"The Most Distant Reaches of the Universe"-- Biodynamic Practice April through September
(From Applied Biodynamics, periodical of the Josephine Porter Institute, #89, Spring/Summer 2016)
Karen Davis-Brown
Looking back over the last few months, it has been an interesting winter. Unusually cold or warm temperatures, and rain instead of snow or snow instead of rain in all parts of the continent – those of us in agriculture are starting to observe and discuss how “climate change” will impact our work and the future of food production on our continent.
But, what we perceive as the movement of the Sun is, at least, dependable. Winter solstice came and went, and the days have become noticeably “longer.” For vegetable, herb and flower growers, and for orchardists, the catalogues have been arriving for a while, whetting our appetites for the coming season as we pondered and placed our orders.
For those with livestock, we often take a look at the coming year – birthing, pasture quality and use, hay and grain needs, projected production and marketing – and begin to consider how best to make it all work with what we know, and in spite of what we don’t know.
During the growing and grazing seasons, the overarching goals are “balance” and “exchange.” We will know from the preceding year where weeds and poor crop vitality, productivity and quality provided invaluable information regarding imbalances in soil, water, air and/or temperature. Oftentimes, these imbalances or other barriers inhibit the exchange of these four elements and the crucial carbon, sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen that are, truly, the building blocks of life. The challenge is to discern the roots of the challenges and how to address them. How these elements are balanced within a farm organism is unique, changing and a life’s work for those who partner with an individuality in agricultural enterprises. But there are common denominators that bring farmers’ heads together in person, on the phone and on the computer in mutual sharing and problem-solving.
Orchards
In the orchards, by this time of the year, one hopes to have finished winter pruning, and to have already begun to ask oneself, “What was I thinking when I made that cut?” and “What needs to be removed and reshaped next time?” Though the act of pruning is only healthy a couple times a year, the orchardist is observing how best to prune all year long. I have been concerned this year, so probably others have as well, with observing whether the buds that were formed last season were already “pushing” due to early warm weather or frozen from low temperatures. This year’s crop depends on the survival and timely opening of these tiny microcosms of life. This time of the season, one has valerian juice, horsetail and nettle teas to bring warmth and light to newly awakened trees, vines and bushes – and holds the imagination of the healthy emergence of life from the “soil” of the roots and branches – first leaves, then blossoms, then the formation of beautiful, flavor-filled fruit.
Starting Seeds
Growers of annual vegetables, flowers and herbs, are currently surrounded by garden maps and schedules, largely complete and ready for succession planting and revision as the season progresses. This is a busy time, when most of the seeds are ordered and soil for starting seeds is made. The first seeds are placed in soil under light with careful attention to moisture and temperature, sending the tender and hopeful message that it is safe to emerge and trust in the care of a supportive and welcoming environment. Steiner’s awe-inspiring imagination of a seed’s emergence is appropriate to remember and hold this time of year:
“…when this structural complexity of earthly matter has been taken to the ultimate degree, it then disintegrates, leaving in place a miniature chaos. You could say it disintegrates into cosmic dust….then the whole cosmos begins to work on the seed, and leave its imprint and to build up whatever can be built up by means of the influences coming from all sides of the universe….In the seed we have an image of the whole universe….each time, within the seed-chaos, a new organism is built up out of the whole universe.” (Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, Creeger/Gardner, translation, 1993, pp. 34–5.)
More and more, growers are “extending the season” at both ends – spring and fall – with cold frames, hoop houses, tunnels and greenhouses, as a way to maximize market production and to address personal and market desires for more fragile, less storable crops outside of what have been their traditional seasons. With due care and informed planning, these challenges to the natural world can be met in healthy and balanced ways. Here, as always, it is important to take seriously the basic understanding in biodynamics that agriculture is inherently exploitive and the farm/garden organism needs to be supported in replacing the life forces and nutrients that are taken off the land. In the interest of diversity and farmer sanity, a good balance of perennial and annual crops is also good!
The fragility of annual crops for human consumption makes pest and disease challenges an ever-present reality. In organic and biodynamic agriculture, proactive prevention through healthy soil and adequate air and temperature is the goal, but the weather and the natural world do not always cooperate. When careful planning is not enough, after initial panic, the biodynamic grower then observes the what, when, where and how of the pest or disease. Is it all the plants, or just some? Are there weather or soil conditions that have created or exacerbated the situation? What damage is really being done? Then, the grower consults his or her own experience and the experience of others, to determine how best to address the issue with minimal intrusion and use of “remedies.” The key to soil, crop, and livestock health is constant observation, so that any issues are noted and addressed as early as possible.
Pastures, Hay, and Grain
Livestock is an important component to a biodynamic agricultural organism, and the discernment and evolution of an understanding of the number and type of livestock is part of the farmer or gardener’s life work. What the term “livestock” means is, here, loosely interpreted. The need of every biodynamic individuality is for some wildlife and some “domesticated” animals to bring astrality to the soil and plants, which have none for themselves. For the smallest individualities, “livestock” may mean bees and/or worms, which also contribute to plant and soil health. When honey bees can’t be supported – or even when they can – areas planted to encourage beautiful and beneficial wild insects and pollinators can be developed. Many practitioners are able to add a few laying chickens or ducks, which, when managed well, can also help with pest control. The ideal, if space and time allow, is ruminants – particularly milking or multi-purpose cattle – whose special manure enhances soil fertility like no other.
