Applied Biodynamics — Issue 079 (Winter 2012–2013)

Read the complete source: Applied Biodynamics Issue 079 (Winter 2012–2013), 12 pages.

Applied Biodynamics 079 makes a confident case for grain as the rhythmic center of a biodynamic farm. Hunter Francis interviews John DeRosier of With the Grain Farm, where grains, hay, legumes, cover crops, livestock, preparation making, seed preservation, and value-added food production are organized across 150 certified Biodynamic acres. Hugh Courtney then gives compact protocols for 100-square-foot beds, preparation storage, and a household rolling composter.

Grain as the farm’s rhythmic foundation

DeRosier farms four parcels in northern San Luis Obispo County across markedly different soils and microclimates. His crops have included modern and heirloom wheat, rye, barley, spelt, corn, oats, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, amaranth, teff, sorghum, flax, sunflower, sesame, split peas, lentils, and garbanzos, along with research plots of traditional upland Japanese rice. He had planted grain every year since 1997.

The rotation joins grain, hay, cover crops, and legumes with nearly 20 ruminants and about 20 chickens. Animals consume straw, stubble, and other fractions people do not eat, clean the field, and return manure. DeRosier moves them through blocks with electric netting and grows all their grain and forage. Grain and livestock become complementary halves of the farm organism.

His small-scale yield estimate is memorable: with careful intensive planting, a quarter acre can produce about 1,000 pounds of grain—nearly three pounds per day for a year—from one crop. Irrigation or summer rain may permit another crop. The example restores grain to garden and homestead scale rather than treating it solely as a thousand-acre commodity.

From harvest to food

A 24-week grain CSA with roughly 35 members gave DeRosier a direct market for wheat, barley, corn, millet, and other crops. A gravity table improved cleaning, while a licensed commercial kitchen opened milling, rolling, cracking, flour, granola, bulgur, and future pasta or bread. The issue identifies the real infrastructure chain: harvest, thresh, clean, mill, process, and market. Cooperative ownership can place that chain within reach of several small farms.

DeRosier uses spreadsheets as a picture of the farm’s energy and resource flow. When land, labor, grain, animals, equipment, and markets work coherently, the records show resources accumulating rather than leaking away. Financial tracking therefore becomes another form of observation within the farm organism.

Preparation making and visible root response

DeRosier makes nearly every preparation on the farm and works especially often with BD 500 Horn Manure, Barrel Compound, BD 504 Nettle, BD 507 Valerian, and the other compost plants. Because his seed-preservation work begins with small samples, he handles and transplants many grain seedlings. In his practitioner account, the preparation-treated plants developed notably strong root mass and transplant integrity—qualities he could see and feel in the hand.

Field-experiment results

Published Washington and Wisconsin wheat and maize field experiments measured 12–39% greater root dry matter and 10–37% greater root length in biodynamic preparation programs that included horn manure than in organic comparisons, depending on crop, year, and application. The Washington experiment also measured increased soil microbial biomass and soil organic matter. Read the field-experiment report.

On broad ground he favors applying BD 500 and Barrel Compound before discing or cultivation. Barrel Compound is the same preparation also called Barrel Compost; JPI uses “Barrel Compound” for its U.S. product because “Compost” is regulated in what can legally be sold under that name. Hand stirring remains his most potent method, while a portable fiberglass flowform and a small two-tier unit give him flexible five-gallon and field-scale options. The BD 500 instructions and Barrel Compound instructions are current companions to this practice.

A dry-summer preparation rhythm

With average annual rainfall of about seven inches, the farm’s biological activity follows the wet season. DeRosier reserves June, July, and August soil applications for irrigated crops rather than dry, dormant ground. Nettle teas and preparations continue with vegetables and summer grain under irrigation, while the general field program resumes when rain reawakens the soil. His experience turns climate into a positive rule: apply preparations where moisture, roots, and soil biology are ready to receive them.

His use of BD 501 Horn Silica likewise follows crop stage, light, and moisture rather than the calendar alone. JPI’s BD 501 instructions give the current preparation and misting sequence.

New 100-square-foot beds: source method and current directions

In the issue’s 2012 source method for a newly double-dug 5-by-20-foot bed, Courtney described at least one-quarter teaspoon of Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, three spray-and-rake passes, treatment of surrounding paths and future beds, and use of the remaining activated material on the larger garden, crops, or green manure.

