Field Notes
Letter from the President
In this Michaelmas 2026 letter, JPI president Teresa O’Shaughnessy shares the move of packing and shipping to Perennial Roots Farm and introduces the people carrying the work forward. The update renews JPI’s commitment to accessible preparations while honoring a season of rest for its Floyd...
From the Field Notes archive
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Biodynamic Digest #6
Courage and practical initiative guide this late-summer Biodynamic Digest. Lloyd Nelson and Stewart Lundy encourage autumn compost and Barrel Compound applications while exploring living thought, individual farm conditions, and the freedom to develop biodynamic practice through experience, observation, and care.
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Biodynamic Digest #5
Yarrow’s resilience opens a wide-ranging exploration of Venus, the stag, and the renewal of cultivated soil. Lloyd Nelson and Stewart Lundy connect the plant’s form and tenacity with preparation quality, garden teas, and opportunities to return vitality to land that gives us its harvests.
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Biodynamic Digest #4
Lloyd Nelson explores the warmth and courage of Leo as an invitation to creative biodynamic practice. This August 2025 Digest considers plant observation, motherwort, and weed-pepper experiments, showing how a calendar indication can become a starting point for thoughtful participation in the life of the...
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Biodynamic Digest # 3
Valerian’s fragrant, light-bearing qualities meet the rhythm of Moon–Saturn opposition in this Biodynamic Digest. Lloyd Nelson recalls Hugh Courtney’s carefully aged preparations and explores how BD 507, preparation timing, and attentive practice can bring renewed warmth and vitality into the farm.
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Biodynamic Digest #2
Horsetail and the full Moon guide this August 2025 Biodynamic Digest. Lloyd Nelson shares lessons from Hugh Courtney’s preparation cellar, explains fresh and fermented equisetum tea, and explores how this ancient silica-rich plant can support a thoughtful approach to moisture and farm balance.
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Biodynamic Digest #1
Lloyd Nelson opens the Biodynamic Digest with a practical introduction to planetary oppositions, conjunctions, and trines. Drawing on long-term work at Sustainable Settings, this July 2025 issue explores how preparation timing and careful observation can deepen a grower’s approach to soil vitality.
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Letter from the President
In her July 2025 letter, Teresa O’Shaughnessy reflects on Texas rain, drought, and the ongoing work of finding balance. Personal preparation practice and memories of JPI’s spring workshop lead into gratitude for the community and a renewed commitment to healing the Earth through shared effort....
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Cosmic Journal #46
Kate Heming explores the summer garden through the balancing rhythm of Moon–Saturn opposition and the work of biodynamic sprays. This July 2025 Cosmic Journal brings preparation timing, yarrow harvest, moisture awareness, and the approaching August landscape into a thoughtful seasonal practice.
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Cybele, Attis, and the Mythology of Biodynamics
The myth of Cybele and Attis becomes a living picture of nourishment, growth, and the need for balance. Stewart Kahn Lundy explores lunar forces, compost, flowering, and fruiting through the relationship between Mother Earth and Father Sky, connecting mythology with attentive garden practice.
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Cosmic Journal #45
Valerian and the warmth of summer take center stage in this June 2025 Cosmic Journal. Kate Heming combines July garden tasks with close attention to BD 507, its fragrant flowers, and the relationship between seasonal warmth, plant development, and the gardener’s own enthusiasm.
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This is What "We" Looks Like
A June 2025 preparation-making gathering at Perennial Roots Farm becomes a portrait of community in action. Stewart Lundy reflects on hands-on learning, shared artistic work, and the heart’s role in turning spiritual ideals into practical service for JPI, the land, and one another.
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Why I Love Biodynamics
From Spirit of the Earth Farm on Kauai, Marie Mauger shares the experiences behind her enduring love of biodynamics. Mentorship from Hugh Courtney, practical soil work, and children discovering abundant earthworms illuminate a life of caring for land, community, and the unseen world.
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