Applied Biodynamics Issue 052 (Spring 2006) presents biodynamic renewal as a whole-earth and community task through Ehrenfried Pfeiffer's guiding vision, Rita Amedee's first-person New Orleans account, Hugh J. Courtney's practical preparation guidance, and a coordinated Easter Pilgrimage from the Mississippi headwaters to the Gulf Coast.
Renewal as a whole-earth task
The issue opens with Pfeiffer's call for a living body of knowledge and an attitude that preserves life and growth as an organic whole over the entire earth. That orientation joins soil, plants, water, people, place, and spirit in the work of renewal.
Twenty years of biodynamic care in New Orleans
When Amedee returned after Hurricane Katrina, floodwater had stopped within three blocks of her house. Much of the surrounding tree canopy was stripped, yet most of her plantings remained alive after three weeks without water service. Dragonflies filled the yard, and she encountered fish, songbirds, and other forms of life. Amedee described this vitality as a testament to twenty years of biodynamic care.
From one practitioner to a growing renewal group
Beginning in October 2005, Amedee sprayed Barrel Compound and BD 500 in heavily damaged zones and at the 17th Street Canal breach before public access closed. What began as one practitioner grew to three people and then nine, supported by friends, volunteers, and the local anthroposophical community.
The Easter Pilgrimage
On Holy Saturday 2006, more than forty people worked with Common Ground Community Garden. They stirred and sprayed nearly six New Orleans acres with Barrel Compound, BD 500, BD 501, and fermented BD 508 and built a biodynamic compost pile. At the same time, seventeen people worked at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi headwaters. The pilgrimage continued at Shearwater in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, connecting preparation work across the river system.
Practical preparation guidance
Courtney's article describes Pfeiffer Field Spray for gardens and houseplants, a preparation sequence for bringing conventionally managed plants into biodynamic care, and working application windows after stirring. The issue also announces a JPI preparation-making workshop focused on BD 500, BD 502 yarrow, BD 503 chamomile, BD 505 oak bark, BD 506 dandelion, and Barrel Compound. For current application methods, follow JPI's present-day preparation instructions.
Patricia Smith honors the people who carry the work
In her farewell, Smith looks back on volunteer work with JPI beginning in 1977, staff service beginning in 1998, and six years as editor of twenty-four issues of Applied Biodynamics. She honors the writers, growers, local groups, JPI staff, Hugh Courtney's guidance, and Bruce Bumbarger's design that made biodynamic knowledge usable and shareable.
Read the original ten-page issue PDF.
