Applied Biodynamics — Issue 005 (Fall 1993)

Issue 005 (Fall 1993) pairs a Michaelmas reflection with Steve Moore’s detailed account of a decade-long farm transition and Hugh Courtney’s experience-based directions for making BD 500. The issue documents practical equipment, timing, weather response, soil improvement, crop observations, and preparation-making methods that growers can compare with their own work.

Issue Overview

“The Season of Michaelmas” — Gisela Franceschelli. Franceschelli reads autumn’s falling leaves, ripening seeds, and visible transformation as a seasonal invitation to strengthen human will. The piece presents Michaelmas as a time to meet increasing demands with conscious action and courage.

“Interview with Steve Moore” — Nicholas Franceschelli; transcribed by Gisela Franceschelli. Moore describes a 60-acre lemon, avocado, and vegetable farm in Carpinteria, California, with roughly 35 cropped acres and about 30 acres under intensive management. Trained in agricultural engineering and environmental systems analysis, he returned to the family farm in 1981 and began its transition from long-term chemical orchard management in early 1983. He recalls that the former herbicide-managed lemon-orchard soil initially broke into concrete-like slabs; over the following decade, he reports markedly better soil structure under cultivation, compost, and biodynamic preparations.

Moore’s transition began with Pfeiffer Compost Starter in horse-manure piles and expanded to the compost preparations, BD 500, BD 501, Barrel Compound, and fermented BD 508. The preparation called Barrel Compost in this 1993 issue is the same preparation JPI now calls Barrel Compound in the United States because regulations govern what may legally be sold as compost. Moore emphasizes that biodynamics deepens good farming. His reported results include better-structured soil, compost customers who returned to buy again, positive feedback on the farm’s produce, and aphids that became rare and short-lived. He describes these changes as the cumulative fruit of years of biodynamic attention to the whole farm.

Moore’s Whole-Farm Spray Program

• Farm rhythm: BD 500 and BD 501 were normally applied across the orchard and garden twice each year, in fall and spring, over two or three days.
• BD 500: Moore chose moist but well-drained soil, usually in February or October. He stirred in a 60-gallon, solar-warmed tank for one hour and used a tractor-mounted single fan jet at about 12–15 psi, completing each batch in roughly one to one-and-a-half hours.
• BD 501: He began around 5:00 a.m. and aimed to finish by 8:00 a.m. A modified mist sprayer sent a fine plume about 20 feet upward so it settled over the crop, using about three gallons per acre across most intensively managed ground.
• BD 508: During wet late winter and spring, fermented BD 508 was applied weekly on about two vegetable acres. Moore reports that onion fungus appeared later and progressed more slowly under this program.
• Barrel Compound and Prepared 500: Barrel Compound was used as cover-cropped beds returned to production, while Prepared 500 was introduced on bare ground as another step in the farm’s evolving soil program.

Moore used a planting calendar especially for sowing when weather and workload allowed. He also recounts a sequential-spray application followed by substantial rain, adding a positive field observation to JPI’s developing moisture-support program. Current JPI guidance gives the full attracting- and deterring-moisture sequences so growers can apply the practice consistently.

“Recipe for Making BD #500” — Hugh Courtney. Courtney describes the core method of filling cow horns with manure, burying them through winter in good soil, and opening them in spring. He reports an average yield of about two and one-half field units from each horn. His preferred practice uses fresh manure from lactating cows receiving at least half their forage as hay, screens the manure through one-half-inch mesh, packs it tightly into fresh horns, and places the horns about 18 inches to 2.5 feet deep in balanced soil.

Courtney explains JPI’s working preferences for a well-chosen, preparation-treated pit, burial before Advent or at least before the winter solstice, and digging near Ascension Day while adapting to the conditions of each year. When the native soil needs strengthening, he describes adding aged biodynamic compost and an immediate layer of milled peat before replacing the fertile soil. He encourages practitioners to study other preparation makers’ methods, make the preparation themselves, and build understanding through repeated seasonal work.

Other Archival Notes

The issue congratulates Evergreen Elm for 23 ribbons from 25 entries at the 1993 county fair, including 17 first places, and announces the 1994 Stella Natura calendar. It also explains JPI’s associative-contract model and a Michaelmas fundraising commitment.

Why This Issue Matters

Issue 005 shows biodynamics unfolding across a working farm over ten years. Moore supplies a whole-farm rhythm, real equipment settings, application windows, and positive observations in soil, compost demand, crop reception, insect balance, and plant health. Courtney complements that farm record with a detailed preparation-making method. Together they present biodynamics as disciplined, cumulative work that strengthens farming through attention to soil, preparations, seasons, equipment, and the whole farm organism.

Articles

• The Season of Michaelmas — Gisela Franceschelli
• Interview with Steve Moore — Nicholas Franceschelli; transcribed by Gisela Franceschelli
• Recipe for Making BD #500 — Hugh Courtney

Key Topics Covered

• Michaelmas, autumn, courage, and disciplined action
• A ten-year transition from chemical orchard management beginning in 1983
• Good farming as the foundation for biodynamic practice
• Reported soil-structure, compost-demand, produce, aphid, and crop-health improvements
• BD 500 and BD 501 equipment, timing, pressure, and coverage
• Weekly fermented BD 508 and later, slower onion-fungus progression
• Planting-calendar practice and a positive sequential-spray rain observation
• Horn, manure, burial-site, packing, and timing choices for BD 500

Read the complete Issue 005 PDF

Citation

Applied Bio-Dynamics, Issue 005, Fall 1993. Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Woolwine, Virginia.