No arguing with results

"So the earth may be healed."

This is a quote on the home page of the Josephine Porter Institute of Applied Biodynamics, where I have been shopping lately. Biodynamic agriculture originated out of the spiritual scientific research of Austrian scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner in response to a concern by 1920's European farmers and soil scientists about the use of chemicals in agriculture and its negative effects on seed viability, food quality, and livestock and crop health. Steiner, in a series of lectures titled Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture challenges us to look at agriculture in a different way. Instead of looking at the soil in terms of its chemical makeup, we are asked to think in terms of cosmic forces and energies in addition to substances.


I became interested in biodynamics after visiting my friend K.K. Haspel who grows vegetables and flowers biodynamically at her farm in Southold, N.Y. K.K. grows the healthiest produce I have ever seen. I visited her farm in late september and it was remarkable how alive everything looked. Her plants were standing up tall and strong with sturdy stems, the leaves were a healthy shiny green, and the flower heads turned up towards the sun. Her plants looked vibrant and happy to be alive at a time in the season where most of my plants were looking decidedly tired and worn out. There was a noticeable difference between her plants and mine and I wanted to understand why.


Steiner introduced ideas for producing different preparations to be used in agriculture that are able to convey forces to enliven the soil and ultimately heal the earth. This does not mean we ought to discard all knowledge of soil chemistry, but instead, go beyond solely the chemical point of view. The earth is thought of as a living, breathing entity. The soil is an ecosystem that can be healed and the food that results can be dynamically endowed with spiritual and cosmic forces that nourish us and make us feel good. The practice of biodynamics is about balance, healing, energy, and spirituality.


K.K. plants according to the lunar calendar, she applies the biodynamic preparations to her soil, and she actually talks to her plants using diving rods. Her compost, which she never turns, is rich black gold. The preparations are made up of a combination of herbs including yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion, horsetail, and valerian in addition to beneficial bacteria, fungi, and enzymes that promote root activity, stimulate soil activity, and germination. They also enhance light metabolism of the plants, encourage the formation of chlorophyll, and stimulate overall soil health. The preparations which arrive in tiny amounts, must be diluted in chemical free water, stirred in a certain way and applied at the right time of day when the earth is breathing in. But biodynamics is not just about applying the preparations. It goes way beyond that. It is a belief that plants are affected by the energy that is around them. K.K. has created an environment of vitality, health and happiness at her farm. There is a positive energy that is reflected in the vegetables and flowers that she grows. I am just beginning to learn about biodynamics, and I am excited about the

promise of what it can bring to my garden.


Colleen stirring Barrel Compost preparation for 20 minutes that I sprayed on the garden later in the afternoon.