For current practice, JPI lists one level teaspoon for 1,000 square feet or one level tablespoon for 3,000 square feet. Moisten Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray to a paste, activate it for 12–16 hours or overnight, and apply the diluted preparation with a clean whisk or paintbrush when a backpack sprayer is unnecessary. BD 500 follows a different method: stir it for one full hour, then promptly apply it to soil with a bucket and whisk broom. Weeds can support in-place green manure or biodynamic compost, and a four- or five-gallon backpack remains useful for larger areas on foot. Follow the current Field and Garden Spray directions and current BD 500 directions.

Off-season preparation storage

Maintain stored compost preparations with filtered rainwater first, then well or spring water. If treated water is the only source, leave it in sunlight for at least 24 hours before use. The material remains stable for a long time before moisture falls below 30%, but it should be inspected and kept from drying.

For small quantities, transfer each preparation to its own glass baby-food or jelly jar. A full peat bale can become a ready storage cabinet: cut a separate hole for each jar, seat it in the peat, and cover the opening with a sock filled with the extracted peat. JPI’s larger system uses glazed 15-gallon crocks, each surrounded by three inches of peat in a wooden box within a root cellar. Peat buffers the preparation while the separate vessels preserve individuality.

Pfeiffer Starter: rolling-composter history and current directions

For a double-chamber rolling composter, the issue’s 2012 method used approximately one teaspoon of dry Pfeiffer Compost Starter per filling. When the chamber was about one-quarter full, the teaspoon was activated in a small amount of water for about twelve hours, expanded to one pint or as much as one quart according to moisture, added to the chamber, and incorporated through normal turning. The source directed use of all moistened Starter within forty-eight hours.

JPI’s current complete-pile directions use one 1-ounce unit for 1–1.5 tons, or 1.5–2.25 cubic yards: moisten it into a paste, activate for 12–16 hours or overnight, dilute in enough water to moisten the materials, and distribute it through each portion as the pile is built while mixing the ingredients. Build a four- to five-foot pile with at least 50% moisture and a 15:1–25:1 carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Follow the current Compost Starter directions for current use.

The issue also records a 1950s Oakland municipal project in which Pfeiffer Starter produced finished compost in as little as twenty-one days. Its accompanying 2012 storage note asked purchasers to use BD 500 promptly or transfer it into proper peat-buffered storage, while BD 501 remained dry in a glass jar in a sunny window. JPI’s Making and Using the Biodynamic Preparations guide provides the current handling framework.

New JPI board member

The issue also introduces Pat Frazier of Peace and Plenty Farm in Colorado. Her off-grid, permaculture-designed homestead integrates chickens, goats, a dairy cow, medicinal and culinary herbs, fruit, vegetables, education, and on-farm preparation making. Her work in the Rocky Mountain region and the Fellowship of Preparation Makers extends the same relationship among land, learning, and community that animates DeRosier’s grain farm.

Articles

• Finding Rhythm and Meaning in Fields of Biodynamic Grain (Hunter Francis interviews John DeRosier)
• Anecdotes and Antidotes—Biodynamics at Work (Hugh Courtney)
• New JPI Board Member, Pat Frazier

Key Topics Covered

• Heirloom and modern grains across 150 certified Biodynamic acres
• Grain, hay, legume, cover-crop, and livestock rotations
• Quarter-acre production of approximately 1,000 pounds of grain
• CSA, cleaning, milling, and value-added grain infrastructure
• Financial records as indicators of farm energy and resource flow
• Preparation response visible in seedling root mass and integrity
• Seven-inch-rainfall timing for soil and irrigated-crop applications
• Three-pass Pfeiffer Spray treatment for 100-square-foot beds
• Backpack sprayer selection for preparation work on foot
• Water, glass, peat, and moisture requirements for storage
• One-teaspoon rolling-composter activation protocol
• Twenty-one-day compost history with Pfeiffer Starter

Related JPI resources

• Biodynamic calendar guide
• BD 500 Horn Manure, guide, and instructions
• Barrel Compound, guide, and instructions
• BD 504 Nettle and guide
• BD 507 Valerian and guide
• BD 501 Horn Silica, guide, and instructions
• Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray, guide, and instructions
• Pfeiffer Compost Starter, guide, and instructions
• Making and Using the Biodynamic Preparations

Citation

Applied Biodynamics, Issue 079, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Winter 2012–2013. 12 pages.

Download Issue 079 PDF