Applied Biodynamics — Issue No. 106 (Winter 2022)
Issue 106 documents JPI’s winter preparation making, the Three Kings boundary gesture, a six-year BD 500 soil account, cattle fertility, and freedom as conscious agricultural action.
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Issue 106 brings winter work, preparation making, cosmic relationship, and ethical freedom into one coherent biodynamic practice. The issue documents JPI’s renewed preparation workshops, explores the Three Kings gesture at the farm’s periphery, describes the cow’s transformation of plant matter into fertility, and relates Rudolf Steiner’s ethical individualism to conscious agricultural decisions.
“News From the Farm—A Winter Update” records the return of community preparation making at JPI. Participants made BD 500, BD 501, BD 502 Yarrow, BD 503 Chamomile, BD 505 Oak Bark, and BD 506 Dandelion. Thousands of manure-filled horns were placed in the earth for winter transformation. The report emphasizes continuity of craft, shared will, and careful records as the basis for preparation quality.
Stewart Lundy’s “Contemplating the Three Kings” presents the Three Kings preparation—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—as an outward gift cast toward the horizon. Spraying the boundary becomes an anointing of the farm organism: precious substances move outward while the farmer cultivates a receptive relationship with the periphery. The current JPI guide provides the practical seasonal ritual.
In “Reconnecting to the Cosmos (and Resonating with It),” Lundy describes ruminant digestion as a concentrated transformation of grass: warming, fermenting, and aging plant material through the cow’s four stomachs. The resulting manure and compost carry a complexity suited to nourishing and ripening crops. The article cites Alex Podolinsky’s field account in which paired deep-ripped ground, seed, and management differed by BD 500 treatment: over six years, the treated soil rose from 0.9% organic matter in the top four inches to about 12%, with 2.4% measured at 40 inches, while biology in the untreated comparison developed only to about 20 centimeters.
John-Scott Legg’s “What Is Freedom? An Introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Ethical Individualism” distinguishes action born from habit or external rule from action guided by intuitive moral insight. In farm practice, freedom becomes observable: the grower studies the place, makes a conscious decision, documents the result, and accepts responsibility for refining the next action.
Lundy’s “As Above, So Below: Biodynamics as the Conscious Emulation of the Evolution of the Celestial Spheres” examines the exact relationship between preparation plants and their animal sheaths. Yarrow in the stag bladder, chamomile in bovine intestine, oak bark in the skull, dandelion in bovine peritoneum, and the horn preparations are presented as purposeful vessels of containment, transformation, and concentration.
Articles
- News From the Farm—A Winter Update
- Contemplating the Three Kings — Stewart Lundy
- Reconnecting to the Cosmos (and Resonating with It) — Stewart Lundy
- What Is Freedom? An Introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Ethical Individualism — John-Scott Legg
- As Above, So Below: Biodynamics as the Conscious Emulation of the Evolution of the Celestial Spheres — Stewart Lundy
Key Topics Covered
- Renewed community preparation-making workshops at JPI
- Winter burial and transformation of thousands of manure-filled horns
- Yarrow, chamomile, oak bark, and dandelion preparation sheaths
- Three Kings preparation as an anointing of the farm boundary
- Gold, frankincense, and myrrh as an outward seasonal gift
- Ruminant digestion as a concentrated four-season transformation
- Manure and compost as carriers of warmth, complexity, and ripening forces
- Alex Podolinsky’s six-year BD 500 soil comparison
- Organic-matter measurement at four-inch and 40-inch depths
- Freedom as action arising from conscious moral intuition
- Observation, decision, responsibility, and repeated evaluation
- Preparation plants and animal sheaths as precise correspondences
Repeatable Practice
- For every preparation batch, record material source, filling date, sheath condition, burial location, soil conditions, and intended lifting date.
- Photograph each batch at filling, burial, lifting, and storage using the same labels and viewing distance.
- For a soil comparison, establish adjacent treated and untreated areas with the same seed, cultivation, irrigation, and sampling dates.
- Sample the same marked points and depths for organic matter, rooting depth, aggregation, moisture, and crop performance over multiple seasons.
- For Three Kings, map the farm boundary, follow the seasonal guide, record the route and conditions, and repeat observations from fixed boundary points.
Explore the Preparations
- Three Kings Preparation, seasonal ritual guide, and application instructions
- BD 500 Horn Manure, BD 500 guide, and application instructions
- BD 501 Horn Silica, BD 501 guide, and application instructions
- BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set and compost-preparation instructions
- BD 502 Yarrow and guide
- BD 503 Chamomile and guide
- BD 505 Oak Bark and guide
- BD 506 Dandelion and guide
- Making and Using Biodynamic Preparations
- Biodynamics and Cosmic Rhythms and How Biodynamic Planting Calendars Work
- Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course
Citation
Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 106, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Winter 2022.
