Applied Biodynamics — Issue 034 (Fall 2001)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 034 presents a vivid BD 506 dandelion comparison in snow peas, an earlier sweet-corn observation from Michael Green, Patricia Smith’s Michaelmas reflections, and an inviting guide to Rudolf Steiner’s lectures for the workers at the Goetheanum.

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BD 506 snow-pea comparison

Hugh Courtney and Michael Green’s “Practical Observations: Observing the Forces Inherent in the Dandelion Preparation” compares approximately equal sections of one snow-pea planting. Green potentized one unit of BD 506 dandelion in slightly less than half a gallon of water with a lemniscate movement for ten minutes, then applied it as a fine foliar mist with a hand sprayer on April 24 and May 21.

Three days after the first application, Green observed the treated plants about one-third taller—roughly three inches—and later many inches taller, with more uniform plant height than the untreated section. As the untreated peas caught up in height, the treated side was beginning to bloom. Green reports that the treated plants initially outproduced the untreated plants by at least six to one in pod count and continued flowering and producing strongly through the harvest.

Harvest result

The printed table records 124 plants in the untreated section and 120 in the treated section. Across ten harvest dates, the untreated section produced 145 pods weighing 513.75 grams, while the BD 506-treated section produced 297 pods weighing 1,024.85 grams. Average pod weights were close—3.54 grams untreated and 3.45 grams treated—so the large increase came through pod number. The treated section produced just over twice the total pod weight from four fewer plants.

Earlier sweet-corn observation

Green also describes using the dandelion preparation as a seed bath for sweet corn in earlier years. He reports that those plots consistently produced plants with twice as many harvestable ears as plots receiving any other preparation or preparation combination he had used. He presents both the corn and snow-pea observations as evidence of the particular relationship between BD 506 and plant productivity.

Practical lessons Green draws

Green emphasizes that working with individual preparations can reveal their particular potentials and effects. The small water volume and ten-minute lemniscate method also opened a practical way to use BD 506 creatively without requiring an hour-long stir for this foliar application. He suggests watching bloom and yield and repeating the application around three weeks later, as he did in the snow-pea comparison. For current product handling and compost use, follow JPI’s current directions.

Preparing for Michaelmas

Patricia Smith describes Michaelmas as a season for courage, inner initiative, responsibility, and individual freedom. Written after September 11, 2001, her essay gathers passages from Steiner’s Michaelmas lectures and encourages attentive spiritual practice, shared festival life, and conscious action for the good of the world.

Rudolf Steiner down to earth

Hugh Courtney introduces Steiner’s question-and-answer lectures for the workers who built and maintained the Goetheanum. He presents their direct conversational style as an accessible route into biodynamics and the spiritual-scientific ideas that also inform the Agriculture Course. Patricia Smith and Courtney then guide readers through volumes ranging from nutrition, plants, animals, bees, weather, and practical life to the spiritual meaning of human and earthly development.

Articles

• Preparing for Michaelmas (P. Smith)
• Practical Observations: Observing the Forces Inherent in the Dandelion Preparation (H. Courtney with M. Green)
• Rudolf Steiner Down to Earth: Introduction and Reviews of The Human Being in Body, Soul and Spirit and The Evolution of the Earth and Man and the Influence of the Stars (H. J. Courtney)
• Introduction to the Lectures (P. Smith)
• Reviews and summaries of From Comets to Cocaine, From Limestone to Lucifer, Bees, From Elephants to Einstein, and From Beetroot to Buddhism (P. Smith)
• Review: From Mammoths to Mediums (H. J. Courtney)

Key topics

BD 506 dandelion, lemniscate mixing, fine foliar application, early snow-pea growth and uniformity, blossom timing, pod count and harvest weight, sweet-corn seed baths, Michaelmas courage and initiative, and Steiner’s accessible worker lectures.

Explore related resources

BD 506 Dandelion · BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 34, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Fall 2001.