Biodynamic Digest #10

Originally published 2025-09-28. By Lloyd Nelson, Stewart Kahn Lundy, JPI Biodynamics, Max Leyf.

nine weeks of making nine biodynamic preparations

With your friends Lloyd Nelson and Stewart Lundy.

Follow two biodynamic preparation makers on a journey for nine weeks of adventures!

#1 in a 9-part series

We will begin with a new translation of the Calendar of the Soul - a rhythmic dive into the seasons, with Max Leyf. Here, Max explains, “In the 1920s, Rudolf Steiner created a sort of liturgy of the natural and spiritual year in the form of fifty-two short verses. Experience—my own and others—testifies to the powerful effect that a short meditation on the relevant verse throughout the course of the year can have in respect to awakening and sensitizing the soul to each season’s unique quality and gesture.”

TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

25. Ich darf nun mir gehören
und leuchtend breiten innenlicht
in raumes- und in zeitenfinsternis.
Zum schlafe drängt natürlich wesen,
der seele tiefen sollen wachen
Und wachend tragen sonnengluten
in kalte winterfluten.

∇∆

AT LAST I may indwell myself again
compass round that dawn within my ken
as cosmic night descends through space and time,
as nature spirits soon, to slumber, shall incline,
new wakefulness is kindled in the depths of mind,
the daybreak of a rising inner sun
in Winter’s swell.

October has several astronomical events that are important opportunities for Biodynamic practitioners. The one outstanding time to mark your calendars and prepare for now is the double or (biodynamic) grand trine on October 14th. With Pluto in front of Capricorn, Venus in front of Virgo, and Uranus in front of Taurus, all of the Earth/Root constellations will be in harmonious alignment for beneficial energies. This will be an auspicious and superior time to build soil health through the application of one or all of the biodynamic preparations. This is also a very beneficial time to make your horn manure or barrel compost preparations, and we highly recommend you do.

Biodynamic preparation making season is in full swing. By our actions, we can help ensure a fertile future for biodynamic agriculture. Two biodynamic preparation makers that are two thousand miles apart are embarking on a nine week journey for producing large quantities of Rudolf Steiner’s agricultural remedies. The preparations will be used on farms and gardens across the country and beyond. Thank you for joining us on this unexpected journey. This is the busiest of times in the biodynamic world. At least that is true if you are working on the production of BIODYNAMIC PREPARATIONS. Much work needs to be accomplished to prepare the way for Biodynamics to have a fertile future. Without the ongoing production of BD preps made by dedicated biodynamic preparation makers, Biodynamic Agriculture would have no future. To work in agriculture requires hope, what Steiner might refer to as “trust in the ever present help of the spiritual world”. Even in these challenging times. We can be action oriented.

This is about engaging our will forces to accomplish something future-oriented.

Will

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great;
All things give way before it, soon or late.
What obstacle can stay the mighty force
Of the sea-seeking river in its course,
Or cause the ascending orb of day to wait?
Each well-born soul must win what it deserves.
Let the fool prate of luck. The fortunate
Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
Whose slightest action or inaction serves
The one great aim. Why, even Death stands still,
And waits an hour sometimes for such a will.

-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

In order for Biodynamics to continue on planet Earth we need individuals to make and use the nine BD preparations. Two inspired prep makers share how they are going to be busier than most for the next nine weeks. What are Stewart and Lloyd doing this week to ensure enough preparations will be available next year?

This week in Colorado, as cool autumn breezes bring the first snow, we are preparing to make the Biodynamic preparations at several sites. We will be carefully harvesting stinging nettle to make the BD# 504. Stinging nettle preparation can be made this time of year, provided the plants haven’t gone too far towards making seed. By harvesting nettles in the summer, the regrowth of succulent green leaves and stems will be perfect for harvest this week to make the prep. The nettles will be collected, chopped up, and placed in mesh bags, and before being buried in the Earth for a full year. Hugh Courtney was a big fan of making stinging nettle preparation this time of year to “impart the Michaelmas forces” into the preparation.

