Applied Biodynamics — Issue 058 (Fall 2007)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 058 (Fall 2007) follows biodynamic farms, cooperatives, and processors in North Africa and Turkey, then documents U.S. trade development, Kentucky preparation making, and Peter Proctor’s work in India.

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A biodynamic odyssey through the Mediterranean

Hunter Francis joined farmer and JPI board president Gena Nonini on visits with biodynamic producers in North Africa and Turkey. They found a practical cooperative model linking farmers, preparation consultants, local technicians, European distributors, certification, and shared processing facilities.

Sekem in Egypt provided an influential example. Economic enterprises in biodynamic food, natural medicine, and textiles helped support health, education, research, and the arts. Elsewhere, cooperatives gave farmers access to technical knowledge, decision-making power, stronger markets, and the means to improve community life.

Oases of fertility and biodiversity

The North African date groves were lush and diverse. Date palms grew with pomegranates, figs, flowers, cover crops, and vegetable seed plots. Open habitat supported wild species, while small plots of beets, fennel, lettuce, kohlrabi, and tomatoes diversified farm income beyond the date harvest.

Farmers made strong BD 500 Horn Manure locally and applied it twice a year at about 2.5 ounces per acre. Some used a hand whisk; others used mechanical spray rigs. They applied BD 501 Horn Silica twice a year at about one-half teaspoon in ten gallons of water per acre. Compost made from palm fronds, sheep manure, and date-processing residues received the BD 502–507 compost preparations.

These rates belong to the farms and conditions documented in 2007. Present-day growers can use them as valuable comparative records while following JPI’s current BD 500 and BD 501 application guides.

Preparation storage and farm records in Turkey

Turkish cooperatives employed technicians who trained growers, delivered preparations, and managed centralized supplies. One cooperative stored preparations in clay jars buried in moist soil inside wooden chests kept in a cool, non-refrigerated room. The arrangement protected the preparations while allowing many farms to draw from one well-maintained center.

BD 500 was applied twice yearly at rates as high as four ounces per acre. Technicians tracked applications across scores of farms in spreadsheets, and Demeter inspections verified farm practice. The system offers a clear record-keeping model:

• one row for each field and application;
• date, time, preparation, batch, amount, water volume, acreage, and stirring method;
• weather, soil moisture, crop stage, and calendar condition;
• operator and equipment used;
• follow-up observations of crop quality, yield, storage, soil, pests, and farm economics.

Repeating these fields across seasons makes a large cooperative legible without reducing each farm’s individuality.

Biodynamics adapted to arid regions

Mediterranean practitioners worked confidently with local conditions. Where Equisetum arvense for BD 508, stag bladders, or other materials were not locally available, cooperatives imported them while building preparation-making skill at home. Farmers often began with preparations supplied by experienced makers, then learned to produce their own.

This is biodynamic adaptation in practice: preserve the function and quality of each preparation, observe the farm’s climate and materials, maintain exact records, and deepen local capacity over time.

Quality from farm through processing

Turkish farms produced biodynamic raisins, figs, apricots, tomatoes, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and sesame. Processing centers worked under biodynamic, organic, fair-trade, Turkish, ISO 9001, and HACCP systems, with records maintained at every stage.

The enterprises also supported literacy, hygiene, and health-care programs for workers. Francis reports perceived gains in crop quality, farmer revenue, self-reliance, cooperative decision-making, biodiversity, and community living standards. These field and interview observations are valuable historical evidence but do not isolate biodynamics from fair-trade access, export demand, certification, infrastructure, or other concurrent changes.

Autumn as the Earth’s breathing

Rudolf Steiner’s Meditative Thoughts for Autumn asks the observer to perceive spiritual ascent in the fading of visible life. Yellowing and falling leaves are not merely an ending: the sensory world withdraws as soul-spiritual activity becomes newly perceptible. This autumn attention prepares the human being for Christmastide and gives seasonal farm work an inward counterpart.