A core principal of biodynamic farming is “minimal inputs,” which means the ideal is to provide all livestock feed from the farm itself. This requires a plan for raising hay and managing pastures to maximize herd and soil/grass health. Knowing the healthy “stocking rate” – number of animals compared to amount of pasture and hay available – and making and following an informed grazing plan are the keys to this health. As a farmer moves forward to plan for livestock on her or his land, there are information sources and people who can help figure out species and their needs and numbers. For farms that have livestock for which they need grain, integrating the growing of that grain into the individuality’s cropping plan becomes an important goal.
A key tool for any farmer or gardener is the use of cover cropping – the planting of a crop in soil that would otherwise lay bare for a longer period of time. This crop is intended to be dug into the soil and not harvested. Different cover crops are used depending on the need and the season, but they often contain nitrogen-fixing legumes and grasses that build nutrients and/or texture to restore and maintain soil health.
Compost
The building and spreading of compost takes place all season long. In colder climes, many gardeners and farmers spread compost made in the spring and summer on beds and fields in the fall, to let it integrate into the soil over the winter. Compost made in the fall is applied in the spring and throughout the season especially to top dress heavy feeders.
Preparations
Making and using biodynamic spray and compost preparations also takes place throughout the spring, summer, and fall of the year. In many regions of the continent, these activities are planned to coincide with the seasonal festivals of Easter in the spring and Saint John’s Day in the summer (June 24), which also relate to the Sun’s spring equinox and summer solstice. Fall preparations are frequently made at Michaelmas. However, at least with the spray preparations, it is the land itself that “tells” the biodynamic practitioner when and where it needs to be sprayed. This is true not only due to climate and weather, but due to the practical realities of other tasks faced by the farmer at this time of year. The first spraying of BD #500 (horn manure) and/or barrel compost should happen when the ground to be sprayed is most receptive, not by any calendar. BD #501 (horn silica) is sprayed when the plants are ready and the air quality is right (or as right as it can be, if the plants are ready). Spraying larger acreages of fields or pastures can take days, and the windows of time when this is optimal can be frustratingly short. It is very often necessary to do this work in less than ideal conditions, because the most important thing is that the preparations be applied. There are as many different approaches to the timing of the spray preparations as there are farmers and gardeners, but in order to for an individuality to be considered biodynamic, the regular and methodical use of the preparations is non-negotiable.
Some are fortunate enough to be able to harvest ruminant intestines, mesenteries/peritoneums and skulls near the time that they make chamomile, dandelion and oak bark preparations, but obtaining and/or harvesting animal sheaths can take place any time of the year and the sheaths can be dried or frozen for future use. Particularly deer bladders, for most of us, have to be obtained when they are available regardless of when we are making the yarrow preparation, and can be stored for the time when we are ready. Harvesting the blossoms for making the herbal compost preparations – dandelion, chamomile and yarrow – typically needs to be done throughout the growing season in order to have sufficient quantities, with the plants dried and stored properly until they are used.
In the spring, most people dig up the preparations buried in the fall and store them for use throughout the season. BD #501 (horn silica) is often ground and buried in late spring, and deer bladders are stuffed with yarrow and hung in the sun for burial in the fall. Nettle preparation can be harvested [just as it is starting to bud], buried anytime and left for a full year [“…let it spend the winter and the following summer – it must be buried for a whole year”, Agriculture, Adams translation, p. 96]. All of these tasks are opportunities for social gatherings and community building during this busy time of year, as well as for providing on-going training and mentoring to newer members of the community. Compost building and the insertion of the compost preparations into piles can also be educational or social, beginning in spring and lasting throughout the season.
However consistently a farmer or gardener follows the indications given on a planting calendar, striving to be aware and knowledgeable regarding the movements of planets through the heavens above one’s agricultural individuality is crucial to effective observation and practice in any of the agricultural endeavors described above. The positions of the moon that guide the month, and the sun’s spring equinox and summer solstice, are particularly important milestones in the course of the season. There are several excellent planting calendars available for use on this continent, and the practitioner is free to use any or all as part of developing a holistic relationship with the land that he or she stewards.
Last but not least, in the midst of all the pressures and imperatives of the season, one needs to take a moment to stand before the beauty of the farm or garden individuality as the plants reach toward the heavens in anticipation of the summer equinox, and then contract again toward the earth as the days shorten and the fruits of the year are harvested and shared or stored. Rudolf Steiner’s guidance to work always within the “realm of the living” needs to be as real to us as the daily “to do” list that narrows our focus in time and space. In the end, it is all for nothing, unless we are truly grateful for the gifts of the year and express that gratitude in thought, word and deed.
Blessings on your season!
