Applied Biodynamics — Issue 093 (Spring/Summer 2018)

Issue 093 examines climate change through atmospheric science, regional weather records, farmer observation, and biodynamic practice. Its strongest contribution is practical: it turns a broad environmental challenge into measurable farm work—building soil organic matter, increasing biological activity and water-holding capacity, maintaining perennial cover, reducing fossil-fuel dependence, and recording how crops respond to preparations under frost, drought, heat, and excessive rain.

Read the source: Applied Biodynamics Issue 093 (Spring/Summer 2018) PDF. The farm schedules and application examples below are identified as archived 2018 reports; use the linked JPI pages for current preparation directions.

In “Global Climate Change in a Nutshell, and What You Can Do,” Mike Biltonen explains greenhouse warming, ocean and ice changes, heavy-rain and drought patterns, heat stress, pest-range shifts, and the growing frost risk created when winter warm spells advance bud break. He joins adaptation—drainage, irrigation, season extension, frost protection—with mitigation through trees and perennial crops, reduced tillage, a strong soil microbiome, and increased soil organic matter. The article’s working rule of thumb is that a global two-percentage-point increase in soil organic matter would sequester carbon equivalent to roughly 15 ppm of atmospheric CO₂.

The preparation overview presents biodynamics as a whole-farm response and describes the preparations in affirmative, practical terms. BD 500 supports the soil food web, root–soil connection, organic-matter accumulation, and biological competition; BD 501 supplies a silica and light influence valuable in cold, wet conditions; BD 502–507 regulate compost and plant nutrition; BD 507 is used as a warming spray around frost; and BD 508 supports balance where excess moisture and fungal pressure are strong. For orchards, the archived article describes Tree Paste in autumn and late winter, followed by well-timed BD 500, BD 501, BD 507, and—where appropriate—BD 502.

“Remembrance Farms: How One Farmer Works With Change” profiles Nathaniel and Emily Thompson’s 100-acre, Demeter-certified vegetable farm in New York. Their baseline is to apply every preparation at least annually, spray BD 500 together with Barrel Compound, make or source preparations within regional networks, and strengthen crop rotations with more cover cropping and closer soil-nutrition observation. Thompson also reported fewer flea beetles after beginning to apply the preparations through a cosmic pipe, while continuing to stir and spray them as part of connecting with the farm. He frames the farmer as conductor: the whole farm, the preparations, and responsive management work together.

Barrel Compound naming: the 2018 source uses “Barrel Compost.” Barrel Compound and Barrel Compost refer to the same preparation; JPI uses “Barrel Compound” for its U.S. product because regulations govern what may legally be sold as “compost.”

“Climate Change on Biodynamic Farms: Survey Responses” provides especially useful field schedules. Turtle Tree Seed reported BD 500 six to eight times a year, BD 501 three to five times, compost preparations at every compost turning, Barrel Compound alone or with BD 500, and Three Kings once annually. Live Power Community Farm reported BD 500 two or three times, BD 501 about five times through the growing season, and preparations in eight annual compost piles about 30 feet long. Marian Farms organized three BD 500-plus-Barrel Compound applications around each crop cycle—postharvest, mid-season, and pre-growth—used BD 507 and BD 508 before blossom and during frost or mildew periods, then applied BD 501 three times after fruit set. Marian Farms also reported using 25–40% less irrigation water than nearby conventional farms, depending on crop and year.

The survey preserves regional adaptation strategies: evening transplanting and moisture-aware cultivation in Virginia; windbreaks, warm-season prairie grasses, forage-heavy rotations, and prepared BD 500 in Minnesota; later-blooming fruit varieties, monthly preparation use, and repeated frost sprays at 6,800 feet in Colorado; and more compost plus more frequent BD 500 in California heat. These reports provide a strong template for growers to repeat locally by logging preparation dates, weather, irrigation, soil organic matter, crop vigor, disease expression, yield, keeping quality, and neighboring-field comparisons.

In “From Backyard Hobby Gardening to a New Passion for a Healthy Earth,” Mike Reisbord shows the same principles at garden scale. A 40-by-40-foot home garden incorporates home compost, goat bedding, seed saving, the planting calendar, BD 502–507, and mentoring from Jack McAndrew. At the Farm at Malibu, Reisbord follows a 20-ton teaching pile and a roughly 40-ton holding pile, learning even moisture through feathering, native-soil inoculation, and Pfeiffer Compost Starter. His account makes preparation work approachable without reducing its discipline.

Dennis Klocek’s “Climate Change Debate: Can We Turn Down the Heat?” and Mary Maruca’s review of Climate: Soul of the Earth extend the issue into long-duration rhythm research. Klocek combines climatic datasets with planetary sequences and calls for mathematically reproducible, phenomenological, data-rich study. JPI news, World Biodynamic Farming Day, preparation-material collection, and board updates complete the issue.

Articles

• Global Climate Change in a Nutshell, and What You Can Do — Mike Biltonen
• Remembrance Farms: How One Farmer Works With Change — Mike Biltonen
• Climate Change on Biodynamic Farms: Survey Responses
• From Backyard Hobby Gardening to a New Passion for a Healthy Earth—An Education in Awareness — Mike Reisbord
• Climate Change Debate: Can We Turn Down the Heat? — Dennis Klocek
• Climate: Soul of the Earth, by Dennis Klocek — reviewed by Mary Maruca
• JPI News — Pat Frazier
• Introducing Our Newest Board Member: Pamela Sophiajohn
• Call for Board Members
• Upcoming Events and Dandelion Blossoms Sought
• World Biodynamic Farming Day

Key Topics Covered

• Greenhouse warming, weather extremes, and agricultural timing
• Adaptation and mitigation as complementary farm strategies
• Soil organic matter and biologically active carbon storage
• BD 500 and BD 501 for soil–plant resilience
• BD 507, BD 508, and Tree Paste for orchard weather response
• Preparation schedules from six biodynamic regions
• Long-term weather logs and crop-response comparisons
• Cover cropping, windbreaks, perennial cover, and reduced tillage
• Water-holding capacity and irrigation-use measurement
• Twenty-ton and forty-ton teaching and holding compost piles
• Garden-scale compost, seed saving, and calendar practice
• Climate rhythms and mathematically reproducible observation

Related JPI Resources

• Download Issue 093 PDF
• Biodynamic calendars · calendar guide · cosmic rhythms guide
• BD 500 Horn Manure · guide · instructions
• BD 501 Horn Silica · guide · instructions
• BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · instructions
• BD 507 Valerian · guide
• BD 508 Horsetail · guide · instructions
• Barrel Compound · guide · instructions
• Biodynamic Tree Paste · protocol · instructions
• Pfeiffer Compost Starter · guide · instructions
• Sequential Spray Kit · instructions
• Three Kings Preparation · ritual guide · instructions
• Preparation guides and instructions

Citation

Applied Biodynamics, Issue 093, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Spring/Summer 2018.