Applied Biodynamics — Issue 058 (Fall 2007)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 058 (Fall 2007) follows biodynamic farms, cooperatives, and processors in North Africa and Turkey, then documents the launch of the Biodynamic Trade Association, regional preparation making in Kentucky, and Peter Proctor's work with farmers in India.

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A biodynamic odyssey through the Mediterranean

Hunter Francis joined farmer and JPI board president Gena Nonini on visits with biodynamic producers in North Africa and Turkey. They found a practical cooperative model linking farmers, preparation consultants, local technicians, European distributors, certification, and shared processing facilities.

Sekem in Egypt offered an influential example. Enterprises in biodynamic food, natural medicine, and textiles helped support health, education, research, and the arts. Across the region, cooperatives gave farmers preparation knowledge, decision-making power, strong markets, and the means to improve community life.

Oases of fertility and biodiversity

The North African date groves were lush and diverse. Date palms grew with pomegranates, figs, flowers, cover crops, and vegetable seed plots. Open habitat supported wild species, while small plots of beets, fennel, lettuce, kohlrabi, and tomatoes diversified farm income beyond the date harvest.

Farmers made strong BD 500 Horn Manure locally and applied it twice a year at about 2.5 ounces per acre. Some used a hand whisk and others used mechanical spray rigs. They applied BD 501 Horn Silica twice a year at about one-half teaspoon in ten gallons of water per acre. Compost made from palm fronds, sheep manure, and date-processing residues received the BD 502–507 compost preparations.

These 2007 records show the careful twice-yearly rhythm with which growers integrated the preparations into arid-region date production. Present-day growers can continue with JPI's current BD 500 and BD 501 application guides.

Preparation storage and farm records in Turkey

Turkish cooperatives employed technicians who trained growers, delivered preparations, and managed centralized supplies. One cooperative stored preparations in clay jars buried in moist soil inside wooden chests kept in a cool, non-refrigerated room. This protected the preparations while allowing many farms to draw from one well-maintained center.

BD 500 was applied twice yearly at rates as high as four ounces per acre. Technicians used spreadsheets to record applications across scores of farms, and Demeter inspections verified the work. Field identity, date, preparation, amount, and application were maintained systematically, giving the cooperative a strong record from preparation storage through field use.

Biodynamics adapted to arid regions

Mediterranean practitioners adapted biodynamic practice to local climate and materials. Where Equisetum arvense for BD 508, stag bladders, or other materials were not locally available, cooperatives imported them while building preparation-making skill at home. Farmers often began with preparations supplied by experienced makers and then learned to produce their own.

Nonini encouraged practitioners to maintain the quality of the preparations while finding deeper meaning and community within their own faith and culture. The result was a regional biodynamics rooted in local farms, people, climate, and cooperative life.

Quality from farm through processing

Turkish farms produced biodynamic raisins, figs, apricots, tomatoes, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and sesame. Processing centers worked under biodynamic, organic, fair-trade, Turkish, ISO 9001, and HACCP systems, with detailed records maintained at every stage.

The enterprises supported literacy, hygiene, and health-care programs for workers. Nonini reports that biodynamics helped farmers improve crop quality and revenue, become more self-reliant, raise their standards, strengthen cooperative decision-making, increase biodiversity, and improve environmental health and community living standards.

Autumn as the Earth breathing

Rudolf Steiner's Meditative Thoughts for Autumn asks the observer to perceive spiritual ascent in the fading of visible life. Yellowing and falling leaves reveal the sensory world withdrawing as soul-spiritual activity becomes newly perceptible. This autumn attention gives seasonal farm work an inward counterpart and prepares the human being for Christmastide.

The Biodynamic Trade Association

The 2007 launch of the Biodynamic Trade Association marked a milestone for biodynamics in the United States. Farmers, vintners, processors, distributors, retailers, and supporters organized to increase public awareness, expand the availability of biodynamic products, uphold certification integrity, protect the Biodynamic trademark, and build relationships across the trade.

The association joined market development with education. Its vision recognized a reinforcing rhythm: clear public understanding creates demand, demand strengthens farms and processors, and thriving enterprises make more biodynamic food available.

Preparation making in Kentucky

More than 25 people gathered at Hill and Hollow Farm for a new regional preparation-making initiative. They filled and buried 13 horns for BD 501, placing half with points upward and half downward in a pit where geodes were found and crushed crystals were added. Eight bladders filled with BD 502 Yarrow were hung high beneath the barn roof. The group also worked with Barrel Compound.

Laura Riccardi describes the joy, cooperation, practical teaching, careful placement, and shared intention of the gathering. In her biodynamic understanding, preparation makers bring the quality of their work together into the substances as those substances continue their transformation through natural processes.

One man, one cow, one planet

Christy Korrow reviews the film about Peter Proctor's work with farmers in India. After more than fifteen years of biodynamic development, the film reports an estimated 200,000 biodynamic compost piles and a growing network of farmers.

The film presents compost, cow-based fertility, preparations, flow forms, field sprays, planting calendars, pest work, harvesting, and cooperative marketing rebuilding soil, farm income, farmer confidence, and food sovereignty. Many hands mix Cow Pat Pit; valerian water is sprinkled rhythmically; BD 500 arcs over fields from a whisk broom; and finished compost moves across crop rows.

Readers can continue with Issue 053's Peter Proctor interview and current Barrel Compound resources.

Key topics covered

• Biodynamic date groves, cooperative farm services, fair-trade relationships, and processing systems in North Africa and Turkey.
• BD 500, BD 501, compost preparations, storage, and record-keeping adapted to arid conditions.
• Improved crop quality, farmer revenue, self-reliance, biodiversity, cooperative decision-making, and community services.
• The 2007 launch of the Biodynamic Trade Association.
• Community preparation making at Hill and Hollow Farm in Kentucky.
• Film-reported expansion of biodynamic composting and farmer renewal in India.

Explore related resources

• BD 500 Horn Manure and instructions
• BD 501 Horn Silica and instructions
• Complete Set of Compost Preparations and instructions
• BD 502 Yarrow and BD 508 Horsetail
• Barrel Compound and instructions
• Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course

Articles

• Touring the Mediterranean: A Biodynamic Odyssey by Hunter Francis
• Meditative Thoughts for Autumn by Rudolf Steiner
• The Elizabeth Scott Courtney Memorial Fund
• The Biodynamic Trade Association Is Here! by Hunter Francis
• New Preparation Making Initiative in Kentucky by Laura Riccardi
• How to Save the World: One Man, One Cow, One Planet, reviewed by Christy Korrow

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 58, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Fall 2007.