The barrel compound that was made a year ago is finally finished and ready to be unearthed and go into cold storage. We dig the finished barrel prep out of the container that has been in the ground for nearly a year. In warmer climates, barrel compound can be prepared and finished in three to six months, however in the colder high elevations of the mountains, the barrel compound can take a full year to digest and be ready for use. The finished BC will be carefully collected and then put into storage until we are ready to use. In the root cellar, large earthenware glazed crocks are filled with this finished BC as it continues on its curing process.. These earthen crocks are surrounded by a wooden box filled with peat moss as an insulator.

We will be visiting and revisiting the Biodynamic ranch to collect cow manure for filling horns and making more Barrel Compound. The manure is gathered and collected in five gallon buckets and stored until we have accumulated a sufficient amount. We are looking for the best quality, and are discerning with our selection. Anyone involved in this work quickly becomes a connoisseur of crap, a sommelier of shit — and this is what Steiner meant by a “personal relationship with manure”: the sensitivity to manure and its qualities for this or that use. The grass in the pastures is nice and dark green now after recent rains and before the first frost turns things brown.

Lloyd has developed and adapted the original Barrel Compound recipe for simplification and ease:

Barrel Compound Recipe:

• 12.5 gallons cow manure

• One cup finely ground raw eggshells

• One pint basalt rock powder

• One set of Biodynamic compost preparations

This recipe can be and is usually doubled for producing larger quantities. Other ingredients can be added as needed for local conditions. For instance if you raise horses or goats on your farm, you may want to add small quantities of their respective manures to this recipe for a local adaptation. We just finished making and filling two large BC pits in the home garden plot. Next week we will be making BC at the Biodynamic ranch.

This week we headed up to the high mountains, where we can collect the last of the Equisetum that is still abundant before it turns brown and fades as winter approaches. The Equisetum that grows up in the mountains is much smaller that what we find in the valleys. I like harvesting the Equisetum we find growing in ancient coal deposits; it makes a darker and stronger tea.

The yarrow blossoms are finishing their yearly flowering cycle. We will harvest the last of the yarrow flowers before they develop towards seed. The blossoms will be dried and will need to be carefully clipped while removing any of the hard stems. Yarrow can be found growing in the wild in meadows and clearings, or we can find it adorning the edges of our gardens. We can remember what Steiner says about yarrow while we are harvesting: “Yarrow is a great asset when it grows wild in the country, along paths, or on the edge of fields…Like some sympathetic people in human society who exert an influence by their presence, and not by what they say, yarrows mere presence in areas where it grows abundantly is extremely beneficial”. The healing powers of yarrow are very powerful medicine for counteracting the unavoidable exploitation of land that comes about through raising crops. The yarrow can be powerful medicine for us when we are feeling overwhelmed and exploited.

The list of Biodynamic chores is long this time of year. We have to dig all the holes where the preparations will be buried and make sure we have all the adequate supplies. We will head up to the groves of white oak growing up on the southern slopes of the high mountains. This week is a week to prepare.

Over two thousand miles away, our friends back east will also be very busy with BD preparation work.

At Perennial Roots Farm, they collect manure regularly, enough to keep nine barrel compound pits full most of the year – that’s about 225 gallons worth of BC or enough to treat 10,800 acres. Now, this is largely for their own use, and they use it for everything. That’s 900 acres worth of BC on a 5-acre market garden! They put bulk quantities of BC when planting new trees, and they use BC as the compost portion of their seed-starting mix. Whenever a plant gets moved out into the garden, they’re really also planting BC! When they make new furrows to plant heavier feeders like brassicas, nightshades, or squash, they crumble handfuls of BC generously through the beds. They still add compost most years, but not every year – and not nearly as much as you’d expect because the Barrel Compound does so much to repair what is broken apart each year by cultivation.

