Applied Biodynamics — Issue 031 (Winter 2000–2001)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 031 combines three distinct records: a reader experiment with BD 507 valerian, Hugh Courtney’s detailed account of JPI’s preparation work and succession challenge, and Patricia Smith’s personal Michaelmas reflection as she becomes editor. The practical thread throughout is responsibility expressed through observable work.

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The BD 507 finished-compost experiment

The issue asks readers to compare two portions of the same biodynamically prepared compost. One half is spread normally. Four to fourteen days before the second half is spread, the protocol calls for 1–2 milliliters of fermented BD 507 in 1–2 gallons of warm water, stirred for 10–20 minutes. The entire liquid is poured into one hole in the finished compost—specifically not sprayed over its surface—and the compost rests for 4–14 days before use.

The preferred water is rainwater or melted snow warmed to 98.6°F. The article permits distilled or ground-sourced water after at least four days of sun exposure and asks participants to record the source. Joe Stevens’s preliminary hypothesis is that valerian acts differently when added to finished, humified compost than when added at the beginning of decomposition.

JPI’s current BD 507 information handout supplies present-day product context; the full BD 502–507 compost-preparation set is also available.

How to strengthen the comparison

The historical protocol is admirably specific about dose, water, stirring, placement, and wait time, but spreading the two portions at different dates and in different areas can confound the result. A stronger trial would divide one finished batch into equal portions and randomly assign treatments to matched replicated plots. Include an untreated compost control and, if practical, a water-only hole-treatment control. Apply all portions on the same day after equal storage.

Before application, measure compost temperature, moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, maturity, and nutrient profile. Then track soil moisture and nutrients, germination, plant count, biomass, yield, disease, and fixed-point photographs on predetermined dates. Record BD 507 batch, dose, water source and temperature, stirring time, placement, compost age, treatment date, weather, and every management difference. That design tests the finished-compost timing hypothesis without relying on memory or one striking result.

Hugh Courtney’s institutional account

“The Michaelmas 2000 Impulse—A Personal Experience” is also a substantial history of preparation making in the United States. Courtney describes learning from Josephine Porter, taking responsibility after her death in 1984, establishing JPI as a nonprofit, the years of cooperation with the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, and the move from the Courtney basement into a dedicated building.

The article makes the succession problem concrete. Courtney asks JPI’s board to seek a replacement executive director by his seventieth birthday in July 2002. He records an unpaid leadership role, three layoffs during the 2000 downturn, a $60,000 Rudolf Steiner Foundation loan, and annual preparation sales that grew from $6,000 in 1984 to $140,000 in 1999 before falling to $110,000 in 2000. Teaching people to make their own preparations and distributing more than 1,000 cow horns per year reduced future sales while fulfilling JPI’s educational mission.

Courtney closes with twelve governance questions about quality, regional production, training, ownership, financing, succession, and the appropriate relationship between JPI and the Association. These questions turn a spiritual call to responsibility into an explicit organizational agenda. The history also mentions JPI’s production of Pfeiffer Compost Starter and Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray.

Patricia Smith’s change of role

Patricia Smith writes “The Michaelmas Impulse: Giving Us the Direction We Need for the Year Ahead.” She describes health problems, a sixty-mile commute, rest and recovery, and the realization that she needed to leave weekly work at JPI. The practical outcome was a new arrangement: editing the newsletter from home while returning to JPI about one day per month. The editorial notice says the journal would return to four print issues per year in 2001.

Smith frames the Michaelmas experience as personal guidance, not experimental evidence. Her sidebar on a proposed transgenic-cattle facility in Craig County records research, letter writing, local opposition, and the project’s uncertain status at the time.

Other notices

• JPI announces a ten-percent preparation discount for eligible Biodynamic Association members and selected anthroposophical initiatives.
• Waived discounts would help retire a $15,000 debt to the Association.
• JPI again requests dandelion blossoms for BD 506.
• The cover and essays focus on the Michael impulse at the turn of the millennium.

Articles

• The Michaelmas 2000 Impulse—A Personal Experience (H. J. Courtney) 
• The Michaelmas Impulse: Giving Us the Direction We Need for the Year Ahead (P. Smith) 
• Valerian Experiment—A Call for Participants 
• Welcoming a New Editor 
• Transgenic Cattle sidebar 

Key Topics Covered

Finished-compost timing, dose, water source, stirring, placement, and wait time for BD 507 valerian.

Controls, matched compost portions, randomization, simultaneous spreading, and predefined field measurements.

JPI’s preparation-making history, education mission, finances, staffing, building, debt, and succession challenge.

Institutional responsibility, regional preparation-making, quality, governance, and mission-finance tension.

Michaelmas reflections as personal spiritual interpretation, distinct from experimental evidence.

Repeatable Practice

1. Split one finished compost batch into equal portions and assign untreated, water-only, and BD 507 treatments to matched replicated plots.
2. Record BD 507 batch, dose, water source and temperature, stirring, hole placement, compost age, treatment date, storage, and weather.
3. Apply all compost portions on the same day and hold crop, soil, fertility, irrigation, and cultivation constant.
4. Measure compost properties, germination, plant count, biomass, yield, disease, soil measures, and fixed photographs on predetermined dates.

Explore Related Resources

BD 507 Valerian · BD 507 guide · BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set · BD 506 Dandelion

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 31, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Winter 2000–2001.