What annual preparation rhythm did the Community Farm of Ann Arbor use?

The farmers made BD 500, BD 501, Barrel Compound, BD 504, and BD 507 and built prepared compost throughout the year. As fields opened over three to five weeks in spring, they applied BD 500 and Barrel Compound; they repeated those applications in fall and used Barrel Compound when incorporating cover crops. BD 501 was sprayed several times as crops matured, BD 508 supported greenhouse and garden balance, tree paste renewed bark, and valerian was used when spring or fall frost threatened. Keeping the sequence consistent across years produced steadily softer soil, strong flavor, and excellent keeping quality.

How did the CSA make long-term community stewardship workable?

Members funded the annual budget, shared risk and bounty, picked up on the farm, volunteered, joined festivals, and participated in monthly and annual decisions. Consensus worked even with more than one hundred members, and the farm never needed its backup consensus-minus-one or three-quarter-majority rules in twenty-eight years. The community also raised $60,000 for a conservation easement, secured an 89-year lease, and created the Chrysalis educational nonprofit. At the time of the article, 65 shares served about 110 households.

What repeatable community-building pattern was used in New Mexico?

The organizers spent three months inviting practitioners across the region, then held a field day at Morning Star Farm. Participants built compost, inoculated it with biodynamic and homeodynamic preparations, sprayed the whole farm with a Purifier/Harmonizer preparation, shared a meditation, discussed next steps, and ate a local meal together. Before leaving, they committed to another preparation-making day and to making and spraying BD 500 and Barrel Compound at several locations around Santa Fe. The pattern is clear: outreach, practical work, shared reflection, a meal, and a dated next action.

How was preparation work organized at the Goetheanum Garden Park?

The nearly thirty-acre Garden Park maintained a complete farm organism with three cows, four calves, six sheep, about fifty vegetable crops, roughly 150 mature orchard trees, and on-site composting. Its staff grew all preparation herbs and made every preparation used on the property. BD 500 was hand-stirred in 60–80-liter vats and applied three times each year. Preparation making was also taught, and the site functioned as an outdoor laboratory for worldwide research on preparation use.

Applied Biodynamics archive

Applied Biodynamics — Issue 090 (Fall/Winter 2016)

Issue 090 presents the Community Farm of Ann Arbor’s 28-year biodynamic CSA practice, resilient community-building methods, Marian Farms’ estate fermentation, and the Goetheanum Garden Park’s century-long preparation work.

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

Issue 090 shows how biodynamic preparation work can strengthen both land and community. Its center is the Community Farm of Ann Arbor, founded in 1988 as one of the first eight CSAs in the United States, followed by field-tested accounts of community building, estate fermentation and distillation, and the Goetheanum Garden Park’s long-running preparation practice.

In “Community Farm of Ann Arbor: A Healing Center,” Abigail Porter interviews farmers Anne Elder and Paul Bantle. The farm preserved the original CSA relationship: members fund the annual budget, share risk and bounty, pick up at the farm, volunteer, celebrate seasonal festivals, and participate in monthly and annual decisions. Its consensus process remained effective even with more than one hundred members; in twenty-eight years the farm never had to use its consensus-minus-one or three-quarter-majority provisions.

The farm’s land and financial structure is equally durable. After two early moves, the community raised $60,000 for a conservation easement and secured an 89-year lease in 2004. The main farm comprises ten acres, the farmers cultivate another four acres at home, and a twenty-five-acre hay field supports the organism. At the time of the article, 65 shares served about 110 households. A nonprofit educational arm, Chrysalis Biodynamic Agricultural Learning Center, expands field trips, classes, internships, and fundraising.

Elder and Bantle describe a complete annual preparation rhythm. They make BD 500, BD 501, Barrel Compound, BD 504, and BD 507. Compost is made throughout the year and inoculated as each pile is completed. BD 500 and Barrel Compound are applied across fields as they open over three to five weeks in spring and again in fall; Barrel Compound accompanies cover-crop incorporation; BD 501 is sprayed several times as crops mature; BD 508 supports greenhouse and field balance; tree paste renews bark; and valerian is used in spring and fall when frost threatens.

