Star and furrow 122

JOURNAL OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION n ISSUE NO: 122

Conventional

n JANUARY 2015

n ISSN NO: 1472-4634 n £5.50

Biodynamic

WORKING WITH SOIL A LAND OF SOIL, MILK AND HONEY EFFECT OF THE BIODYNAMIC PREPARATIONS

THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION (BDA)

Biodynamic Agricultural College The Biodynamic Agricultural College came out of a long history of biodynamic agriculture education at Emerson College in cooperation The Association exists in order to support, with the Biodynamic Association in the UK. It promote and develop the biodynamic approach became independent in 2010 and is a limited to farming, gardening and forestry.This unique company with charitable status. form of organic growing seeks to improve the nutritional value of food and the sustainability The stated aims of the college are: to provide of land by nurturing the vitality of the soil education in biodynamic agriculture. through the practical application of a holistic and spiritual understanding of nature and the At the moment the primary focus of the human being. Put simply, our aim is greater college is a distance learning course called Biovitality for people and planet through more dynamic Principles and Practice, which makes biodynamic acres, more biodynamic food and education in biodynamic agriculture available to more understanding of biodynamics. students worldwide and at the same time offers support to an international culture of learning Membership is open to everyone. Our memand researching biodynamic agriculture. www. bers are interested in working with, developing bdacollege.org.uk and learning about biodynamics. SubscripSeed development project tion rates are £30 (or £20 for concessions).

Membership income funds in part the work of The Association is working to develop a the Association, so they are directly furthering sustainable on-farm plant breeding programme, increase the availability of high quality seed the aims of the BDA; however there are also varieties suited to organic growing conditions further benefits. and encourage the establishment of a cooperative network of biodynamic seed producers.

Members receive a quarterly newsletter, Star The breeding and development of appropriate and Furrow twice a year, early booking on site adapted varieties is of vital interest to biotraining courses and events days.They get involved in organising and supporting biodynamic dynamic farmers and offers the only long term alternative to biotechnology. It also requires an initiatives through the local group network and there are conferences, the AGM and many ongoing research commitment that is entirely dependent on gifts and donations. other events that they can attend. Many are supported in their own biodynamic practical Our Roots in Anthroposophy work through advice from the Association from whom they also source their biodynamic Biodynamics was first envisioned by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) in a series of lectures given preparations and books. in 1924. Since then, biodynamics has continued to develop and the Association keeps abreast Biodynamic Certification of developments in science, nutrition, education, The Association owns and administers the health and social reform. It is linked to the AgDemeter Certification Logo that is used by biodynamic producers in the UK to guarantee ricultural Section of the School of Spiritual Science (Switzerland) and affiliated as a group of to consumers that internationally recognised biodynamic production standards are being fol- the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain. It lowed.These standards cover both production is also a full member of Demeter International, SUSTAIN and IFOAM. and processing and apply in more than forty countries.They are equivalent to or higher than basic organic standards.The certification scheme is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and is recognised in the UK with the coding GB-ORG-06.

Spiritual Purpose The BDA makes the most of every penny; we are determined and focussed on achieving our purpose. Our resources are used effectively and efficiently and the co-workers in our organisation are empowered to direct their free and Work Based Learning Programme active will to their task.We also notice the last The Biodynamic Association offers a practical line of the Foundation Stone Meditation by two year apprentice training in biodynamic Steiner ‘With Single Purpose’ and let it resound agriculture and horticulture.This takes place on in our hearts and in our organisation. well established biodynamic holdings around the country and is open to everyone aged 21 Funding and over.Apprentices usually live and work on The Association is a small organisation wholly the farm in exchange for board, lodging and dependent on subscriptions, donations and training.Their practical tuition is supported by grants.There is a growing interest in biodynamweekly tutorials and a programme of seminars ics and to meet this welcome development and block courses. additional funds are being sought. Becoming a member and encouraging others to join is an The objective of the course is to gain basic important way of supporting the work. Donaagricultural/horticultural skills, understand the tions over and above the recommended memprinciples and practice of biodynamic techbership subscription are also extremely helpful. niques and create a foundation for developing Even the smallest contribution can make a an independent understanding of the earth, life real difference. For those considering making a and human beings from a spiritual perspective. Will and possibly leaving something to support Successful graduates will receive a Crossfields biodynamic development, a legacy leaflet is now Institute Diploma accredited by Edexcel. available. Please contact the office for a copy.

For information on all aspects of the Association’s work contact: Cover Picture © Vincent Masson of Biodynamie Services, France

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

Biodynamic Association, Painswick Inn Project, Gloucester Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 1QG +44 (0)1453 759501 office@biodynamic.org.uk www.biodynamic.org.uk

STAR & FURROW Journal of the Biodynamic Association Published twice yearly Issue Number 122 - January 2015 ISSN 1472-4634 STAR & FURROW is the membership magazine of The Biodynamic Association.

It is issued free to members.

Non-members can also purchase Star and Furrow. For two copies per annum the rates are: UK £13.00 including postage Europe (airmail) £18.00 Rest of the World (airmail) £20.00 Editor: Richard Swann, Contact via the Biodynamic Association Office or E-mail: rswann@biodynamic.org.uk Design & layout: Dave Thorp of ‘The Workshop’ Printed on a 100% recycled FSC paper by Severn, Gloucester Published by the Biodynamic Association © Biodynamic Association 2015 Charity No: 269036/VAT No: 791 2859 91 The function of Star and Furrow is to encourage the free exchange of ideas and experience among those who work with, or are interested in biodynamic farming, gardening and related subjects. Contributors subscribe to no dogma and are bound by no rules. Their contributions are personal documents, not official utterances by the Association.

Final dates for contributions are 1st April for the summer issue and 1st October for the winter issue. Copy can either be submitted in a typed printed format or as an electronic text document by e-mail. Please send articles to the editor at the Biodynamic Association Office.

BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION Patron: Patrick Holden CBE Director: Peter Brown Council Chairman: Chris Stockdale Council Members: Ian Bailey, Spencer Christy, Gareth John, John Lister, Rachael O’Kelly, Sebastian Parsons, Chris Stockdale, Sophie Christopher Bowes Executive Team: Peter Brown, Jessica Standing, and Richard Swann Association Administrator: Jessica Standing Telephone: 01453 759501 Email: office@biodynamic.org.uk BIODYNAMIC CERTIFICATION Certification Board Chairman: Charlotte von Bülow Administrator: Margaret Richardson Telephone: 01453 766296 Email: certification@biodynamic.org.uk Manager Director: Tarry Bolger Telephone: 01453 766296 Email: tarrybolger@biodynamic.org.uk

JOURNAL OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION n ISSUE NO: 122 n JANUARY 2015 n ISSN NO: 1472-4634 n £5.50

Editorial The conference last autumn provided a lot of inspiration for the Biodynamic Association in the UK. It was great to have some fresh speakers who could provide stimulus for our work here. Vincent Masson from France showed us some interesting pictures about the effect the biodynamic preparations have on the soil in vineyards.

Friedrich Wenz from Germany also gave an excellent workshop and presentation about his work with no till methods of cultivation. We are in the process of bringing both of these people over again this year for more workshops. The articles about their work could provide a bridge both for those who attended as well as those who did not manage to be with us in Stourbridge.

The Sunday morning of the conference was a wonderful occasion too with a warm and rich lecture from Gunther Hauk, a beekeeper from USA. Not only did he share with us his heartfelt concern for the plight of the bees but reminded us of the need for a spiritual approach to help them and all of nature. An abridged version of his lecture is included in this issue and for those who would like to hear him again we will be posting a video of the lecture on to our website.

Wine has become a great ambassador for the biodynamic work over the past years. Many of the top vineyards in France use biodynamic methods for the cultivation their vines. Most recently, we read that a notable Champagne has now converted to biodynamic. Wine and biodynamics seem to bring out the best in each other. Not only do the vineyards thrive but the wine tastes good with many winning top awards.

It was only a matter of time before the UK with its cooler climate could get in on the act. First off the mark was Sedlescombe Vineyard and now there is a lot of exciting stuff happening at Albury Vineyard with Nick Wenman at the helm. I have visited him twice and the place has an almost alchemical feel whilst he experiments on getting the best from his grapes. This not only includes the excellent Silent Pool Rose and Sparkling wine but also a spirit.

The UN International Year of Soils officially kicked off at the start of December last year. This has been picked up in many places throughout this issue. We are planning several events to contribute to greater soil awareness this year and plan on some substantial articles in the next issue of Star and Furrow.