The best time to collect manure for barrel compound and horn manure is right around the autumn equinox – in the northern hemisphere, this is late September. This is usually when the grass is starting to turn brown and cows are feeding on more roughage. This lignin-rich manure has a natural tendency to feed beneficial fungi, and is a particularly special moment. By contrast, manure collected in spring tends to be much wetter and greener. Spring-made Barrel Compound tends to produce more of a bacterial-dominant product (which you might want for specific plants that make zero fungal relationships, such as brassicas). But as a rule, most of the manure is collected in late summer and early autumn as the days shorten and the soil finishes drying out for the season. For batches produced for JPI specifically, manure is mixed by hand. However, for bulk quantities, similar to stirring machines used in large-scale production, Stewart utilizes a dedicated cement mixer for generating bulk quantities of barrel compound on his farm, so he can have enough to be generous with it.

Lest anyone balk at the idea of using a cement mixer and wringing their hands about “will forces” we must remember that will forces are willpower and willpower is demonstrated by action. If someone pontificates about “will forces” and prevents more biodynamics from being done by doing so, that is a weakness of will disguising itself. No, even Steiner said that “it goes without saying, for larger surfaces you will have to devise special machines.”1 Steiner did not instruct us to cultivate a phobia of machinery. As the late philosopher Roger Scruton wrote (somewhere), “Technology is an elaborate metaphor for the will.” Technology is like a prosthetic arm that lets us do more than we might do, or like a lever that lets us move the world. Technology is not without its dangers, yet here we are communicating over Substack, the internet, and smartphones. If there is a good way to employ such technology, we hope this is it! It is not without reason that the Book of Enoch credits the fallen angels with gifting humanity technology. One fallen angel gave cosmetics and metallurgy – a strange pairing unless you recognize that both a weapon (Mars) and makeup (Venus) extend the power of someone over another person. It is because of this that technology is so difficult to use correctly, because it is power, it is easy to misuse. When it is used in service of mere pleasure or comfort, it can be emasculating. When it is used to manipulate others, it can be pure evil. But when it is used to generate more fertility for the earth while we’re tending our gardens, it is anything but evil. How can we put the venom of the serpent in service of others? That is the symbol of the rod of Aesclepius – it is not easy to do, but the serpent put in the service of others is the essence of living medicine itself. Someone who uses technology to enact more biodynamics while going and doing regenerative work simultaneously is not cheating the world or producing sclerotic forms. We are called to be wise as serpents, innocent as doves.

The original recipe for Barrel Compound was introduced by Maria Thun. Her recipe called for the addition of Basalt rock powder. Some innovators have worked with other rock minerals as a “suitable substitute”. In his book Quantum Agriculture, Hugh Lovel describes using Azomite, an ancient volcanic ash as a substitute for Basalt rock powder. Here in Colorado, some of us have huge boulders of basalt rock in our front yard, so you may understand why we might not need to use as much basalt here. By contrast, Stewart’s farm is all marine and alluvial sediment (sandy loam) without even a hint of basalt, so he prioritizes bringing that volcanic impulse to his soil. Rock powders that have been incorporated into the compost process are much more available for plant nutrient uptake. Steiner even suggests that we should incorporate mineral fertilizers into the compost heap before we ever use them.

Dr. Elaine Ingham suggests somewhere, if memory serves, that by composting fertilizers first, you need a mere fraction (~2%) of what a lab would recommend because, by composting, nutrients are made far more bioavailable. Stewart Lundy makes a “High Octane” Barrel Compound in which he adds 1lb of a version of the late Michael Astera’s “Agricola” formula and allows that to age like regular Barrel Compound. The result? Less is lost, yes, because it’s tied up in the clay-humus complex within the organic matter, but less is needed because it is so much more available to plants.

Introducing minerals

Biodynamics recognizes the importance of minerals and remineralization. Steiner gives an important clue as to how natural minerals should be applied to be effective. He wanted us to incorporate minerals into our compost process before use. Minerals almost always need to be “digested” by the soil to make them more “available.”

To quote Rudolf, “Everything is being mechanized and mineralized nowadays, but the fact is that what is mineral should work only in the way it does in nature. Unless you incorporate it into something else, you shouldn’t introduce anything that is mineral or totally lifeless into the living soil. This will not be feasible by tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow it will certainly become a matter of course.”

