Applied Biodynamics — Issue 032 (Spring 2001)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 032 is anchored by a two-part interview with Ruth Zinniker, whose father, Immanuel Voegele, participated in the circle connected with Rudolf Steiner’s 1924 Agriculture Course. Nick Franceschelli records her biography and preparation-making community; Patricia Smith documents her whole-farm practice and field observations. The issue also includes Tony Davis’s seminar reflection, Chris Korrow’s appreciation of dandelion, and Jim and Jenni Muir’s review of Eugene Kolisko on nutrition.

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Ruth Zinniker and a regional preparation-making community

Zinniker describes growing up on a large biodynamic estate in Silesia, completing agricultural and household training in postwar Germany, moving to the United States, and helping expand biodynamic practice on the Zinniker family farm in Wisconsin.

The interviews show preparation making growing from farm and household work into a regional learning community. By 2000, a fall gathering could bring about seventy-five people together to fill roughly 500 horns, with experienced makers supervising each preparation, followed by a shared meal, music, and a bonfire. Spring dandelion-picking gatherings supplied JPI with about eighteen pounds of dried blossoms. Repeated participation, experienced guidance, shared materials, and celebration made preparation work accessible to new practitioners.

The Zinniker whole-farm system

Smith describes a 165-acre farm with 120 tillable acres, twenty-nine Holstein cows plus young stock, poultry, home-grown livestock feed, and roughly ninety-five percent of the family’s food raised on the farm. Zinniker’s preparation rhythm includes:

• two sets of BD 502–506 added whenever roughly two tons of barn manure extend the windrow;
• BD 507 applied across the windrow two to three weeks before spreading;
• Barrel Compound used in the barn when weather or timing calls for a practical alternative;
• BD 500 horn manure hand-stirred and applied before planting;
• BD 501 horn silica sprayed in the morning after crop cover develops; and
• BD 507, BD 508 horsetail, nettle tea, and comfrey ferment used in response to particular field conditions.

For current use, see JPI’s BD 500 instructions, Barrel Compound instructions, BD 507 handout, and BD 508 handout.

Positive field and preparation observations

Zinniker reports that strawberry blossoms sprayed with BD 507 were protected when temperatures fell to 26 °F or lower. She also describes a wet-weather strawberry observation: after snails covered the plants, she applied Equisetum or BD 508 tea together with BD 501(5x) in the morning and reported that all the snails were gone by afternoon. The report keeps that result attached to the combined spray and to Zinniker’s named farm observation.

The interview also preserves a two-site preparation-making observation. Preparations made by the same people were buried both at Zinniker Farm and in formerly conventional soil at Nokomis Farm. Zinniker described the recovered materials as different “like day and night.” She said the Zinniker soil produced more fully decomposed and transformed preparations and concluded that both the making method and the place of burial matter.

Her guidance to newcomers is practical and affirmative: become a good farmer or gardener, learn crop rotations and sound methods, then research and observe while working with the preparations. Each place and person is individual, and the intention to heal the earth gives the work its direction.

Preparation seminar quality and participation

Tony Davis reports a June 2000 JPI seminar filled with hands-on nettle harvest, yarrow retrieval, Barrel Compound burial, questions, humor, and experienced instruction. He highlights precise plant-part selection, protection from contamination, complete underground maturation, and the importance of carrying every essential step through. For Davis, active participation helped participants understand both the physical work and the spiritual purpose of the preparations.

Dandelion and nutrition

Chris Korrow’s essay presents dandelion as food, bee forage, a soil-building plant, and the source plant for BD 506. JPI’s BD 506 overview provides the present preparation context.

Jim and Jenni Muir review Kolisko’s 1932 Nutrition lectures. Their summary covers the sensory phase of eating, individual dietary needs, fermentation, vitamins, seasonality, artificial light, silica, and Kolisko’s spiritual account of living processes. The review extends the issue’s attention to food quality, plant vitality, and the relationship between cultivation and nourishment.

Articles

• An Interview with Ruth Zinniker—Part 1 (N. Franceschelli)
• Interview with Ruth Zinniker—Part 2 (P. Smith)
• Comments on the Preparations Seminar—Part 1, June 2000 (T. Davis)
• Society Needs to Reconsider the Dandelion (C. Korrow)
• Book Review: Nutrition, Nos. 1 and 2 (J. Muir and J. Muir)

Key Topics Covered

Ruth Zinniker’s biography, 165-acre farm, livestock, rotations, composting, and preparation-making community.

Whole-farm schedules for compost preparations, field sprays, teas, and ferments.

BD 507 strawberry frost protection and the combined BD 508 plus BD 501(5x) snail observation.

Different preparation transformation at two burial sites and the importance of place.

Hands-on preparation quality, dandelion’s many roles, and Kolisko’s account of nourishment.

Repeatable Practice

1. Build a seasonal preparation rhythm around compost, crop development, weather, and the individual needs of the farm.
2. Record preparation batches, burial places, retrieval dates, field conditions, application timing, and the observations that follow.
3. Use experienced supervision and complete every preparation-making step with the intended plant parts and clean materials.
4. Learn through direct participation, careful observation, and continuing research in the place where the preparations are used.

Explore Related Resources

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

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 32, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Spring 2001.