Foundations of The Pfeiffer Recipe
Originally published 2024-09-23. By Stewart Kahn Lundy, JPI Biodynamics.
Unearthing Pfeiffer
The heart of the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray is deceptively simple.
Developed during a time of utmost secrecy around the biodynamic preparations, Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer cultivated what I describe as a carefully crafted “smoke screen” to reinforce the protection of the biodynamic preparations themselves. He took microbiological samples from biodynamic preparations, soils, and excrement. He maintained and cryptically labeled these isolated microbes, but as Pfeiffer himself says, these microbes were never the essence of the Field and Garden Spray. The real activities of the Field Spray are driven by the biodynamic preparations, which are no secret anymore. But many have asked: what is the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray? While this remains a proprietary recipe maintained by the individuals at the Josephine Porter Institute, much can be shared to glimpse the complexity and amount of attention that goes into this singular soil remedy.
The Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray was developed as an all-in-one remedy to get the biodynamic preparations out over as much land as possible without demanding that anyone using them “believe” anything about biodynamics or anthroposophy. Crafted for large-scale production particularly in the United States of America, this approach to biodynamics works through an empirical approach: first, seeing the practical results. Only secondarily, investigating the ideas behind the practical effects — and that, only at one’s own initiative. For many of us, the fact that something works is enough. But for some of us, we want to know why something works.
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s approach to practical life drew deeply from the wellsprings of what Rudolf Steiner shared, yet Pfeiffer rarely writes in terms of the “etheric” at all. Even those who worked closely with him confirm that he was often silent on such matters. His mission seems to have been bound up with demonstrating spiritual-scientific truths within practical reality — not “proving” the existence of the etheric world or “convincing” people to believe in this or that. We can be grateful for Pfeiffer’s efforts in bringing biodynamics to North America in particular, where we often prefer to see the external proof before considering the philosophy behind a given approach.
Regarding microbes in the preparations, Pfeiffer writes:
“The proper use of thes [sic] preps. is essential for the starter. People may find imitations by discovering and rebreeding the bacteria, but those will never grow as fast and as effectively as if used and grown with the preps action. In this fact I see the best protection of our formula. Also the effects of the starter on compost or field soil is as important of [sic] not more than the use of the bacteria alone. The use of the bacteria is about the same, if without the BD preps. as one would use crude oil instead of a highly refined oil for a gasoline engine. Always remember that the preps. have been used since 1922 with an established effect and that the addition of the bacteria is only a re-inforcement of their action.”
The simple fact is that bacteria break down what plants have built up out of the cosmos — they do not primarily produce sugars, but rather break down plant materials, manures — particularly carbohydrates. But we should remember that the most nitrogen-rich thing in natural soils are the innumerable corpses of bacteria. As they live and die, they unlock NPK in the soil. The more biologically active a soil can be kept, the more appropriately dynamic the NPK levels become. Bacteria belong to the realm of decomposition and not the world of what Steiner refers to as “etheric formative forces” which are the powers of building up new life. Their excretory products leave behind all sorts of vitamins that are essential for plants, and their mortal remains bring available nitrogen to plants. This is necessary for a plant to be well established in the earth so that it can receive the influences from the cosmos. Bacteria are not “bad” — research demonstrates how essential good microbes are for healthy soil and animal metabolism. But these microbes have a specific task. One can think of bacteria as “probiotics” and consider the biodynamic preparations as “prebiotics” providing the appropriate nourishment so that the right microbes can thrive.
Without suitable food, it doesn’t matter if a field is inoculated with microbes. They will initially seem to benefit the field, but without ongoing appropriate nourishment, they will die out. Imagine if you moved cows to a dead field with no vegetation. Initially, the presence of the animals would appear to improve the field, but without food, any imported animals will quickly perish. The same is true of bacteria on the farm. In biodynamics, we aim not merely to have the right bacteria but to take one step back from microbes and provide the nourishment necessary for ideal microbiological diversity. In Steiner’s own words, “If we think that by inoculating the manure with these bacteria we shall radically improve its quality, we are making a complete mistake. Externally there may seem at first to be an improvement, but in reality, there is none.”1
Pfeiffer indicates that “Should anyone of them [the microbial strains] get lost it can be ‘recovered’ from the original source material.” Moreover, because almost all of these microbial specimens were isolated from the ingredients added to the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, they already exist as indigenous microorganisms within every batch of Pfeiffer produced.
There are key microbiological organisms that Pfeiffer himself, given the limitations of science at the time, admits he was not able to isolate. He expressly asks that these be added if they are later found. For example, Pfeiffer was not able to isolate a microbe suitable for the metabolism of fat (oils) but microbiological research has grown exponentially since Pfeiffer’s time. Because of the insights of exoteric science, the Pfeiffer process has been improved.