On Being an Experimental Traditionalist

Discernment is needed in biodynamics. Specific standards need to be adhered to. When working with biodynamics, I like to consider myself an experiential (experimental) traditionalist. That is to use what Steiner indicated as the foundation of the work. Steiner gave ideas that would need to be adapted to regional conditions and environs. With biodynamics, we have clearly defined parameters and recipes that can be reproduced. In these lectures, we have “the least common denominator,” something that can be broken down into its simplest form to be right and true with Steiner’s own words and instructions. To that end, the Fellowship of Preparation Makers worked with Demeter USA to come up with the “standards of production of biodynamic Preparations.”

Therefore, any experiments and innovations involving biodynamic preparations should meet these standards. ALL of the biodynamic preparations I make adhere to the foundational standards. The Buffalo Soil Activator meets all the Demeter requirements for the production of BD preparations. Some critics may argue that we are heading in the wrong direction with the use of Bison, because Steiner did not mention it in the Agriculture course. Others who have tried it might find it to be the most appropriate land medicine for our region.

We will need to adapt biodynamics to new areas for it to be successful. On another note, I still make all of the biodynamic preparations with the original animal sheaths Steiner asked us to use: a healthy biodynamic cow. This way I have all the bases covered in the conventional biodynamic way, and the armchair critics also have something new to chew on.

If we look at the foundations of biodynamic agriculture, we have a basic manual for BD with the Agriculture Course. We should aim for “conservative” innovation in the sense that there’s no sense throwing out established and tested recipes altogether, but instead we should try changing one thing at a time and comparing results. If we change fifty things all at once, we’ll never be able to determine what caused what. For example, Walter Goldstein’s research with his “nettle manure” recipe found that manure mixed with 1% stinging nettles outperformed Maria Thun’s original Barrel Compound (BC) recipe. Rather than replacing one for another, Stewart now adds +1% stinging nettles when he makes Barrel Compound: at least in theory, the best of both worlds. We should remember that nettles are the only herb Steiner says to “gather as much as you can,” while all the rest he says “you only need a little.” This suggests there is something special about this one particular plant, especially when we recall that Maye Bruce found that nettles are one of two essential plants (yarrow being the second) that perform 80% of the biodynamic work in compost piles.

Nettle fortified BC recipe (Maria Thun) combined with Nettles Insight (Walter Goldstein)

• 25 gals of manure

• 1000g basalt dust - BrixBlend from Rock Dust Local is good and meets Maria Thun’s requirement that the basalt be 0.2mm - 5mm (fine sand)

• 200g toasted pullet eggshells (the younger the chickens the better)

• 4 Cups of dried nettles

• 81 bricks

1. Dig a pit nine bricks deep, stacked rings of nine bricks each (81 total)

2. Mix all ingredients for one full hour.

3. Place in an open-bottom pit made of 9 layers of 9 bricks (9x9 = 81 per Hugh Courtney’s approach).

4. Allow to age, covered, for 3-9 months depending on the climate.

5. The product is ready when it resembles sweet-smelling compost, crumbles easily (but is not dusty dry), and can be broken apart and then rolled back into a well-shaped, coherent ball.

This is a cautious innovation that incorporates threads from three distinct practitioners without invalidating any of those who came before us, but instead weaving them all together. Not to mention, a few hours of intense labor yield one of the most profitable investments you could have.

If you make one of these pits, you get 1600 units (400 cups) of barrel compound. If you make nine of these pits, you have more than 10,000 units of BC. Farming costs a lot of time, energy, and money, but making barrel compound is probably one of the most efficient things you can do. Stewart has nine barrel compound pits at his farm and uses them in bulk quantities as the “compost” portion of his seed starting mix. Because why not? Anytime Stewart transplants, he’s taking out whole handfuls of BC to the garden with every single plant!

What works for one may not be best for another, so we recommend you go and try some of these things. When implementing a test or innovation, it is worth setting aside a small section to test on. Steiner himself recommends that we start with a small area, and if we ruin it with our experimentation, it won’t be a catastrophe! Don’t risk more than you’re okay with losing that season.