Meanwhile wishing you warm greetings and a good growing season for 2015.

Richard Swann

CONTENTS

From the BDA Director

Peter Brown

Biodynamic Agri-Culture A Matter of Life … a reflection

by Tom Petherick

A compilation of enthusiasms

and inspirations

by South Devon Biodynamic Group

Tyll van der Voort - an appreciation

by Aonghus Gordon

The Call of the Great Bee

in these Critical Times

by Gunther Hauk

Albury Vineyard Interview with Nick Wenman At the Heart of Biodynamic Agriculture:

The Preparations

by Vincent Masson

Working with SOIL. Inspired by the

work of Friedrich Wenz

by Peter Brown

Soil, Silica, Soul

by Touchstone

A Land of Soil, Milk and Honey

by Bernard Jarman Biodynamic Farm Development Toolkit

by Marina O’Connell

Bingenheimer Saatgut A.G.

by Marianne Landzettel

Biodynamic Education

by Alysoun Bolger

Learning by Heart a new biodynamic impulse

by Kai Lange

Imagine this…

by Jonathan Code

Book reviews

Building the Biodynamic Movement

by Sebastian Parsons

ANNUAL REPORT 2014

organic

holidays. com

page 4 5 8 9 11 17 22 26 30 32 35 38 42 43 44 45 50 52

© Peter Brown

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE BDA

Peter Brown I would like to begin on a note of celebration.

The BDA 90th year conference ‘The Future of Agri-culture: A Matter of Life’ was a resounding success, due in great part to all the dedicated work put in by the small organising team. What defines a successful conference? I believe that people were inspired and moved, including the invited speakers, who not only shared their own knowledge but also learned from each other and through their engagement with participants. The atmosphere was like a beehive, with a welcoming buzz and plenty of warmth. Indeed, Gunther Hauk’s presentation had many on the verge of tears as he shared on such a deep level about bees, and about our human relationship to animals and to nature. The involvement of young people shone through. We benefitted greatly from being part of a world wide movement which enables such fruitful cross-fertilisation between countries and cultures. The Glasshouse College was a fantastic venue and everybody felt nourished and fulfilled, which had a lot to do with the wonderful food we were served! As we had hoped, it was both a gathering to remember and to guide us into the future.

The Conference was also a place to meet people from different backgrounds and fields of interest. During this first year as Director of the Biodynamic Association, I have experienced the clear need for a role of biodynamics within a much wider network of organisations committed to growing food with nature. There is a new sense of openness towards working together, across organisations and areas of expertise, which is very uplifting. I endorse and encourage this wider engagement between us all, and see it as rooted in the growing recognition of one of our main biodynamic principles, that soil fertility can only be truly sustainable if it is generated within the farm itself and not brought in from outside.

This is an area of practical knowledge we have been working

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on and developing for 90 years and an aspect covered well at our conference. Holistic farming for a holistic planet is the motto! The challenge is that, while we are not a campaigning organisation but rather one which shows how things can be, we need to keep asking how can we share our practices and experience in exchanges with others. How do we continue to reach more people? How can we also learn from others?

These questions are especially important given that the 5th December 2014 was the launch of the United Nations International Year of Soils. The reason they have chosen 2015 is, of course, because they realise that attention has to be urgently drawn to the terrible state of the world’s soils and their degradation and something has to be done about it. You can read the UN General Assembly’s declaration by visiting www.fao.org/soils-2015/en/, which notes that ‘soils constitute the foundation for agricultural development, essential ecosystem functions and food security and hence are key to sustaining life on Earth.’ This clear statement resonates with Wallace Fuller’s poetic words written in 1975: ‘A cloak of loose, soft material, held to the earth’s hard surface by gravity, is all that lies between life and lifelessness.’

(Wallace H. Fuller, Soils of the Desert Southwest). Another source of inspiration readers may want to experience is the film ‘Symphony of the Soil’ which is a powerful, artistic exploration of the miraculous and life-giving resource of soil (www.symphonyofthesoil.com).

We at the BDA are organising events to mark this vital theme during the coming year. One stream of activity will be to build on the 90th anniversary conference and invite a number of speakers, including Vincent Masson and Friedrich Wenz, for a series of gatherings and workshops. These will be specifically aimed at a very wide audience of gardeners, growers, farmers and those interested in the life of soils.

Please check our website in the next weeks to find out more.

And, in the spirit of shared endeavour, please do not hesitate to contact us with your ideas this Year of Soils.

Biodynamic Agri-Culture A Matter of Life …a reflection by Tom Petherick

A 90th anniversary is surely some thing to celebrate. So when the Biodynamic Association decided to hold a three-day conference to recognize the passing of 90 years since the oldest method of organic agriculture and horticulture came into being, I was delighted to join in.

A combination of keynote speeches and lectures, daily workshops and farm visits was promised from an experienced body of speakers, farmers, teachers and administrators all active in the movement. So I made my way to the Glasshouse College in Stourbridge, West Midlands, one of a number of learning centres run by the Ruskin Mill Trust, for a long Hallowe’en weekend of all things biodynamic.

I am a biodynamic farmer. My land in Devon is certified biodynamic and organic by Demeter, the international certification body that is licensed under EU law to give the mark of approval for these types of cultivation. I also do farm inspecting work for them. A big chunk of my life is taken up with this. I knew that a great deal of wisdom on the subject would be gathered at this event.

The biodynamic movement is growing. As the years pass attitudes change and eyes open. This method of land work and food production is no longer viewed merely as esoteric, rather it is being embraced by a wider world that is able to acknowledge the need for an environmentally aware and sustainable approach to the systems that support us, primarily the soil. Perhaps the defining element of successful biodynamic farming is that it is a proven means of building and maintaining soil fertility.

This very subject was the reason that the farmers and landowners gathered together in 1924 to hear the words of Dr. Rudolf Steiner on the matter. The set of eight lectures he delivered to them in June of that year became known as ‘The Agriculture Course’, the defining rock on which the biodynamic movement has been built. What came out of those teachings still forms the basis of biodynamic cultivation. To celebrate the anniversary of that weekend was why we had gathered together.

Few people know more about this sustainable approach to agriculture than Patrick Holden, Patron of the Biodynamic Association. One of the early masterminds of the Soil Association (the oldest organic certification body in the UK after Demeter), and now head of the Sustainable Food Trust, Holden runs an organic milking herd on his farm in West Wales and combines organic farming with food policy. As a young man he studied biodynamic agriculture at

Emerson College in Forest Row. He speaks the biodynamic language and that of the wider organic community. It was to him that the Association turned to open the conference.

And it was the word language that stood out in his talk.

Holden’s standpoint is that both the organic and biodynamic movements must share with the world that their farmers, growers and gardeners are stewards of the earth and therefore the vitality that lives in plants and animals grown in this way.

It is bringing this to the public that is so critical at this time for the health of the land and ultimately our own health. The way to do this, he said, is to talk the language of others, to meet them where they are rather than trying to force them to understand what it is that we bring.

The need for this type of approach has forced the both biodynamic and organic movements to examine their narrative in recent times. And here again was another urging to continue in this vein. Holden talked of the importance of forging collaborative links with the food industry and how farming and conservation must learn to co-exist. There has rarely been a keener understanding of the importance of nature in our consciousness in the modern area. This is not a moment to waste such enthusiasm because farming and food is in crisis – the direct result of an age when nature was informed by chemistry and not biology as it is now.

The opening of the conference in this way was a reminder that biodynamics remains a niche within a niche (organics), and that in order to thrive we must break free of these constraints in new ways.

It was no accident therefore that Friday night’s keynote speaker was Vincent Masson of Biodynamie in France. With his father their company makes the biodynamic ‘preparations’, the raw material that sets biodynamics apart, and sells them primarily to wine growers in France. His presentation focused on the extraordinary difference the use of biodynamics makes to soil structure and root growth in vineyards that are almost entirely monocropped and where the soils are often poor.

Friedrich Wenz, a biodynamic farmer from Freiburg in Germany also produced images that showed similar achievements. I found it curious that both of these speakers, vastly experienced in the use of the biodynamic measures, chose to reinforce their worth. This indicated to me that the audience was not only made up of the biodynamic ‘family’.

There were others here – people with little or no experience of biodynamics but who have a shared belief in the importance of where our food comes from, how it is grown and how it affects our health and our planet. Here was the

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evidence that biodynamics produces physical results.