The Pfeiffer Starter has a relatively humble beginning. Its “enzyme base” begins by sprouting several flats of seeds: organic oats, wheat, barley, and beans. These are then blended into a potato mash2 and allowed to mature for up to 48 hours. Here is another instance where research has advanced. The sprouts above are good, but Dr. Christine Jones explains how attaining “total nutrient cycling” on a given field requires only four functional groups. We can see this is not quite reached with the sprout mix, so we have added to this repertoire phacelia (borage family), which is a special wild plant that is lovely for pollinators but deployed as a tenacious cover crop it has the power to dissolve rocks and produce new soil. One might also consider how the addition of sunflower (aster family) sprouts expands the dynamic complexity of the initial Pfeiffer base to include not only three grasses and one legume but also a representative of the borage family and aster family as well. This would bring us to four functional groups: grass family, bean family, aster family, and borage family.
The starchy base combined with sprouts is the “enzyme base” that carries the power to work through any materials given to it. But the “secret” heart of the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, without any surprise, is the biodynamic preparations themselves. Yes, Pfeiffer isolated microbes from the sheaths and the plants, from the transformed preparations, and from the soil around the plants growing in the wild — but all these were to enhance what is already added to the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray. For example, soil from around the roots of yarrow is added, as is fresh yarrow leaves, and moreover freshly fermented yarrow tea, plus the yarrow preparation (502) itself — this pattern continues for most of the biodynamic preparation plants as well.
Combining the starchy “enzyme base” with the biodynamic preparations and other ingredients represents the living heart of the Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray. “The mixture IS THE STARTER in its most active state.”3 Though this may sound simple, accumulating even these initial materials is no small task.
Without modifying the essence of Pfeiffer’s recipe, humble improvements have been made to the Field and Garden Spray, particularly out of the portion devoted to “kitchen scraps” while leaving Pfeiffer’s original proportions intact. The entire aging process of the Pfeiffer mixture after the laborious collection of all the materials, including sprouts, biodynamic preparations, etc. is for a full 20-21 days during which the mixture is monitored for moisture, pH, odor, and consistency. It is mixed after the first few days for 3/4 to 1 hr in the morning and again the afternoon.
One particularly “biodynamic” addition has been taking Pfeiffer’s indications of mixing twice daily and using the hours straddling dawn and sundown, respectively. After all, this is the time we stir and spray out the morning and evening sprays, horn silica and horn manure respectively. The work of Phil Callahan in Paramagnetism notes what remarkable effects the first light of dawn has on the earth. By stirring the Pfeiffer mixture for an hour at dawn and again in late afternoon as the shadows grow long, we encourage the organic “breathing” process of inhaling and exhaling daily. As Steiner says, “the West will prefer the midday processes, shutting out the morning and evening ones.”4 By working the mixture precisely at these times, we provide a sort of antidote to the prevailing prejudices of our region. What is being produced is full of microbes, but the microbes are a byproduct of the diverse foods and conditions we bring to bear on the Field Spray. We also add perforated copper pipes (in the spirit of Viktor Schauberger) to improve the breathability of the ripening mixture and to help regulate moisture content.
Your Darkness Shall be Turned into Light
“Observation is an old man’s memory.” - Jonathan Swift
A prayerful mood was taken into this work, along with specific prayers and appeals to the spiritual world for the effective work of the preparations and expressing the commitment of the workers in service of freedom under the guidance of St. Michael the archangel. There is much more that could be written about this particular remedy, but there is not time here for this. Suffice it to say that more went into this remedy historically than the mere amalgamation of various ingredients. What we have here is a way to demonstrate the effectiveness to practically-minded farmers in the Americas. Seeing the immediate results, earnest minds will inevitably inquire further.
Rudolf Steiner, Agriculture Course, Lecture IV, GA327
This is similar to a bokashi ferment, which uses another starch source (rice) and indigenous microorganisms are introduced into it.
Pfeiffer’s original indications shipped two concentrates, and the customer would mix them together immediately before spraying them on the field. This was discontinued over time, but Pfeiffer’s original aspiration for this remedy was to make custom batches. For example, a sheep operation might ship wool, manure, and soil samples from their farm to be processed into a specially tailored preparation for their specific operation. Pfeiffer gives an example of a sugar cane operation in Cuba that commissioned him to tailor the Field and Garden Spray to help expedite the digestion of large amounts of debris with considerable success.
R. Steiner, The Wrong and Right Use of Esoteric Knowledge: Lecture III, 25 Nov 1917, Dornach
