Applied Biodynamics — Issue No. 089 (Spring/Summer 2016)

Read the original Applied Biodynamics Issue 089 PDF.

Issue 089 presents preparation quality as a shared practical discipline, documents JPI’s growth on its twenty-five-acre Floyd home, gives a complete spring-to-summer work rhythm, records large-acreage BD 501 practice, reports a positive BD 500 spinach comparison, and lays out the sequential spray method for balancing moisture conditions.

Hunter Francis’s “Fellowship of the Preparation Makers Holds Meeting in California” records more than fifty participants gathering February 18–21, 2016, at Yokayo Roots Ranch and Frey Vineyards. The meeting joined experienced preparation makers in peer observation, hands-on work, chromatography, and group discussion around the theme “Making Visible Formative Forces within Substance: Broadening our Horizon to Perceive Quality in BD 500.”

The conference compared more than two dozen BD 500 samples in a practicum led by Wali Via, with participants rating each sample before discussing quality together. A separate Steigbild, or rising-picture, exercise made sodium-hydroxide extracts from two BD 500 samples, allowed them to climb thin-layer chromatography paper, fixed the images with silver nitrate and iron sulfate, and developed the pictures over two days. The preparation-makers’ draft quality framework also joined experience and training with material sourcing, preparation and burial practice, source records, storage, and packaging.

Patricia Frazier’s “2015 Year in Review” celebrates JPI’s purchase of approximately twenty-five acres along the Little River and a conceptual four-thousand-square-foot barn for preparation making, processing, distribution, education, a kitchen, a laboratory, and resident use. The spring workshop filled two cow stomach bladders with moistened yarrow, filled cow horns with finely ground quartz paste, harvested and juiced JPI’s first site-grown valerian for BD 507, and stirred Barrel Compound made with twenty-five gallons of fresh cow manure. JPI also began baseline soil observations through chromatography, soil-food-web analysis, and other forms of soil testing to follow the land’s development over time.

Karen Davis-Brown’s “The Most Distant Reaches of the Universe: Biodynamic Practice April Through September” organizes the growing season around close observation, timely seed starting, orchard and pasture care, cover crops, compost, preparation-plant harvest, and regular preparation use. The sequence places BD 500 or Barrel Compound on receptive soil and BD 501 on established plants when their growth and the morning air support the fine foliar mist.

Pat Frazier’s “Horn Silica (BD 501) Frequently Asked Questions” describes BD 501 as the light-and-ripening complement to BD 500. The archival making method grinds quartz or feldspar to a fine powder, mixes it with rainwater into a heavy-cream paste, fills cow horns, allows the material to settle, buries the horns through summer, lifts them in autumn, and stores the finished preparation completely dry in clear glass exposed to sunlight. JPI’s current BD 501 instructions provide the present rate, stirring, target, and timing.

In “Stirring BD 501,” Davis-Brown documents a practical large-acreage morning. Two sixty-gallon tanks each received twelve units of BD 501, and two batches were planned for forty-eight acres of pasture, hay, and grain. The account joins calibrated equipment and early-morning logistics with the focused attention of preparation work.

Carol St. John’s “Using Horn Manure (BD 500) When Seeding & Transplanting” reports a paired student project using the same spinach seed and the same soil-block mix. Fourteen days after planting, 208 seeds germinated in the BD 500-moistened blocks compared with 171 in the plain-well-water controls—a 21% higher germination rate. During six to seven days when the hoop house reached 86°F, the treated seedlings were described as stronger and unaffected by the heat while untreated leaves curled and discolored.

Abigail Porter’s “Sequential Spray of Biodynamic Preparations for Weather Extremes” records a method Hugh Courtney developed during the extreme drought of 1988 and then refined for both dry and wet conditions. To attract moisture, the three-day order is Barrel Compound on the first evening, BD 501 the next morning, BD 500 that evening, and BD 508 on the third morning. To deter excess moisture, BD 508 and BD 501 exchange morning positions. The issue also gives an abbreviated two-day sequence and presents the method as a focused use of all nine preparations.

Barrel Compound is the same preparation also called Barrel Compost. JPI uses “Barrel Compound” for its U.S. product because “Compost” is regulated in what can legally be sold under that name. See JPI’s current Sequential Spray Kit and current Barrel Compound instructions.

Pat Frazier’s “Horsetail BD 508 Frequently Asked Questions” distinguishes fresh horsetail tea for foliar use from fermented horsetail for soil use. Its archived fermented method simmers the herb for one hour, ferments the decoction for ten to fourteen days, strains it, and stores it cool and dark. JPI’s current BD 508 instructions provide the present recipes and application directions.

Articles

• Fellowship of the Preparation Makers Holds Meeting in California — Hunter Francis
• The Spirit of Sustainable Agriculture — Hunter Francis
• 2015 Year in Review — Patricia Frazier
• The Most Distant Reaches of the Universe: Biodynamic Practice April Through September — Karen Davis-Brown
• Remembering Devon Strong — Wali Via
• Horn Silica (BD 501) Frequently Asked Questions — Pat Frazier
• Lessons Learned with Horn Silica (BD 501) — Abigail Porter
• Stirring BD 501 — Karen Davis-Brown
• Using Horn Manure (BD 500) When Seeding & Transplanting — Carol St. John
• Sequential Spray of Biodynamic Preparations for Weather Extremes — Abigail Porter
• Horsetail BD 508 Frequently Asked Questions — Pat Frazier

Key Findings and Practices

• More than fifty preparation makers gathered for shared practical work.
• More than two dozen BD 500 samples were compared and rated in a peer practicum.
• Steigbild images from two BD 500 samples developed over two days.
• JPI established its permanent work on approximately twenty-five acres.
• Two sixty-gallon BD 501 tanks supported a forty-eight-acre spray plan.
• BD 500-moistened spinach blocks produced 208 germinations versus 171 controls.
• The treated spinach germination rate was 21% higher.
• Treated hoop-house seedlings were described as strong through six to seven 86°F days.
• The sequential spray gives distinct orders for attracting and deterring moisture.
• Fresh and fermented BD 508 serve complementary foliar and soil roles.

Related JPI Resources

• BD 500 Horn Manure and current instructions
• BD 501 Horn Silica and current instructions
• BD 508 Horsetail and current instructions
• Barrel Compound and current instructions
• Sequential Spray Kit

Citation

Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 089, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Spring/Summer 2016.

Download Issue 089 PDF