Also present at the conference were many young people, amongst whom there is a fervent wish to have access to land and to farm it sensitively. Ella Hashemi of the Groundspring Network spoke fervently of this desire amongst young would-be farmers and growers, tired of the rat race and the pursuit of wealth in an overcrowded market.

Ella also works with the Biodynamic Land Trust, whose Director, Martin Large spoke about the need for land to come under organic and biodynamic cultivation and be held in perpetuity in this way. The Trust has been had great success with projects such as Fordhall Farm in Shropshire, Rush Farm in Worcestershire and has successfully raised enough money to begin a new farm venture, Huxham’s Farm, in Dartington, South Devon.

The days were structured around morning presentations by keynote speakers followed by workshops over the three days for all to join in. This was well thought out as it meant that the cumulative block of time allowed for strong learning. My choice was Astronomy with Ian Bailey, the study of which is a critical part of biodynamics. Other workshop choices ranged from food quality, research, sustainability, seeds and livestock. All with a biodynamic flavor.

On the Saturday there were two farm visits on offer to established biodynamic farms in the area, Rush Farm and Vale Head Farm. This gave all the delegates the chance to experience the lives of the people and the animals on a biodynamic farm. Our day finished off with a delicious feast and an athletic ceilidh.

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Finally on Sunday morning it was the turn of Gunther Hauk of Spikenard Farm in West Virginia. In a time of crisis for bees the bee man spoke with wit and wisdom of the importance of caring for this most important of creatures, just as we should care for ourselves through the food we eat and how we are in the world.

All conferences have different flavours and this one was unique again. The practice of biodynamics is one small strand of what has become known as sustainable agriculture and yet it is a very important one, not least because it is the oldest type of organic farming practiced anywhere. Its supporters take it seriously, as they do the work of its founder Rudolf Steiner. These people are comfortable with biodynamics, appreciating both the spirit and the science embodied by the work.

And yet the sense at this conference was more than of merely a celebration for a 90th anniversary or a chance for friends in this world to get together. It was of something bigger than that. This gathering felt as though it was more about the need to approach the wider issues facing agriculture today. It was a chance for the biodynamic community to say ‘we are still here and we can help’. In so many ways and over three highly enjoyable days that was precisely what it did.

pictures: Š Richard Swann Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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enthusiasms inspirations

A compilation of and from the South Devon Biodynamic Group

by Tobias Goulden, Ros Maynard, Melissa Milne, Wendy Cook (Submitted by Val Collett)

Wendy Cook An astonishing assembly of 180 attended, creating an atmosphere charged with enthusiasm and warmth. Since it was the Glasshouse, we were treated to a fiery demonstration of glass blowing on a community scale. The furnaces were blasting at 1200˚ as here burly men worked together with a mass of molten silica that had to be choreographed in a totally focused way, which only practice can allow! It was like being in a Breughel painting!

What Theatre!

Melissa Milne Life wants to Live!

Inspirational speakers, fascinating workshops, interesting people and conversation, great food and a stomping Ceilidh all fed into a lively, enriching feast of biodynamic celebration. I take much inspiration and enlightenment from the event.

My lasting impression is of an insight into the quality of life itself. How, when given the right conditions life will flourish, re-generate, perpetuate and self-regulate. Whether healing depleted soils or troubled human beings it seems the ultimate role of Biodynamics is as a tool for actively encouraging healthy life force in all manner of being. From the Conference I take a renewed understanding of Steiner’s teachings, in particular Biodynamics as ultimately tools for actively encouraging healthy life force in all manner of being.

Rosalyn Maynard This was my first Biodynamic agricultural conference and it was food for the soul.

By that I mean that over the course of the three days I met and was greeted by an extraordinary and diverse group of people, many working in the Biodynamic movement for decades and some for just a few years; apprentices, seasoned farmers, artists, philosophers, educators, writers, researchers and pioneers all deeply committed to a way of farming and a way of life that engages fully and deeply with the practice of Biodynamics.

Peter Brown opened the conference by introducing a theme running through the weekend: a call for waking up society – not just farmers but society - to the real situation regarding food and farming at the beginning of the 21st century. This theme was most passionately, sincerely and humbly addressed by Patrick Holden (the keynote speaker and the BDA chair).

Patrick began by citing recent research published in the Farmers Weekly journal suggesting that intensively farmed land in the UK has only 100 years left of harvest before all vitality in the soil will have been depleted.

Tobias Goulden A recurring theme that emerged at the conference was the question: Why has biodynamics not been taken up by more farmers and growers?

Why is it still relatively unknown within the wider population?

If it is to have a significant impact it must become more mainstream – how can this be achieved?

There were three lectures / workshops (by Friedrich Wenz, Vincent Masson and Gunther Hauk) that I found really inspiring, which in their own way offered possible answers, I think, to the above questions.

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Tyll van der Voort An Appreciation by Aonghus Gordon

(Edited transcript of the speech given at the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Tyll van der Voort at the Glasshouse College, Stourbridge during the Biodynamic Conference 2014)

‘I have been asked by the Biodynamic Association to do an honour for a very remarkable member of its pioneering spirit. This is Tyll van der Voort. When biography and vocation conjoin in such a way you see that there is a flourishing, but at the same time there are nothing but challenges. I have been asked to do a very short appreciation of Tyll’s achievements. One way to look at that is to say, where is your will in what you achieve? Is it your will? Is it a will that is deployed in such a way that it radiates possibilities, health and vibrancy.

At 28, he was an activist in Germany. He was an artist working in a design company. At that time there was a ferment in Europe. There was an awareness that things could change. He also had a yearning question around how to change the world. That was not going to be through graphics, but he discovered his aesthetics could be deployed through biodynamics and through working with anthroposophy.

That finally took him through an apprenticeship model of learning to Oaklands Park (Gloucestershire) in 1982 where Joachim Grundmann had just started a remarkable project with the Camphill movement on how you can bring biodynamics into a restorative, transformative experience for life. Now it so happens that Ruskin Mill started in 1982 too.

We then discovered in Stroud that there were these boxes of biodynamic vegetables that were being hauled out by the dozen. Remarkably cheap, vibrant vegetables.

A few years later I heard through the grapevine that if anyone wanted to see a highly honed, outstanding market

garden then it was at Oaklands Park. So I trotted along to see what was going on. There I saw this boundless field of energy. Not just Tyll, but like a community of bees working heads down and beautiful vegetables. I was stunned. What I really saw, as a fellow artist, was an aesthetic. It was an aesthetic predominating social production.

Well sooner or later I had a knock on the door from Tyll. He had a request. Would Ruskin Mill join him in a vision that he and Bernard Jarman had been considering in setting up an apprenticeship programme. I said of course.

How else can we actually ensure succession in education and social care institutions without an apprenticeship programme. He then launched with his colleagues the Severn Bore Group. That was an affiliation of local Camphill communities, Kolisko Farm and Ruskin Mill. The biodynamic movement put on what is actually now a thriving apprenticeship programme that many of the young people, which we heard during this weekend, are still taking part in. It has in fact grown the biodynamic movement So in the appreciation of biography we need to look at how your will is deployed. Is it a weekend will? Or is it a cultural shifting will? Tyll’s will is a cultural shifting will. After that there was a bit of a rumble in the press. I was reading my Guardian one morning and read how Oaklands Park was defying DEFRA and they had refused to allow a government agency to come in and slaughter the cows (Ed: This was at the time of the Foot and Mouth epidemic). I followed this on a national level and here was a resilient community saying no! And they got away with it.

In 2000 Tyll then undertook a master’s degree in organisational management. I remember him sending me some really interesting books. These were ‘mind changers’

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pictures: © Richard Swann

about how things were working out in new business organisations. Out of that came the initiative with The George (in Newnham, Gloucestershire).

But possibly more remarkably was the sense that things had to change in Camphill. There were conversations that led me to believe that maybe one day Tyll might be working in Ruskin Mill. It was a very slow process. And as these conversations took place then an opportunity arose when Clervaux, a project in collaboration with Ruskin Mill, started up in Darlington. Sybille and Tyll came to that project and what was motivating them above all else was the cultural renewal through aesthetics. Biodynamics was a method, which is an interesting distinction.

With Tyll in the garden and Sybille in the craft room, a remarkable initiative took place, which I think is still in development. It was a young teenage mother’s programme.

These teenage mothers came from Darlington and they were about to have their ‘bambinis’ requisitioned by social services because these were at risk. They came over into the garden and the workshop as a collaborative measure between Tyll and Sybille. Within 6 weeks these little babies had been taken off the risk register!