For example, if we wished to test Barrel Compound versus nettle fortified BC, we might:

1. Leave 80% untreated as a significant “control” area

2. Spray 10% with regular Barrel Compound (BC)

3. Spray another 10% with nettle fortified BC

4. Take before/after photos of each area

5. Compare the performance of all three areas.

6. Repeat for 3-4 years.

7. If the results persist, have someone else in a different location replicate your experiment. If they obtain results, you may have something with widespread applications.

If your results are repeatable, first by yourself and then by someone else following your procedure independently, then you have something that shows preliminary scientific promise.

In biodynamics, we are always seeking balance. What works in one situation may not work in another. For example, Stewart lives in a relatively wet subtropical climate, where the sheep he selects and saves have a balanced digestion. He points out that the very ones that seem “bad” for his area, because of their messy manure, might be ideal for an arid region. Nothing is objectively bad in itself; it is only about finding its proper place.

This is why testing is necessary and why you should share your field research with us. The frontline of biodynamic research is your own backyard! Taking before-and-after photos of each section in a test demonstrates the results without requiring an in-depth explanation. The explanation of results is usually where we get into trouble! Showing results and remaining agnostic about their causes is a healthy scientific perspective. Steiner gives the example of a metaphorical tree, and that we each only have one perspective on that tree. By adding them all together, we can create a sort of “hologram” that is greater than the sum of any one perspective. Still, the only way to achieve this is to set aside our interpretations and create an organic composite of all our viewpoints. Yes, some of our interpretations will be proven false – but none of our experiences are false. If someone experiences a good year of tomatoes, that remains true – and if someone experiences a year of too much leafy growth on grapes, that too remains true.

For example, Hugh Courtney had us make the “Goldstein” nettle barrel compound (BC), and it came out beautiful. We immediately tested and tried, and obtained some interesting results. After initial trials and experimentation with nettle-enhanced BC, feedback from several California grape growers suggested that the addition of nettle might have resulted in excessive leaf growth on the vines. It was speculated that the additional nitrogen brought by nettles may have contributed to this effect, even though Steiner describes nettles as “settling down” nitrogen. While we don’t want to jump to conclusions, what works for some may not for others. We cannot put too much weight on explanations that have not been repeatedly tested in other locations. This is why science is never finished, and why biodynamics, if it is alive, will continually evolve.

In this sense, living anthroposophy is quite free from dogmatism. It always leaves people free. So don’t take our word for it, try it for yourself!

There are many possible explanations for what we experience in a given situation, which is why the science of biodynamics requires all of our participation to find the true causes. We can understand the hesitation of grape growers because if we are trying to produce a nice wine, we want to enhance the fruiting process. But we must also remember that Pfeiffer warns us that problems created in an orchard or vineyard are invariably the results of what was done last year or even earlier. Annuals are much more immediately responsive to the preparations because they must germinate, grow, and reproduce all within one or two short seasons. Perennials can take their time, and there can be a “lag time” in their responses. An unusually wet winter or spring will produce excessive leafy growth, regardless of whether the area was treated with any experimental preparations – this is why it is crucial to start with a small area and have a large untreated “control” area to compare it to.

The science of biodynamics takes all experiences into account, but not all explanations of our experiences. As a counterpoint, Stewart has been running experiments giving 504 stinging nettle (as much as ¼ Cup per plant) as the only compost given to tomato plants, which thrive and show no signs of overly vigorous growth. Instead, they stood tall without needing trellising; their trichomes shone radiant gold from across the farm. The nettle-enriched section of tomatoes suffered no blossom end rot, even without the addition of any other calcium source. Now, on an acidic sandy loam soil, the formation of protein is a bit more difficult on Stewart’s farm, so perhaps there is a higher tolerance for bulk quantities of nettles, but that’s speculation – the only way to know from experience is to try it ourselves and compare results.

It is challenging to demonstrate causality scientifically, especially with things as subtle as life forces. This is why it requires the suspension of our preconceptions and the active willingness to try, try, and try again. What emerges from all our experimentation is something greater than any one of us and more true to life than our subjective interpretations.

