Applied Biodynamics — Issue 037 (Summer 2002)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 037 (Summer 2002) is devoted to BD 502 Yarrow: Patricia Smith documents JPI’s complete preparation-making cycle, Hugh Courtney develops yarrow’s spiritual-scientific meaning, Christy Korrow describes a Kentucky farm’s preparation-making growth, and a review of Maria Thun’s Gardening for Life presents a broad biodynamic garden practice.

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JPI’s complete BD 502 yarrow workflow

The issue gives a richly photographed, step-by-step account. Yarrow flower heads are ready after they begin to rise from their flat disc form and the petals turn downward. JPI clips the florets nearly free of coarse stem to protect the sheath, while saving stems and leaves to make a yarrow tea. Fresh blossoms may be used, and dried flowers from the current year are also welcomed.

A verified stag bladder is inflated, dried, and softened before filling. The yarrow blossoms are moistened until a squeezed handful releases only a drop or two, then packed so firmly that finger pressure leaves no depression. The filled sheath is sewn, wrapped in cheesecloth, hung outdoors from early summer to autumn, inspected, and buried in a marked, well-drained pit after the autumn equinox.

Recovery, completion, and storage

JPI recovers the preparation after St. John’s Day, June 24, in the following summer. A visibly thinner sheath membrane and light-brown, feathery contents show the transformation has progressed well. The finished material is screened and kept cool, dark, breathable, moist, and protected from drying, traditionally in a glazed crock surrounded by peat moss or in a similarly suitable underground place.

The method is a historical JPI protocol involving animal tissue. Makers today should also follow current wildlife, transport, slaughter, sanitation, and biosecurity requirements while preserving the preparation’s seasonal sequence and careful handling.

Yarrow’s biodynamic role

In “Achillea millefolium Esoterica,” Courtney presents yarrow as a preparation that helps compost and soil work wisely with potassium, sulfur, protein-forming processes, and the fine influences Steiner associated with living agriculture. The essay emphasizes that the preparation is not merely a substance but a bearer of formative activity.

A positive 27-year research finding

Later research gives a measured result directly relevant to BD 502. In a 27-year German field trial, soil receiving cattle-manure compost prepared with BD 502 yarrow alone had a distinct microbial substrate-use profile. Its microbes used D-glucosamine and several amino acids more actively, which the researchers interpreted as improved microbial-community nitrogen status. JPI normally uses finished BD 502 as one member of the complete BD 502–507 set.

Dogwood Spring Farm grows its preparation practice

Christy Korrow describes how Dogwood Spring Farm moved from purchasing preparations toward making them with its own manure, horns, quartz, nettle, valerian, dandelion, oak bark, and locally or regionally sourced materials. Group work sessions, grower relationships, improved storage, and repeated annual practice supported the farm’s growth.

Korrow says greater self-sufficiency deepened the farm’s relationship with JPI. The farm continued to rely on JPI’s extensive preparation-making knowledge and practical guidance, passed preparation sets to workshop participants, referred other growers to JPI, and developed an even stronger respect for the institute’s spiritual and practical work.

Gardening for Life

The review of Maria Thun’s Gardening for Life warmly presents BD 500, BD 501, Barrel Compost, rotation, green manures, plant extracts, weed and pest ashes, BD 508 horsetail, seasonal work, and planetary rhythms as parts of an integrated biodynamic garden practice.

Key Topics Covered

• BD 502 yarrow identification, flower maturity, harvesting, drying, and moistening
• Stag-bladder preparation, filling, summer exposure, burial, recovery, and storage
• Yarrow’s role in potassium, sulfur, protein-forming, and cosmic processes
• The 27-year BD 502 soil-microbe finding
• Dogwood Spring Farm’s preparation-making growth and continuing JPI relationship
• Maria Thun’s practical biodynamic gardening guidance

Explore Related Resources

• BD 502 Yarrow and the BD 502 overview
• BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set
• BD 506 Dandelion
• BD 508 Horsetail and the BD 508 overview
• Barrel Compound and its application instructions
• Agriculture: Spiritual-Scientific Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture

Articles

• How to Make the Yarrow Preparation (BD 502) (P. Smith)
• Achillea millefolium Esoterica (H. J. Courtney)
• Prep Making Efforts at Dogwood Spring Farm (C. Korrow)
• Book Review: Gardening for Life—The Biodynamic Way (A. Petty, D. Petty, and C. Watts)

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 37, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2002.