So what was going on. It was will. It was will that had been transformed. Rudolf Steiner describes so beautifully in his pedagogical course, instinct, impulse, desire, motivation, wish and into the love of the deed. So when vocation and biography become love of the deed anything can change. This we saw in that collaboration between the gardener and the crafts workshop at Clervaux with those little children. That project was researched and we now know that those teenage

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mothers are now digging gardens with their ‘bambinis’.

So at that time something of a total transformation took place and that was because of two things. Tyll joined the trustee board of Ruskin Mill and soon after he discovered that he had a very serious illness. It is not too far to say that he faced death’s door. So what does a biodynamic practitioner do if they understand how to use their will. They go into self-transformation. And it’s one of the most humbling experiences to see somebody to apply their life’s vocation to themselves. So deep internally that the will of the activity of the vegetables you grow yourself and for the community is part of the healing process. So there has been a rebirth and whilst he was undertaking that rebirth in facing a life challenge with death not far behind the door, he undertook a further transformation of High Riggs Nursery and Garden Centre in Sheffield. Within a few months and with such resilience and vison he passed that on to a new vision of biodynamics at Freeman College. Then Peter van Vliet came to take that project forward.

So what we see is a constant effort and will to transform the world and the ability to also transform oneself. You will agree that he is a living example of vibrancy and quality in that respect. So this Lifetime Award is for your work not just in the UK because I also am aware that countless Biodynamic apprentices come from around the world and they see the quality of your work.’

An interview with Tyll will appear in a future issue of Star and Furrow

The Call of the Great Bee in these Critical Times

By Gunther Hauk

An edited extract from his keynote lecture at the Biodynamic Conference: Biodynamic Agri-Culture: A Matter of Life (revised by lecturer)

We all know that bees are in a crisis; not only the bees, but the bees foremost. ‘What actually is a crisis?’ If you look at the etymological dictionary, you find out that the Greek word ‘krisis’ is related to the German ‘Kreis’ and the English ‘circle’. The uniqueness of a circle is that wherever you stand, if you want to go to another place, you have to change direction. ‘Change direction’: that is the call of any crisis.

There are small crises; that is like getting a tap on your shoulder. And there are huge crises; that is like having a pistol pointed at you. I think that is where we are right now, because we have had several crises in the last 100 - 150 years, each one growing in size. We all know about the crises concerning the frightening reduction in food quality and the tremendous decrease of fertility of the land, of the animals in a short span of time.

The interesting thing is that each time there are solutions given to overcome a crisis, solutions that are appropriate and some that are not. The solution we have received in the biodynamic lectures to help overcome the mentioned crises was a very, very deep and appropriate solution, but now, 90 years later, we can say it was not heeded enough. Of course, the Hitler regime and World War II destroyed a lot of potential. At that time biodynamics, the Waldorf School and Anthroposophy were forbidden.

In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, there was another great crisis, when huge areas in the United States were sprayed with DDT against mosquitoes. Rachel Carson then wrote her book ‘Silent Spring’. Her friend Marjorie Spock was a eurythmist and, having died just a few years ago at 103,

one of the last persons to know Steiner personally. She had a biodynamic garden on Long Island and she was so angry about the spraying that she sued the state of New York.

Every day when she came home from the hearings – Ehrenfried Pfeiffer had to go to those hearings in New York to say something about biodynamics, and how dangerous DDT was – Marjorie wrote something about that day, and those writings led to the book ‘Silent Spring’, the first really great ecological wake-up call we have. But the message of that book was not heeded either.

As a matter of fact, at the end of the 20th century, in Spring Valley we were going to be sprayed for the West Nile virus by plane, and four of us went to the local Health Department and said, ‘We have a biodynamic farm and garden.

If you’re going to spray us, you’re going to deal with a law suit.’ They did not really understand that, because people were clamouring, ‘Why didn’t we get sprayed yet?’

In the conversation with those top officials of the Health Department, it became clear that they had not even heard of the book Silent Spring! So we repeat the same mistakes and the madness continues.

I returned to the United States in August ‘96, and two months later, an article in the New York Times appeared, ‘The Hush of the Hives’. There were gardens and farms, but the bees had disappeared. Of course, I knew, from my work as a gardening teacher and beekeeper in Germany, that it was not only the Varroa mites or the pesticides that were killing the bees, but it was also the modern beekeeping methods themselves. Two months later I gave my first ‘organic beekeeping’ workshop at the biodynamic Hawthorne Valley farm in Harlemville, upper state New York.

At that time, the solutions offered against Varroa

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mites were chemical solutions. They searched for a chemical that would kill all the mites - a silver bullet! Of course, we know that silver bullets exist only in Hollywood.

I then wrote the book, ‘Towards Saving The Honey Bee’, now it is in its third edition. Very slowly a new awareness began to surface, that there might be something wrong with the way we keep and treat bees, not only with the immense use of pesticides and insecticides. Up to today the only thing you read in the newspaper is that the neonicotinoids, a very invasive kind of chemical, are killing the bees, that trucking the bees up to 100,000 miles a year is stressful, and that corn syrup is not really good for them. Nothing else is questioned.

However, the beekeeping methods were and still are very invasive, which has to do with making beekeeping into a profession. When you have a business, you cannot be losing money; you have to make money. So everything that was invented from the end of the 19th century on, was to make beekeeping more profitable. It was actually highly interesting for me to realise why the bees are in such a bad state. Why do we not have the same powerful crisis with the cows, the chickens and the pigs? We actually do, but most people do not know that on some of those industrialised farms in the United States, the cow has a life expectancy of four to five years, down from 20 or more. The chickens cannot hatch their own eggs anymore because that is done in the incubator. And the poor pigs, they do not lead a very happy life either. The daily use of antibiotics mask the true state of illness. But here lies the difference: there are still many cows kept on pasture, chickens running around on small farms.

On the other hand, all of the aggressive beekeeping methods, except migratory beekeeping, have filtered down to almost every hobby beekeeper.

© Photos courtesy if Gunther and Vivian Hauk

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So practically all the domesticated animals are suffering greatly, and it is really the bees that are treated worst. Yet, I have not met a beekeeper, whether hobby- or professional, who does not love the bees. It seems that everybody loves his/her bees, no matter what they do to them. But love the bees or not, the beekeepers have their profession, and the aim is to make money and stay in business, so everything is focused on that. Not long ago, there was an advertisement in the major beekeeping journals in America, journals that are read by hobby beekeepers as well as professional ones: ‘We asked some bees what would make them more profitable’.

That is the gist of the problem. We cannot work with nature, with the land, with the animals, in the same way as we can work in industry. In other words, there it is reasonable to get big and bigger, and to specialize. But the laws of nature are the laws of life: there is a size limit to an organism, and diversity is what creates and maintains life.

How did it happen that we forgot basic insights into these laws of life and supplanted them with those applicable to industry? Let us remember that the honeybee came out of the mystery centres of Atlantis, when the animals were not as fixed as they are now, still more pliable and not as solid as now. In the Ancient Persian and Egyptian times, the honeybee was still really part of the temple scene, considered a sacred animal. In Ancient Greek times, the female servants in the temple were called bees, ‘melissa’.

Thus, out of the temple scene, the bee came to the monks in Christian times. Up to the 20th century, the monks made the major inventions that led to beekeeping becoming a profession. In very recent times, Brother Adam here in the UK was one of the last monks who revolutionized bee keeping with a ‘Buckfast bee’, a hybridised bee that was also supposed to be a kind of silver bullet.

It was only in the 19th century with the beginning of public education, that teachers became beekeepers and, with the help of the Industrial Revolution and the great advances in technology, beekeeping was able to become a profession.

A materialistic worldview took hold and a spiritual understanding of life, of the world was lost. Everything that was invented ––removable frames, hive boxes that you can move around, sugar feeding and artificial queen breeding––made beekeeping easier for the beekeeper and, most importantly, more profitable.

The biggest beekeeper in America, just a few years ago, had 70,000 colonies. Two years ago he lost a third of them, which is about the average losses each year in America. So you can imagine 23,000 hive boxes of dead bees in a row!

That is what is happening in America, and it is happening more and more all over the world, wherever modern beekeeping has been adopted.

Let me just explain a few things that have been invented that really go against the nature and the health of the bee. One is moving bees from one monoculture to the next, which ignores the fact that the bee is an insect that loves to explore the vicinity and the diversity of ‘weeds’. There may be 50,000 acres of rapeseed, certainly enough food for them, but what they really need is to explore the eyebright and the plantain, and all the medicinal plants that are in an area. That guarantees their health, not being driven from monoculture to monoculture.