We should remember that of all his research, Pfeiffer found that only the stinging nettle preparation consistently improved flavor, aroma, and color – and of all the preparation herbs, nettles are the only one that Steiner says to “gather as much as you can.” For virtually all the other preparation plants, he says, “you only need a little.”

On developing the vessel

Many years ago, Hugh Courtney had us young biodynamic devotees perform various experiments with making Barrel Compound at JPI. Maria Thun gave the original recipe for production, and we still use that today. In typical biodynamic fashion, the BC is made in a used wine barrel that has the top and bottom removed and is buried ⅔ in the ground with about ⅓ of the barrel above ground. For folks living in wetter tropical areas, Hugh would recommend that the pit rise further out of the ground – perhaps even ½ buried and ½ above the soil level. We make the Barrel Compound twice a year at JPI, in the spring and again in autumn.

One thing that Hugh noticed is that the wine barrels we used for producing BC didn’t last for very many years because the barrel compound was quite effective in breaking down and digesting the wooden barrel!

Hugh had the thought to switch the production process by using a different natural material instead of an old wine barrel. We started using bricks for the construction of the pit. Bricks are made from fired clay, and therefore, they don’t break down easily. Bricks are also readily available almost anywhere, and may even be easier to procure than the wine barrel that is commonly used. Hugh had us conduct several experiments to determine the optimal size and ratio of bricks to use.

Searching for the very best size and shape to make the best barrel compound, it was decided that 81 bricks were the perfect number. The ideal ratio was developed after numerous trials: Nine bricks around and nine bricks high. Eighty-one bricks are used in total. The magic of the number nine appears again. The bricks are dry-stacked without mortar. Nine bricks are used to create a circle, similar to the shape at the bottom of a barrel. The next nine bricks are placed in another circle on top of the first nine bricks. Keep stacking until you have stacked eighty-one bricks, making a new type of barrel-like cylinder.

The bricks are buried to a depth of around eighteen inches, with 2/3rds of the brick below ground and the other third above ground. If the bricks are buried too deeply it makes it somewhat challenging to get the material in and out and will also slow the digestive process.

At JPI, we removed all the old wooden wine barrels and replaced them with brick pits. These pits are made for long-term use. These continue to serve JPI and others in North America well. Some practitioners like to line the inside of the brick pit with wooden planks to help the process. We have tried, and we rather like the wooden-lined brick pits. With the addition of wood, we can observe several beneficial processes. For instance, Stewart is testing lining his brick pits with black locust planks. Black locust is known for its exceptional strength and extreme resistance to rot. That is why it is so commonly used along many miles of fence in Appalachia and beyond. Of course, he works near the moist seashore where these things are important. Conversely, out here in Colorado, we have been using the soft wood of aspen planks to line our brick pits. Here, we like using aspen, because it slowly decays, with beneficial fungi growing in the wood helping to digest things in our dry climate. Aspen trees are governed by the Moon; therefore, increasing beneficial lunar energies in the BC.

Our friends in Mexico took these indications seriously; the only part that did not quite translate was the size of the bricks. But this turned out to be a serendipitous oversight! The extra-large bricks they happened to use resulted in a much larger pit and a generous “headspace” above the mixed 25 gallons of manure. As if Hugh Courtney had been whispering in their ears, their pits are fully buried. Given the temperate climate indications of ⅔ buried and ⅓ above the soil level and ½ buried and ½ above the soil for wet tropical regions, it seems quite sensible than for especially arid regions, the entire pit would be below the soil level. In the arid conditions of Tepetlixpa, Mexico, the greater amount of enclosed headspace seems to have kept the manure from drying out in the covered pits, so this seems to have worked just as well (if not better!). The thinner layer of manure, too, never goes anaerobic because air can easily get through all of it. In this way, what our friends in Mexico demonstrated is something closer to the Cow Pat Pit (CPP) approach in India, of shallow layers of manure.

Some of the best chromas Stewart has helped make originate from the samples in Mexico.

We will be busy making biodynamic preparations for the next two months, and we are thankful you can join us on a journey of discovery and action.

GO BIODYNAMIC! FOR LIFE!!