtney explicitly calls his BD 501-plus-BD 506 corn result a single, unreplicated “seat of the pants” experiment. Treat each crop recommendation as a starting hypothesis. Run water-only and treatment groups from the same seed lot, use several replicate trays or field plots, and measure germination speed, final germination, emergence, damping-off, early vigor, yield, and pest damage.
Good Friday as a testable timing claim
The cover and editorial notes present Christian and anthroposophical interpretations of Good Friday and quote Maria Thun’s claim that sowing or transplanting on Good Friday and Easter Saturday produces poor establishment. This is a spiritual-historical claim, not evidence supplied by the issue. It can nevertheless be tested respectfully: randomize seed from one lot across identical conditions and several sowing dates before, during, and after the stated interval, repeat in multiple years, and score germination and growth without knowing which timing each tray represents.
Preparation making and shared quality
Lloyd Nelson reports that nearly 40 preparation makers met at Camphill Village Copake on February 14–16, 2003. Regional production was encouraged so that makers could work with local plants, animals, soils, and climate, while JPI’s role in supplying beginners, small gardens, remote farms, and large acreages remained essential. Regionalization works best with common batch records, storage criteria, sample exchange, and field results that allow quality to be compared across makers.
The review of Joseph Chilton Pearce’s Evolution’s End repeats broad claims about birth, bonding, childcare, television, hormones, intelligence, crime, and violence. These claims are the reviewer’s summary of the book and are not evaluated scientifically in Issue 040. Gerry Nottingham’s review of Ron Krupp’s The Woodchuck’s Guide to Gardening is more directly agricultural, emphasizing seasonal practice, thrift, hand tools, food skills, and gardening with children.
Key Topics Covered
Pfeiffer Compost Starter preparation, dose, windrow size, seven-day turning intervals, and a reported 21-day finishing cycle.
Crop-specific seed-soak recommendations, soak duration, drying, planting windows, and visible gaps in the historical table.
Good Friday and Easter Saturday planting claims presented as spiritual-historical interpretations rather than demonstrated effects.
Regional preparation making, shared batch records, storage criteria, sample exchange, and quality comparison.
Matched compost piles, randomized seed lots, blinded timing trials, fixed measurements, and multi-season replication.
Repeatable Practice
- For compost, match feedstock, pile dimensions, starting moisture, turning, and weather; randomize Starter and comparison piles and log temperature, moisture, oxygen, mass loss, maturity, and crop response.
- For seed soaks, divide one seed lot among water-only and preparation treatments, keep soak and planting conditions fixed, and measure germination, emergence, vigor, disease, yield, and damage.
- For calendar claims, preselect comparable sowing dates before, during, and after the stated interval, code treatments, blind scorers, and repeat across years.
- For regional preparations, use shared batch identities, source and storage records, acceptance criteria, coded sample exchange, and common field observation forms.
Explore Related Resources
- Pfeiffer Compost Starter and the Pfeiffer Compost Starter overview
- BD 500 Horn Manure and the BD 500 instructions
- BD 501 Horn Silica and the BD 501 instructions
- BD 507 Valerian and the BD 507 overview
- BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set
- Barrel Compound and its application instructions
- Agriculture: Spiritual-Scientific Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture
Articles
- Interview with Joe Francis (P. Smith)
- Seed Soaks with the Biodynamic Preparations (H. Courtney)
- 2003 Biodynamic Preparation Conference: February 14–16, Copake, New York (L. Nelson)
- Book Review: Evolution’s End: Claiming the Potential of Our Intelligence (M. Maruska)
- Book Review: The Woodchuck’s Guide to Gardening (G. Nottingham)
Citation
Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 40, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Spring 2003.
