Applied Biodynamics — Issue 031 (Winter 2000–2001)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 031 brings together a practical reader experiment with BD 507 valerian, Hugh J. Courtney’s substantial history of JPI preparation work, and Patricia Smith’s Michaelmas reflection as she becomes editor. The issue shows biodynamic responsibility taking practical form through preparation making, observation, education, and succession.

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The BD 507 finished-compost experiment

“Valerian Experiment—A Call for Participants” invites readers to carry out a shared on-farm experiment and return a provided data sheet so their observations can contribute to a later detailed report. The protocol begins with one batch of compost made in the usual biodynamic way. One portion is spread normally. The second portion receives BD 507 four to fourteen days before it is spread.

For the treatment, the article directs participants to stir 1–2 milliliters of fermented BD 507 for 10–20 minutes in 1–2 gallons of warm water. It prefers rainwater or melted snow warmed to about 98.6 °F; distilled or ground-sourced water may be used after at least four days of sun exposure, and participants are asked to record the water source. The entire stirred liquid is poured into one hole in the finished compost rather than sprayed over the surface. The compost then rests for a minimum of four and a maximum of fourteen days before use.

Joe Stevens’s preliminary research proposes that BD 507 works especially well when added to finished, humified compost because its role is to preserve the life force created by the other five compost preparations. The issue explains that the colloidal structure of finished humus provides the setting for this preservative effect. By giving readers the same dose, water preparation, stirring time, placement, resting window, and reporting form, JPI created a practical participatory experiment that could gather comparable observations from multiple farms and gardens.

JPI’s current BD 507 information supplies present-day product context, and the current BD 502–507 compost preparation set gives the complete six-preparation method for building a pile. The Issue 031 finished-compost experiment remains a clearly documented historical research protocol.

JPI preparation work and growth

In “The Michaelmas 2000 Impulse—A Personal Experience,” Courtney recounts learning directly from Josephine Porter, taking responsibility for preparation work after her death in 1984, establishing JPI as a nonprofit, cooperating with the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, and moving the work from the Courtney basement into a dedicated building. The new building passed its final inspection and received occupancy certification in early 2000.

Courtney records the increasing scale of the work: annual preparation sales grew from about $6,000 in 1984 to $20,000 in 1992, $90,000 by 1997, and $140,000 in 1999. He also describes a $60,000 Rudolf Steiner Foundation loan that helped complete and equip the building. JPI distributed more than 1,000 cow horns over several years and taught practitioners to make their own preparations, extending preparation knowledge and regional self-reliance even when that educational success reduced future sales.

The article makes continuity a community task. Courtney asks the board to seek a successor as executive director by his seventieth birthday in July 2002 and offers twelve questions about dependable preparation quality, teaching and training, regional groups, stewardship of preparation stock, financing, ownership, succession, and the relationship between JPI and the Biodynamic Association. The questions invite the wider biodynamic and anthroposophical community to help build a durable future for preparation work.

Patricia Smith’s editorial transition

Patricia Smith’s “The Michaelmas Impulse: Giving Us the Direction We Need for the Year Ahead” describes how rest, reflection, and Michaelmas guidance led her to a sustainable new role. She stepped away from weekly work and a sixty-mile commute while continuing to edit the newsletter from home and returning to JPI about one day each month. The editorial notice welcomes her and announces a return to four print issues per year in 2001.

Smith emphasizes that the biodynamic preparations are made and used by people whose intention, responsibility, and relationship with the natural world matter. Her account carries the issue’s wider theme of meeting change with clarity, trust, and practical service.

Other notices

• JPI announces a ten-percent preparation discount for eligible Biodynamic Association members and selected anthroposophical initiatives.
• Members could waive the discount to help JPI retire a $15,000 debt to the Association.
• JPI again requests dandelion blossoms for BD 506.
• The issue includes a sidebar on local research and letter writing concerning a proposed transgenic-cattle facility.

Articles

• The Michaelmas 2000 Impulse—A Personal Experience (H. J. Courtney)
• The Michaelmas Impulse: Giving Us the Direction We Need for the Year Ahead (P. Smith)
• Valerian Experiment—A Call for Participants
• Welcoming a New Editor
• Transgenic Cattle sidebar

Key Topics Covered

Finished-compost timing, dose, water source, stirring, single-hole placement, and rest period for BD 507.

Joe Stevens’s finished-humus hypothesis and JPI’s participatory reader experiment.

JPI’s preparation-making history, dedicated building, growing reach, teaching mission, and succession planning.

Preparation quality, regional production, training, stewardship, financing, and future leadership.

Michaelmas guidance, responsibility, editorial continuity, and service to biodynamic practitioners.

Repeatable Practice

1. Prepare one compost batch in the usual biodynamic way and spread one portion normally.
2. For the second portion, stir 1–2 milliliters of fermented BD 507 for 10–20 minutes in 1–2 gallons of warm prepared water.
3. Pour all of the stirred liquid into one hole in the finished compost, without spraying it over the surface.
4. Let the treated compost rest for four to fourteen days, record the requested details, spread it on the second area, and return observations on the provided data sheet.

Explore Related Resources

BD 507 Valerian · BD 507 guide · BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · BD 506 Dandelion

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 31, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Winter 2000–2001.