The Biodynamic Trade Association

The 2007 launch of the Biodynamic Trade Association marked a milestone for biodynamics in the United States. Farmers, vintners, processors, distributors, retailers, and supporters organized to increase public awareness, expand the availability of biodynamic products, support certification integrity, protect the Biodynamic trademark, and build relationships across the trade.

The association joined market development with education. Its vision recognized a simple reinforcing rhythm: clear public understanding creates demand; demand strengthens farms and processors; thriving enterprises make more biodynamic food available.

Preparation making in Kentucky

More than 25 people gathered at Hill and Hollow Farm for a new regional preparation-making initiative. They filled and buried 13 horns for BD 501, placing half with points upward and half downward in a pit where geodes were found and crushed crystals were added. Eight bladders filled with BD 502 Yarrow were hung high beneath the barn roof. The group also worked with Barrel Compound.

Laura Riccardi emphasizes, within a biodynamic spiritual-scientific interpretation, that preparations carry the quality of the people who make them together. Shared work, practical teaching, careful placement, and communal intention are documented features of the event; their incorporation into the substances is an interpretation rather than a scientifically established mechanism.

One man, one cow, one planet

Christy Korrow reviews the film about Peter Proctor’s work with farmers in India. After more than 15 years of biodynamic development, the film reports an estimated 200,000 biodynamic compost piles across the country. The reported improvements in soil, income, confidence, and food sovereignty combine compost, cow-based fertility, preparations, flow forms, field sprays, planting calendars, pest work, harvesting, and cooperative marketing; the film review does not independently test which element produced which outcome.

The images make the work tangible: many hands mix Cow Pat Pit; valerian water is sprinkled rhythmically; BD 500 arcs over the field from a whisk broom; finished compost moves across crop rows. Readers can continue with Issue 053’s Peter Proctor interview and current Barrel Compound resources.

Key Topics Covered

Biodynamic date groves, cooperative farm services, fair-trade relationships, and processing systems in North Africa and Turkey.

Historical BD 500, BD 501, compost-preparation, storage, and record-keeping practices adapted to arid conditions.

Farm-to-processing traceability under overlapping biodynamic, organic, fair-trade, national, ISO 9001, and HACCP systems.

The 2007 launch of the Biodynamic Trade Association and its goals for education, certification integrity, trademark protection, and market development.

Community preparation making at Hill and Hollow Farm in Kentucky, with spiritual interpretation clearly separated from documented procedure.

Film-reported expansion of biodynamic composting in India and the need to distinguish multi-part development programs from causal proof of a single practice.

Repeatable Practice

1. Create one record for every field and application: preparation and batch, amount, water volume, acreage, stirring method, date, time, operator, equipment, weather, soil moisture, crop stage, and calendar condition.
2. Define comparable fields or farms and keep certification, irrigation, cultivar, fertility, pest management, and market changes visible rather than attributing all outcomes to biodynamics.
3. Track yield, grade, storage loss, soil organic matter, infiltration, biodiversity indicators, labor, price, rejection rates, and farm income at fixed intervals.
4. Repeat across seasons and cooperatives, retain unsuccessful results, and report interview testimony, spiritual interpretation, and independently measured outcomes in separate fields.

Explore Related Resources

• BD 500 Horn Manure and instructions
• BD 501 Horn Silica and instructions
• Complete Set of Compost Preparations and instructions
• BD 502 Yarrow and BD 508 Horsetail
• Barrel Compound and instructions
• Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course

Articles

• Touring the Mediterranean: A Biodynamic Odyssey (H. Francis) 
• Meditative Thoughts for Autumn (R. Steiner) 
• The Elizabeth Scott Courtney Memorial Fund 
• The Biodynamic Trade Association Is Here! (H. Francis) 
• New Preparation Making Initiative in Kentucky (L. Riccardi) 
• How to Save the World: One Man, One Cow, One Planet (reviewed by C. Korrow) 

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 58, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Fall 2007.