Some of the beekeepers in America take their bees at the end of January from Florida or New York over to California for the almonds and the citrus fruit, then back to New Jersey for the cranberries, up to New York for the apples, to Maine for the blueberries, and down to Florida again. Up to 100,000 miles a year, from one monoculture, one insecticide,

one pesticide, to the next one!

Of course, the beekeepers now know that this is a stress on the bees, but in order to stay in business, they have to do it. Just as in politics, the cause of the problem is found in everything else but their own methods. One of our infamous presidents indicated a few years ago, that the ‘axis of evil’ is in North Korea, over there, far away; certainly not here at home. However, the axis of evil is really right here, in our own heart; it is not over there somewhere, and if we don’t tackle it where it lies, then there will be wars everywhere else; small ones at our own hearth, big ones as we can witness daily.

It is amazing all we invented to serve our businessmodel of beekeeping: removable frames, wax and even plastic foundation, artificial queen breeding, and queen excluders, just to name of few things that really do not serve the bees at all. It has gone so far that if you order a new box and a starter kit, you automatically get plastic frames, coated with a bit of wax. The bees have to construct their honeycomb onto that. Just imagine, that is where they raise their brood!

In my workshops, I am quite drastic and I ask the women ‘Would you like a plastic insert in your uterus for raising your baby?’ Nobody ever says ‘yes’!

In Steiner’s lectures on bees, which I hope all of you read, because they are so full of information and inspiration, there was a beekeeper, (Herr Müller), and he was so enthusiastic about all those new inventions, like creating queens out of worker larvae. He said, ‘Yes, now the colonies are bigger and they give us more honey.’ Steiner was so courteous, he did not say, ‘You’re all wrong.’ As a matter of fact, in that lecture, he did not say anything, but a few lectures later he said, ‘Well, we can notice the changes and the damages right away, but if that is kept up, the bee might not survive the end of

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the century.’ That is how grave these modern inventions are.

I will try to explain that a little bit to you. You see the worker bees are all raised in hexagonal cells and the egg is in a horizontal position. The queen, on the other hand, is raised in a round cell, like the cup of an acorn, and the egg is then pointing towards the sun, is in a vertical, not a horizontal position. Beekeepers found out, already in the 19th century, that the bees could make an emergency queen, if the queen is lost, by taking a young worker larva, changing the shape of the cell into a round structure and positioning it vertically.

Nowadays, about 99.9% of our queens are raised that way, and the difference we do not really notice right away, because the queen outwardly still looks like a queen. But you can imagine that in this horizontal plane, here on Earth, we all work for each other. This is a social reality. The worker bees work, in an unsurpassed social gesture, for all of nature and for the well-being of each other and the entire colony.

But the queen has to be connected to the sun from the very beginning, and that is why she develops from egg to finished insect in that vertical position. That position in us is also connected to our own royalty. Everyone has such a royal ‘I’ in our being, letting us ‘stand up’ for our rights, be an ‘upright’ person.

Year by year we have bred a bit of the royalty out of the queen. That is why Steiner was able to say that the joy will not last long. ‘Let’s talk in 80 years’, he said. So in 2003 they talked, and Mr. Müller had to admit that Steiner was right, that we are in a great danger of losing the bee if we continue raising queens out of worker larvae.

Another aspect of our greed to get the most out of our bees is when you see huge trucks filled with corn syrup

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driving to the professional apiaries. Each hive gets about four gallons of corn syrup, all genetically manipulated of course, as a winter feed. All the honey is taken, and the bees have to survive on corn syrup. It is even cheaper than sugar.

So you can see that practically everything that is being done in modern beekeeping is determined by asking, ‘How can I profit from it?’

The time has now come when I have to say – well, it is really the ‘Parsifal question’-- ‘What ails thee? What’s wrong with you? What hurts you? What can I do for you?’

And not, ‘How much honey/money do I get out of you?’

When people find out I am a beekeeper I still get asked, ‘How much honey did you get from your bees last year?’ I usually counter with, ‘What did you get out of your husband last year?’ Or, ‘What did you get out of your wife last year?’

They look stunned at first, and then I can ask, ‘Does this question point to a loving relationship?’ The answer is clear!

But we are so used to asking, ‘What can I get out of you?

How much milk? How many eggs? How many pounds of bacon?’ We have to wake up to the fact that this is not a relationship governed by love.

We really have to see, as beekeepers, that we can do a lot for the bees already by changing our beekeeping methods. We do not have to wait until the US Department of Agriculture, or the equivalent institution in Britain, says that conventional agriculture has to change and do away with all the insecticides, pesticides, and monocultures. I do not think we can wait for that. I think the catastrophe and the crisis have to grow exponentially before that happens, before change comes from the top down.

The change has to come from the ground up, and we are so fortunate to have the bees in such a serious crisis that

we are beginning to re-examine what we are doing to the bee. The honeybee is only the tip of the iceberg of a greater problem: how do we work with nature? What laws guide our work and methods? There is a wonderful book you should read by Nicolaus Remer (I think it is out of print) called ‘Laws of Life in Agriculture’.

So, what are the bees really asking us? What is their language? How do they tell us that they are suffering? Their language is their state of health, their illness; the same holds true for the cows, pigs, chickens and goats. They cannot voice it, but their state of health tells us that they are suffering. What it takes is actually a huge step in that circle, from going straight down into the utter destruction of nature, over to the side that brings us into the upward direction.

A drastic change is called for in beekeeping and agriculture, and this is where we have insights and knowledge from Rudolf Steiner that are a tremendous help. Not that we exclude common good knowledge; good organic practices are the basis for biodynamics, you cannot have a good biodynamic farm or garden, if you do not adhere to good, organic practices.

But the call goes deeper than that, asking for a spiritual understanding of what makes up an organism and what are its needs. When I give a talk to organic farmers and ask, ‘What makes your farm organic?’ They tell me, ‘Well, I don’t use these chemicals, I use the other ones.’ They can actually have a monoculture and still be certified organic.

But many do not really understand their farm as a living organism. What does an organism then have? Well, it has organs. Where are the organs on your farm? Your fields are one organ, your pastures another, your hedgerows, your woods, your pond, your stream; these are all organs. With such an

understanding, you can begin to create a true farm organism and pose the question: ‘Do I only have a lung, but no liver, and where is the spleen?’

The call is definitely a spiritual one; one that says, ‘Overcome your materialistic understanding of nature’.

Therefore, the problems facing us in agriculture, in animal husbandry, point to a spiritual crisis, one that underlies all the other crises we have, the economic crisis, the social crisis, the education crisis, the crisis in the arts, in the sciences and so on. All of these are actually spiritual crises, and the one facing agriculture on the whole lies at their very core. Steiner once said, ‘If we do not spiritualise our understanding of nature, we will not be able to go forward in evolution.’ It is a very drastic statement.

This is the question now that the bees are raising, ‘Can you, human being, overcome your materialism, and with it, your selfish aims?’ As in all relationships, it is not appropriate any more to ask, ‘What can I get out of you?’ Hilde Pfeiffer, who was a gardener at a beautiful biodynamic farm in Heidenheim with Fritz Stattler, used to say, ‘We don’t have to beat the earth and whip it to give us what we need; you just stroke it, you love it, you give it what it needs, and it will generously give you everything you need.’ She had such a beautiful, bountiful garden, radiant with health.

Yes, we do not have to beat the animals either. With enough understanding and love we can really do a lot. True love is not just a feeling, it is really only possible through understanding the needs of the other one. The crucial question is, ‘How can I further you? What can I do to help you?’

The honeybee is now suffering due to our lack of understanding, our bottom-line orientation, and we are not going to reverse things in beekeeping right away, because

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everything else is still around the greed, the poisons, the mono-cultures, the aggression, the cell phone towers, and our own inabilities; all of that stands in the way. What we have to do is to train our perception and find out what actually is going on in nature. We are finding out remarkable things that are happening in the animal world at the present time.

I receive many YouTube clips from people and one I got about an elk in a zoo and he is moo-ing, looking around, standing by a big vessel with water, and nobody is coming there. All of a sudden, that elk puts one antler into the water and pulls out a little animal, and saves it.

So there are new things happening. The bees are not only swarming in May and June, but they are now already swarming in July, August, and September. Last year we had a swarm in October. At first you think, ‘A swarm in October? I don’t think I’m sober.’