The farm records the results of this long repetition: once-compacted fields became soft and workable across seven distinct soil types; customers repeatedly reported sweetness and exceptional keeping quality in greens, fruits, garlic, and storage crops; and visitors described a recognizable change in their own experience on entering the farm. The annual Three Kings practice extends the same commitment to the farm boundary, hay fields, home, Waldorf school, medical group, and Steiner Institute.

“In Memory of Trauger Groh” honors the co-founder of Temple-Wilton Community Farm and co-author of Farms of Tomorrow. When the first edition appeared, only seven known CSAs operated in the United States; the 2012 Census of Agriculture recorded more than 12,600. The article preserves Groh’s central insight: a CSA is an associative social and economic organism in which farmers and members accept responsibility for land, food, and one another.

Steven McFadden’s “Prepping for Resilient Community: Grafting to Our Native Rootstock” connects biodynamic work with the living wisdom of North American land and cultures. Patricia Frazier identifies Barrel Compound as a practical starting point because a group can make it together, store it after excavation, divide it, and share it widely. The preparation becomes both a soil-building catalyst and a repeatable form for convening people around shared responsibility.

In “Reflections on Biodynamic Community Building in New Mexico,” Frazier documents that pattern in action. After three months of outreach, gardeners, farmers, teachers, apprentices, authors, compost makers, and community advocates gathered at Morning Star Farm near Taos. The day combined compost building, inoculation with biodynamic and homeodynamic preparations, a farm-wide Purifier/Harmonizer spray, meditation, discussion, and a shared local meal. Participants then committed to continuing preparation work, including making and spraying BD 500 and Barrel Compound at locations around Santa Fe.

“Marian Farm Biodynamic Spirits” follows Gena Nonini’s 136-acre enterprise: forty acres of vineyard, eighty acres of almonds, eight acres of citrus, and four acres of mixed vegetables. The vineyard became the country’s first Demeter-certified biodynamic vineyard in 1995, followed by citrus in 1998 and almonds in 2003. Marian Farms relies on wild fermentation with farm-resident yeast, estate-grown grapes and citrus, and on-farm distillation. The case study traces the move from medicinal alcohol to barrel-aged brandy, clear Muscat pisquita, and curaçao made with hand-peeled estate oranges.

In “A Visit to the Goetheanum Garden Park,” Hunter Francis records a nearly thirty-acre farm organism managed by about ten employees and two apprentices. Three cows, four calves, and six sheep rotate through the grasslands; growers tend about fifty vegetable crops and roughly 150 mature orchard trees; all unused plant material returns to on-site compost. The Garden Park grows the herbs and makes every preparation it uses. Horn manure is hand-stirred in 60–80-liter vats and applied three times per year, while the farm also serves as an outdoor laboratory, teaching site, and center for worldwide preparation research.

Articles

Community Farm of Ann Arbor: A Healing Center — Abigail Porter interviews Paul Bantle and Anne Elder
In Memory of Trauger Groh
An Excerpt from Trauger Groh, Agrarian Adept — Steven McFadden
Prepping for Resilient Community: Grafting to Our Native Rootstock — Steven McFadden
Reflections on Biodynamic Community Building in New Mexico — Patricia Frazier
Marian Farm Biodynamic Spirits — Hunter Francis
A Visit to the Goetheanum Garden Park — Hunter Francis
Farewell to Our Editor Hunter Francis — Abigail Porter
Dandelion Thank You
Verse for Farmers and For the Michael Age — Rudolf Steiner
JPI Fall Compost and Chromatography Workshop with Bruno Follador
JPI Volunteer Days for Fall Preparations
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Conference Announcement