Applied Biodynamics — Issue 061 (Summer 2008)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 061 (Summer 2008) presents Hugo Erbe No. 5 Cow Stomach Preparation through its making method, vineyard use, compost and animal observations, JPI preparation work, practical Compost Starter calculation, and the living discipline of Goethean observation.

Download the complete original Issue 061 PDF

Hugo Erbe No. 5 Cow Stomach Preparation

JPI had been producing experimental quantities of Hugo Erbe No. 5 for four years according to Erbe's instructions. Following slaughter, the contents of all four cow stomachs are mixed with rainwater and a portion of cow blood. After an initial fermentation, BD 500 and BD 502–507 are added, and a further fermentation takes place. A portion of the finished preparation is strained and diluted for use.

Erbe presents the preparation as useful for adding to compost, improving liquid manure, and supporting soil as a conditioner. In his spiritual-scientific account, the fourfold cow stomach carries comprehensive digestive forces, while the blood carries the relationship of the cow to its group soul. The preparation brings these forces into the soil and the wider farm organism.

JPI's current Hugo Erbe No. 5 instructions give a one-hour stir and current rates for compost or soil application.

Vineyard use in early spring

Viticulture consultant Philippe Armenier invited vineyard clients to work with the preparation. In the 2008 protocol, Hugo Erbe No. 5 was added to BD 500 in early spring, the two were stirred together for one full hour, and the combination was sprayed on the soil beneath the vines.

Armenier's earlier separate applications of Cow Stomach Preparation had produced greener-looking vines with a stronger capacity to endure the dry summer. The combined spring application carried that positive experience into a fuller relationship with BD 500 and the vineyard organism.

Animal-area and compost observations

W. Jason Harris stirred Cow Stomach Preparation by hand in a five-gallon bucket for a full hour, rhythmically creating a vortex, reversing through chaos, and forming the opposite vortex. With a long-handled whisk brush he applied the preparation around horses, cattle, the barn, the run-in, and the animals' gathering area.

The cattle approached the bucket, accepted droplets on their backs, then lowered themselves together and rested for about three hours into the evening. The horses had settled after four days. Harris experienced the work as a harmonious service joining the preparations, animals, farm, and cosmos.

Lloyd Nelson reports that he often combined Cow Stomach Preparation with BD 500 and Barrel Compound, sometimes also using Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray. When BD 500, Barrel Compound, and Cow Stomach Preparation were applied to an anaerobic grocery-waste pile covered with larvae, the larvae were gone the next day and the material continued breaking down.

In another application along a Tennessee fence line, cattle became animated, mooed, and followed the spray rig for about a quarter mile. When the rig reversed, the herd turned and followed it back. Nelson also recalls a 1991 batch fermenting beneath a beautiful white crust, with active juices bubbling through when the surface was opened.

Preparation making at JPI

Jennifer Greene's account of JPI's Fall 2007 preparation workshop presents the Institute as a landscape formed for biodynamic preparation work. The group met the cow selected for preparation making, gathered around her with an invocation, and observed her transition with gratitude and reverence.

The farm's ridges and valleys hold thousands of horns for BD 500 and X500; dandelion in mesentery, chamomile in intestine, stinging nettle, yarrow in stag bladders, and oak bark in skulls; and a quartz outcropping and oak grove connected with BD 501 work. Preparation making is integrated with landform, plants, animals, storage, teaching, and seasonal rhythm.

Greene describes the finished preparations as moist, fragrant, rich, and alive. Fred Fischer considered Josephine Porter the finest preparation maker he had encountered, pointing to the high vitality, shine, careful storage, rich fragrance, and evident quality of the preparations.

Barrel Compound, X500, and Prepared 500

Hugh Courtney gives practical distinctions among three compound approaches described in the issue:

• Barrel Compound: cow manure, basalt powder, ground eggshells, and BD 502–507. It receives a full hour of stirring during its making and a twenty-minute stir before field use.
• X500: manure stirred before it is placed in the horn, allowing a twenty-minute field stir in the method described.
• Prepared 500: finished BD 500 joined with the six compost preparations and stirred for the full hour before application.

For a small garden, Courtney recommends beginning with Barrel Compound, then following with BD 500 or X500 and cultivating or raking after application so the droplets enter the soil. The current preparation-specific instructions remain the practical guide for each product.

Historic Compost Starter calculation

The issue works through an 18-by-4-by-3-foot windrow:

• 18 × 4 × 3 gives 216 cubic feet.
• Reducing by one quarter for the triangular or trapezoidal pile shape gives 162 cubic feet.
• Dividing by 27 gives about 6 cubic yards.
• Using the historic conversion in the article, the pile is about 4 to 4.5 tons.
• The article recommends 3 units of Pfeiffer Compost Starter for a pile of this size.

For present-day use, follow JPI's current Pfeiffer Compost Starter instructions, which relate units directly to the starting material being built into the pile.

Extraordinary plant qualities and Goethean observation

Christy Korrow reviews Extraordinary Plant Qualities for Biodynamics by Jochen Bockemühl and Kari Järvinen as a guide to disciplined, participatory observation. The exercises begin with thinking, feeling, and willing, then move through branch form, landscape mood, habitat, season, scent, growth gesture, medicinal qualities, and the preparation plants in their full surroundings.

The method is learned by doing. Repeated observation develops descriptive attention and imaginative perception, helping practitioners form an independent relationship with the plants and preparations instead of treating biodynamics as a fixed collection of techniques.

Key topics covered

• Hugo Erbe No. 5 materials, fermentation stages, dilution, uses, and spiritual-scientific meaning.
• Early-spring vineyard application with BD 500 and positive greenness and dry-summer observations.
• Harris's cattle and horse observations and Nelson's compost-pile and fence-line reports.
• JPI's preparation landscape, respectful cow ceremony, sensory quality, storage, and teaching.
• Practical distinctions among Barrel Compound, X500, and Prepared 500.
• The issue's historic Compost Starter calculation and current-instruction link.
• Goethean observation as a participatory discipline for understanding preparation plants.

Explore related resources

• Hugo Erbe No. 5 Cow Stomach Preparation and current instructions
• BD 500 Horn Manure and current instructions
• Barrel Compound, also called Barrel Compost outside the United States
• Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray
• Pfeiffer Biodynamic Compost Starter and current instructions

Articles in this issue

• Insights into Hugo Erbe's Cow Stomach Preparation
• Extraordinary Plant Qualities for Biodynamics — Jochen Bockemühl and Kari Järvinen, reviewed by Christy Korrow
• Vineyard Consultant Puts Cow Stomach Preparation to Work — Hugh Courtney
• The Cow Stomach Preparation — W. Jason Harris, with a field report by Lloyd Nelson
• Preparation Making at the Josephine Porter Institute — Jennifer Greene
• Anecdotes and Antidotes: Biodynamics at Work — Hugh Courtney

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 61, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2008.