So when we had that swarm in October, we were actually up in the air, we were helpless to find out, ‘Why did that colony swarm so late? It’s plain suicide.’ So my wife dowsed the ten possible hives that the swarm could have come from.

The dowsing indicated one colony, which gave a positive answer to a question.

I opened the hive, sure enough, new queen cells were there and no old queen present. Sure enough, that was the colony that swarmed. Then Vivian said, ‘But the one right next to it doesn’t really give me a clear answer.’ So she went back and still getting no answer, she asked, ‘Do you have a queen?’ Negative answer. So I opened the hive: no brood, no

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eggs, no larvae, no pupae, no queen. We were able to give the swarm to that hive and save it. It seems that the colonies, as separate as they appear, are also interconnected and are able to help each other.

Such miraculous things are developing in the animal world, in relation to the human being, too. We have to become sensitive, we have to train our perception and become aware of the changes happening all around us. Rudolf Steiner spoke about the great changes coming toward us in the near future, changes that surpass our present understanding. In the second agriculture lecture, he said, ‘We are also faced with a great inner transformation in nature’. He then goes on to say that if we do not learn from the interrelatedness in nature and the whole cosmos, human life will degenerate and die off.

It is the bees with their silent but powerful message that are trying hard to awaken us so that human life can continue and eventually thrive.

Further information Gunther Hauk is a gardener, lecturer and beekeeper. He and his wife are the founders of The Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary in Virginia, USA. Find out more visit http://spikenardfarm.org/. He is also author of the book ‘Towards Saving the Honeybee’. Published by Bio-dynamic Farming & Gardening Association Inc.,U.S. (Available from the BDA Webshop). He starred in the film ‘Queen of the Sun: What are the bees telling us’ (http://www.queenofthesun.com/).

The full version of this lecture is available to view via a video on the BDA website: www.biodynamic.org.uk

Albury Vineyard Interview with Nick Wenman (and occasional input from Monty Waldin)

by Richard Swann

A revolution is taking place in the wine world.

UK sparkling wines are presenting a strong challenge to the famous Champagne. In Surrey, Nick Wenman is part of that revolution.

Not only is he working on producing a top class sparkling wine but is also managing his vineyard biodynamically to bring out the best in the grapes.

Nick retired in 2006 to set up a vineyard in Albury in the Surrey Hills. Like a good wine, the idea had been well matured with years of preparation visiting vineyards in France and other countries as well as the UK. As luck had

it, whilst attending a wine course he met one of the foremost experts on wine in the UK, Stephen Skelton, who persuaded him that is was possible to make top quality wines in the UK, which would be economically viable. Stephen was very supportive in helping chose and establishing the site for Nick’s vineyard.

Albury Vineyard is sited on the Albury Estate owned by the Duke of Northumberland. The plot that Nick rents on a long-term lease is five hectares. It is also fortuitous that the soil is excellent for growing grapes being a clay on chalk, which is very similar to large parts of Champagne. The vines were planted in 2009.

Photo © Richard Swann

Richard We therefore chose predominantly the grape varieties What varieties of grapes are you growing and why did you that are used in Champagne, which are Chardonnay, Pinot choose those?

Noir and Pinot Meunier.

We have a little bit of Pinot Gris and some Seyval, Nick which is a grape variety that is fairly disease resistant in this The commercial reality for most vineyards in the UK is that country that does quite well, but the traditional Champagne they are focusing on producing top quality sparkling wine varieties represent 90% of the vines. and there are two reasons for that.

One is because you make top quality sparkling wine Richard from fairly acidic grape juice, so if you don’t get fantastically Which variety does best? hot summers and the acids remain fairly high, you can still make great sparkling wine. It is a cool climate wine and we Nick have a cool climate here, rather like Champagne.

They are all different. This year the Pinot Meunier was parThe other reality is that it is not cheap to make wine ticularly good. It’s the winemaker’s favourite from this year. in this country and therefore you have to choose a product, Chardonnay is a classic Champagne variety. ‘Blanc de which is going to get you a premium price in the marketblanc’ Champagne is made just from Chardonnay grapes place; English sparkling wine achieves that. and it certainly adds a fantastic dimension to any sparkling

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wine. It can be quite tricky in this country. In our experience it’s probably the most prone to downy mildew, probably powdery mildew as well.

It is most difficult to keep disease under control with the Chardonnay, probably more so than the Pinots I would say.

Pinot Noir gives a summer fruit flavour, which we also use to make a still rosé wine.

© pics courtesy of Nick Wenman

Richard What have been your biggest challenges?

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Nick Frost can be a big challenge for most years. Fortunately, in 2014, we didn’t have a big frost issue, but in 2013, it was a real challenge at the beginning of the year just after the vines have budded.

Any gardener knows that April, even into May, is highrisk period. Frosts can burn the buds off and, whilst vines have secondary and tertiary buds, you never get as much fruit and there’s not enough time to ripen it, especially in this country.

The two big challenges for organic and biodynamic are of course weeds and disease control.

With weeds, we used a huge amount of wood chip mulch to establish the vines. That’s quite expensive, not so much the wood chip itself but transport and application costs. You have to use hardwood and it has to be clean, but it is the transport, getting it there and then putting it out on the vineyard. It worked really well for the first few years and gave the vines a chance to establish. We also have an under-vine cultivator, which we use which seems to be working well.

Even if you are not organic and biodynamic, a lot of vineyards are moving away from the traditional herbicides because they realise that it just kills all the goodness and biodiversity in the soil. Healthy soil is the basis for producing quality fruit and ultimately great wine.

When it comes to disease, we use compost teas but we also use some sulphur and copper which is the traditional way of controlling downy and powdery mildew. We also use potassium bicarbonate and of course the biodynamic preparations, which also help to preventative disease. The big difference between non-organic or non-biodynamic is that you only have preventatives in your armoury, as you cannot use systemic chemicals.

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Richard You have already seen the effects of the organic viticulture.

Nick Our first wines have won awards and sell out within a few months of release, which is testimony to the quality of the wine. During the first few years, an organic approach has required us to spend more time on the vineyard but I am very lucky to have a vineyard manager Alex who is committed to the vineyard and cares for every single vine as much as I do.

What I learnt from those first few years was if you do put that care and attention there is no reason why you cannot have a strong, healthy vineyard, with better quality fruit and healthier vines, without the need to spray them with nasty chemicals.

It was clear that there was nothing stopping us going forward with that approach so we decided to look at biodynamics as well.

Richard Have you had any wobbly moments?

Nick In terms of moving away from organics, no. We have had a slight wobble in a very difficult year because there are tight restrictions on the use of copper on a biodynamic vineyard.

But so far we have not had any real cause for concern about the viability of organic or biodynamic viticulture.

Richard The next big step is biodynamic. What moved you in that direction? Were you influenced by the top vineyards?

Nick Yes, the fact that so many of the top vineyards in the world are biodynamic was certainly a factor. They often do not advertise the fact that they are biodynamic but they produce fantastic wines that you say there has to be something in this.

It was also good to meet people like Monty Waldin, as well as the guys at Laverstoke, who are all passionate about biodynamics.

I have to confess that I do not really understand how biodynamics works in any detail. There is some science behind certain elements of it but I refuse to write off things

just because they cannot be scientifically explained.

There are loads of things I do not understand but they work somehow. There is not a huge amount more you have to do once you are making the step to organics to be biodynamic.

You have to believe in it, use the preparations and try to follow the phases of the moon, but overall it’s an holistic approach that requires you to personally care for your vines; if you’re doing that anyway, it is not much more effort to be biodynamic.

I have a vineyard manager Alex. When she joined us she was nicknamed ‘chemical Ali’. She worked at Wisley for 10 years and was far from convinced about organic and biodynamic viticulture. But she has completely come around to organics and even biodynamics to a degree.

She said to me, ‘You’ve got to understand I’m a scientist. How can I believe in biodynamics?’ I said, ‘Alex, there are lots and lots of eminent scientists who believe in God. Being a scientist doesn’t stop them believing in God.’ There are lots of things that are real which can’t today be explained scientifically.

Richard You have had two years of biodynamics, you converted in 2012, didn’t you? I have noticed on your blog that you have also been making biodynamic preparations.

Richard Where does the fertility for the vineyard come from?

Nick We’re sourcing two things from Laverstoke which a big biodynamic farm near us. One is the buffalo muck. We’ve had 50 tons arrived over the last couple of weeks, and we’ve got another 50 tons of certified green waste compost arriving soon. We also spray the canopy during the growing period with garlic, seaweed and some other folia feeds Richard Maybe we should talk about the actual wines. What wines are you making?

