How are buffalo horns and manure used for BD 500?

The preparation is made by the same process used with cow materials. Buffalo sex is easy to distinguish by horn size—the male horn is about twice the diameter—and Strong applies the finished preparation at the usual biodynamic rate.

How was the quality of the buffalo preparations evaluated?

Working preparation makers compared sheep-, goat-, cow-, and buffalo-based materials over several years for feel, structure, and storage vitality. Analytical testing placed the buffalo samples among the top five overall, with its BD 500 and Barrel Compound among the top three for nitrogen.

How did the Pine Ridge projects put the preparations into use?

A Waldorf kindergarten made BD 500, BD 501, and Barrel Compound, received the full compost-preparation set, and shared surplus with the Slim Buttes program supporting four hundred home and community gardens, especially their plant starts.

What repeatable practices did the 2013 FOPM conference demonstrate?

Participants paired plant study with hands-on yarrow and valerian preparation making, then examined planetary and animal relationships, annual burial gardens, flowform stirring, spray equipment, and communal storage.

Applied Biodynamics archive

Applied Biodynamics — Issue 081 (Summer 2013)

Issue 081 follows Devon Strong’s buffalo-based preparations from comparative quality review to field use, reports the yarrow-and-valerian work of the 2013 Preparation Makers conference, and records JPI’s staff continuity after its move to Floyd.

December 30, 2025 Published by The Josephine Porter Institute Download PDF

Applied Biodynamics No. 81 brings regional materials, cultural relationship, preparation quality, and institutional continuity into one practical record. Its lead interview follows Devon Strong’s buffalo-based preparation work from farm experience through repeated peer comparison and analytical review; the conference report examines BD 502 Yarrow and BD 507 Valerian; and the staff profile documents the people carrying JPI’s production work into its new Floyd, Virginia, location.

In “Biodynamics in the Sacred Hoop: Enlivening Native American Soil through Buffalo,” Hunter Francis interviews Devon Strong of Four Eagles Farm, a 220-acre dryland operation in northern California. Strong began raising buffalo in 1997 and integrated their manure, horns, and other sheaths into the biodynamic preparations. He describes the work as a living connection between biodynamics and Native American ceremony, grounded in respectful animal husbandry and the relationship between a preparation animal and its region.

The interview gives a useful comparison sequence. Strong first brought horn-manure preparations made in sheep and goat horns to the Oregon preparation quality group and could feel their weaker structure beside cow-horn material. When he later made BD 500 with buffalo horns and manure, preparation makers repeatedly recognized its strength and its ability to retain vitality in storage. The group’s quality control rested with working farmers who made and used preparations, compared variations together, and reviewed the buffalo material over several years.

The conference analysis added quantitative markers to the sensory review. Buffalo preparations ranked among the top five samples in analytical evaluation of cation-exchange capacity, nitrogen, and related measures; the buffalo BD 500 and Barrel Compound ranked among the top three for nitrogen content. Strong applies the preparations at the usual biodynamic rates and reports their strong response in vegetable gardens. For larger pasture work, his practical threshold was equipment: hand application became difficult beyond approximately fifteen to twenty acres without a sprayer.

Strong also records a repeatable community pathway on the Pine Ridge Reservation. A Waldorf kindergarten in Kyle made BD 500, BD 501, and Barrel Compound, received a full set of BD 502–507 compost preparations, and shared surplus material with the Slim Buttes garden program. That program supported four hundred home and community gardens, using the preparations especially on starts. Preparation making thus became both an agricultural practice and a way of renewing community relationship with buffalo and land.

In “Oregon Hosts Twelfth Annual FOPM Conference,” Patricia Frazier reports on nearly sixty preparation makers meeting at Sky Camp from February 28 through March 3, 2013. The theme paired yarrow and valerian through plant study, practical preparation making, planetary associations in the compost pile, animal characteristics of yarrow, elemental work, artistic exercises, and eurythmy. A Wintergreen Farm tour extended the study into practice through its preparation garden, annual burial work, flowform stirring, spray equipment, and two communal storage facilities.

In “Meet the JPI Staff,” Abigail Porter records the operational continuity behind JPI’s move from Woolwine to Floyd. Cynthia Bowman led administration, Carolyn Hanchey handled orders and receivables, Kendell Cockram assisted with preparation making and packaging, and Terry Williams supplied seasonal farm help. Larry Mabe’s twelve years as Pfeiffer-product technician preserved a direct training lineage: bacteriologist Jennifer Reeve trained him to make Pfeiffer Compost Starter, Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, and their bacterial cultures after her own training through Margrit Selke and Maria Linder of the Pfeiffer Foundation.

Together, the three articles show how biodynamic quality is strengthened: choose materials in relationship with place, compare finished preparations with experienced makers, track analytical and field responses, teach the whole making process, and preserve exact production knowledge through skilled teams.

Articles

Biodynamics in the Sacred Hoop: Enlivening Native American Soil through Buffalo — Hunter Francis interviews Devon Strong
Oregon Hosts Twelfth Annual FOPM Conference — Patricia Frazier
Meet the JPI Staff — Abigail Porter