Nick Our core aim is to produce top quality sparkling wine because commercially and from a quality viewpoint, that makes sense in this country.

We’ll have what the English call a ‘classic cuvee’ which is made from the three different grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. We will produce a English blanc de blanc which will be made just from Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc, and a rosé sparkling from the pinots.

The process of making quality sparkling wine, using the same method as Champagne, takes many years and as a result our first sparkling wine won’t be released until early Nick Yes, we have, we’ve been making preparations and we’ve got next year (2015) from the grapes we planted in 2009. For our compost pile now and we’ll be putting all of our prepa- this reason we decided to also make a still rosé which we call Silent Pool Rosé. rations in our compost.

That’s now certified organic made from I’ve also been talking to Monty about using some biodynamic grapes. It’s done really well and was served on biodynamic preparations together with the sulphur and the Royal Barge as part of the Jubilee celebrations and was the copper. voted in the top 10 rosés in the world by the Independent With copper for example, one of the problems you have is that it tends to harden up the grapes and slows down a couple of months ago. It is also served at the Royal Opera the ripening process, and obviously that’s not terribly desir- House as well.

It is a crisp, dry rosé, made mainly from Pinot Noir able in this country. and some Pinot Meunier. We are delighted with it.

Our latest project is this Petillant Naturel. It will be Monty known as Monty’s Pet Nat, and it will be the very first Pet Nettle has a softening effect on the plant, and you can combine it because you’ve put in the copper with the nettle. Nat in England and certified biodynamic.

You’re not making an extra trip with the tractor, so there’s no extra labour or fuel costs, it’s just adding some nettle tea or nettle liquid manure if you add to your copper.

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Richard Tell me more about that.

Monty I was sitting at home one day getting a bit of an earful from my partner about not ever doing any work, although I was writing one book and about to write another one. I just thought, I like Pet Nat sparkling wines as a concept, I like drinking them, and I no one’s done it in England before.

I had met Nick at Laverstoke about two or three years ago, I’m from Winchester and Nick was around that area and he gave me a lift up to Laverstoke and we got chatting.

I had this idea one day about a year ago, and I wrote to him and told him, literally within a minute I’d banged out an email to him and I thought he might not reply or give me a very polite brush off, but he was positive.

Then we developed the idea a little bit and now we’ve got some wine in the tank. It is due to be bottled early this year.

Richard It originally comes from France or Italy?

Monty That’s a good question, probably from France. You have what’s called the méthode ancestrale which is the ancestral method of making sparkling wine which was literally just making a white wine and bottling it whilst it was still fermenting so you got the slight cloudiness because the yeast is still digesting the sugar.

Basically what happens in fermentation is yeast eats sugar and farts carbon dioxide which are the bubbles and shits alcohol, that’s what the process of winemaking is.

In the old days they bottled these wines early in the new year when they hadn’t finished fermenting but they were quiet because it was cold, the ambient temperature.

In spring, as the temperature warmed up, the yeast in the bottle would still continue to convert sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol. So when you opened the bottle, there’d be a pop, and so, petillant means lightly sparkling, naturel means naturally made, nothing added.

That’s really where the idea comes from, it’s probably from France but it’s a heritage style. It’s a wine that’s almost made by accident.

Richard To meet the challenge of making biodynamic wine you have been making pied de cuve as a way to inoculate the fermentation.

Nick We’ve done that two years running now and we’ve done it for the Pet Nat because one of the things that we said we definitely wanted to do with Pet Nat was as to be natural as possible so we decided to use the biodynamic benchmark as our platform for producing it.

The big difference when you’re making biodynamic as opposed to organic wine is that you have to use natural yeasts. There are other differences but that’s the core one, and in this country that’s tricky.

I think for us it’s particularly difficult because we don’t have our own winery so we can’t build up our own natural yeast within the winery.

The obvious way to do it is to make this pied de cuve, and that seems to have worked really well for the Chardonnay that we’ve used for the Pet Nat. We did it the year before for a barrel of Chardonnay we produced that we’ve now made a quality sparkling wine from which will be released in 2016.

I’m really interested in the possibility of cultivating a yeast from our vineyard that we can then add to the wine to kick start the fermentation.

To find out more about Albury Vineyard and to follow Nick’s blog see: http://www.alburyvineyard.com

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Waltham Place

We can get rid of the bad guys and we can isolate these natural yeasts from the vineyard, and then we have a little bit more control. I know it’s nice not to be in control andjust let things happen, but you do have to balance that with commercial reality as well.

What we’re really trying to achieve here are the flavours from the yeast which are characteristic of our Place vineyard. Fleury in Champagne do exactly that. TheyWaltham have identified the yeasts the y want from their vineyard and cultivated them.

‘Working with nature’

Waltham‘Working Placewith nature’ ‘Working with nature’

Monty We did that in Germany when I was working there. It’s becoming quite common now for organic and biodynamic growers to take samples of yeasts from their vineyard to isolate the strains that are good and then to have them, ‘put them in packet form’ so it’s actually your yeast.

The next stage will be vineyard owners actually taking the yeast from individual plots within their overall vineyard, so you might have one yeast in your rosé block, one yeast for your sparkling block, one yeast in your red block.

Then according to the year, you can then say they’re all of our yeasts, but we might add the rosé yeast to the white wine this year to give it a bit more fruit.

-

Monty If you’re making a white wine, you can buy yeasts that -will give you a banana flavour, a lemon flavour, a lime flavour, a grapefruit flavour, but you can loose the unique flavour – characteristics of the vineyard

Richard – the wine club?

Do you want to say something about

Nick We’re not a huge wine producer and don’t have any intentions of being so, so one of the big things for us is local.

People buy into you, I think almost as important as organic and biodynamic is the provenance of where products come from.

We’ve got a huge support locally of people who want to buy our products and want to be involved with the vineyard.

The wine club was all about that and it was quite in– teresting for me because initially I thought it’s an excuse for me and my friends and family to get together now and again and taste a few wines and have a bit of fun.

I put it on the website and initially I said it can only be 50 members, expecting most of them to be people I knew, and it was all signed up within three months mostly by people I didn’t know!

The wine club has become great community in its own right but it also good commercially because we’ve now got 70 or 80 members, and their partners, who support the vineyard, and we’ll probably build that a little bit. It’s a nice hard core of people who not only buy your wine and come to your events but also tell other people about it as well.

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Enjoy a Seasonal Walk at Waltham Place in 2015 -

Snowdrop Walk - 31st January

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Nick Most people who are not in the wine business don’t understand that the yeast adds a huge amount of flavour to the wine. Traditional winemakers, when they want to make- say a traditional Pinot Noir, have specific yeasts that they will choose to give the wine that characteristic that they’re looking for in the final product.

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Daffodil Walk - 21st March

- April Bluebell Walk - 18th - May Spring Walk -16th -

All walks start at 2pm at the Ormandy Centre.

- Under 5’s free.

Adults £7 Children £3 (5-16 years).

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One Day Courses at Waltham Place in 2015 Hedgelaying Course - Thursday 5th March

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Bread Making Course - Wednesday 25th February Preserving Fruit Course - Wednesday 18th March Bread Making Course - Wednesday 29th April Macrophotography Course - Friday June 26th All courses cost £75 (includes lunch and refreshments) and run from 9.30am –4pm from the Ormandy Centre.

Special Interest Days at Waltham Place in 2015

Join us on one of our special days throughout the year as we celebrate the Fauna, Flora, Food and Philosophy of Waltham Place. Planned events for – 2015 include an Oxen Day, Butterfly Walk, Fleece to Fabric Day, Moth Night and Sowing the Future amongst other things.

See website for details. www.walthamplace.com Dawn Chorus Walk with Brian Clews - Saturday 18th April 5.30am –7.30am £7.50 to include breakfast.

Celebrating 30 years with the National Garden Scheme – Wednesday 20th May 2015 – the NGS and hear about their work Meet a representative from efore taking a tour of the gardens.

Booking essential: T: 01628 825517 E: estateoffice@walthamplace.com Waltham Place Farm, Church Hill, White Waltham, Berks. SL6 3JH Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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Illustration © Magdalena Lorenz

At the Heart of Biodynamic Agriculture: The Preparations

By Vincent Masson

To introduce this topic, we need to realize or remember that agriculture is the foundation of many aspects of daily life: health and health care products, food, clothing as well as landscapes, water quality and the earth’s capacity to sustain life.

Biodynamic agriculture was put forward by Rudolf Steiner in response to problems caused by several decades of intensification of farming practice far removed from Nature and Life, as well as problems due to weakening vitality and fertility of the Earth.

The ‘Agriculture Course’ is the first course on general ecology and gives an outlook on the co-evolution of the Earth and the human being in a widened context reaching to the cosmos.

Steiner’s view of agriculture is vast and all encompassing. The farmer is seen in a greater context, where many interactions are formed between the life of the soil and the life of the plants, animals and the people on the farm. He points out the relationships between the life on the farm and the wildlife in the surrounding environment: insects, earth worms, animals, birds, hedges, trees, forests, wetlands.

He also takes into consideration the wider influences of the planet Earth and other planets, the stars and the spiritual world.

Taking into account these diverse and complex considerations, his approach encourages us to look at agriculture in a completely different way.

The ideal of a diversified farm and of the farm as an individualised organism form the firm and solid foundation for well-balanced agriculture, resulting in healthy soil, plants, animals and people. This balance is reflected economically on the farm by reducing the need to bring in elements from outside sources, and is also beneficial on a larger scale, economically and ecologically, making farmers less dependent on industry, transport services and outside sourcing in general.

Agriculture that is coherent and creates health does not only act on the soil, plants, animals and human food production. It also becomes a factor of health for the whole society.

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In addition to this broad understanding of agriculture and the living, Steiner urges the farmer to take an active role in the future of the planet, by introducing a totally new dimension: the production and use of the biodynamic preparations.

These preparations, if prepared and implemented correctly, support the development of soil fertility and the health of plants grown on these soils. They open far-reaching perspectives for a new quality of agricultural production and the support of man in his psycho-spiritual evolution.

THE BIODYNAMIC PREPARATIONS First of all, the horn manure or 500 preparation, which reinforces the link to the Earth and builds fertility and structure in the soil. n The six compost preparations1. They contribute to the building of new substances in the compost heap and increase substance mobility in the soil. n Based on the work of Alex Podolinsky2 in Australia, we use the 500P (Prepared 5003) that brings together the two building impulses of 500 and the six compost preparations.

500P helps plants to create substance and encourages the development of vertical root growth and depth. It plays a major role in nourishing the rhizosphere, contributes to the creation of humus and soil structure. It helps plants to find in the soil the life and nutrients necessary for healthy growth. n 501 is a ‘health builder’ for plant growth. It brings an upright structure and individualized leaf positioning clearly visible on the following photos. 501 also improves the qualities of agricultural products.

These preparations, used in minute quantities in a colloidal state impulse amazing transformations in soil and plants. This colloidal condition is ‘the bridge between substance and process’ (Friedrich Benesch).

The use of all the preparations, plus the Equisetum Arvense (common horsetail) decoction is a major contribution to salutogenesis 4in agriculture. Each of the preparations should be used at least once and preferably several times during the farming season depending on the crop and prevailing weather conditions during the year.

THE FOLLOWING PICTURES SHOW DARKENING OF SOIL COLOUR, THE DEVELOPMENT OF FINE ROOT SYSTEMS; TRANSFORMATION/ IMPROVEMENT OF SOIL STRUCTURE IS VISIBLE.

With regard to plants, we see the beautiful green, shiny leaves, the upright behaviour of plants and the individual position of the leaves. Tonicity in the leaves and in the plants is also visible.

Cortons (Burgundy) 28/08/2009 Comparison of organic/biodynamic over a 5-yr. period Increase in humus levels and darkening of soil. Difference in soil aroma. Soil is rich with the smell of humus, reminiscent of the forest floor, with a slightly floral scent. Soil is more ‘supple’ andporous. Erosion of silt soil on deep slopes is arrested. Changes in plant behavior can be seen. Quality of wine is improved.

SAINT ESTÈPHE 3 MARCH 2011 One year of biodynamic practicewith two applications of 500P inSpring and one application in Autumn Two applications of 501 before flowering and one before grape harvest One year of good biodynamic practice March 2011 - Saint Estèphe

Southern Ardèche 14 March 2011 loess soil Five years of biodynamic practice with 1 - 2 applications of 500P in Spring and 1 application in Autumn 2 - 3 applications of 501 twice before flowering and possibly 1 before grape harvest

CHAMPAGNE On the right: 5 years of good biodynamic practice using 500P On the left: conventional Root systems and soil structure

CHAMPAGNE Same as previous picture.

Note difference in soil structure

Domaine Boisseau, Burgundy 1x 500P 17 april 2014 Pictures 15 june 2014

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Châteauneuf du Pape (Rhône Valley). 15 october 2014, 3 years of good biodynamic practice.

MOURVÈDRE, NO BD PREPARATIONS

Same place same time. Typical plant behaviour with preparations (500P and 501): upright shiny leaves.

Individual positions of leaves. Healthy plants.

JURA 19/06/2009, 4 X 501

SAINT LAURENT 30 MAY 2010 (12H). 3 X501.

STRAWBERRIES Typical effect of using 501 with upright leaves

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July 2014 Germany - Maria Bienert

© Pictures courtesy Vincent Masson

CONCLUSION Development of soil fertility and storing of carbon in the soil, as well as food quality are major issues to be confronted at the present time and in the future. Building health should be a central focus for human beings, for nature and the planet Earth. Our welfare and survival depend on it.

What is the true nature of biodynamic agriculture, in particular the preparations that are at the heart of the farming method? They do not only play a positive role in soil improvement, plant behaviour and the quality of the resulting production. They also act as principles of salutogenesis, by creating health rather than treating disease.

They play a regenerating, re-organisational role by creating anew a bond of the Living with the stellar and planetary creative spheres. Their role is fundamental with regard to the future and evolution of the Earth.

The preparations can be seen as cosmetics for the face of the Earth; regenerating unguents for the planet in its ageing process. The biodynamic preparations confer forces to the Earth assisting its evolution towards the future.

The farmers that make and use the preparations metamorphose the soil, plants and food and contribute to the creation of a new Earth. The making and use of the preparations are a result of a path to consciousness and freedom of the winegrower, gardener and farmer.

1. WHAT IS 500P?

2. BIODYNAMIE SERVICES

PREPARED HORN MANURE Developed and widely-used by Alex Podolinsky in Australia, Prepared Horn Manure (500P) is made from Horn Manure (500) into which the six compost preparations (normally used for making the compost pile) have been added according to a specific method.

Biodynamie Services produces and sells Biodynamic Preparations, as well as a wide range of equipment and other products for use on Biodynamic farms, vineyards and gardens.

Products available at Biodynamie Services : n High-quality Biodynamic Preparations,

Using Prepared Horn Manure (500P) instead of traditional n Medicinal plants for making your own plant extracts, Horn Manure is a way of applying the six preparations herbal teas and decoctions to regulate and stimulate (usually used in the compost) to areas where such complant health, post is not, or infrequently used. n Peat-lined, wooden boxes with glass jars for proper Prepared Horn Manure (500P) has been proven effective storage of biodynamic preparations, on grain and cereal crops, on pastures, market gardens, n Equipment for manual stirring and spraying orchards and vineyards.We recommend using it whenever n Consultancy services for groups and individuals, and wherever possible.This preparation replaces in one single spraying, the triple application of M.Thun’s Barrel n Training for professional farmers and home gardeners.

Preparation (CPP), followed by one spraying of plain ‘Horn Manure’.

See their website http://www.biodynamie-services.fr/en/ for advice on using and storing the Prepared Horn Manure (500P) should be stirred for one Preparations as well as Pierre Masson’s 2015 Biodynamic hour, in the same way as for traditional Horn Manure.

Lunar and Planetary Calendar (all in English).They have also produced an errata sheet to English Translation of The Biodynamic Manual by Pierre Masson for download. (based on the Keynote Lecture given at the Biodynamic Conference: Biodynamic Agri-Culture: A Matter of Life)

1 Yarrow (502), chamomile (503), nettle (504), oak bark (505), dandelion (506)

and valerian (507).

2 Alex Podolinsky – Director Biodynamic Research Institute in Australia 3 See explanatory box at end of article 4 Salutogenesis, the origin of health, is a stress resource orientated concept,

which focuses on resources, maintains and improves the movement towards health. It gives the answer why people despite stressful situations and hardships stay well. It is the opposite of the pathogenic concept where the focus is on the obstacles and deficits. See: http://www.salutogenesis.hv.se/eng/Home.2.html

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Working with SOIL Inspired by the work of Friedrich Wenz

By Peter Brown As a farmer with cattle one has to learn how to care for a cow, what it needs to eat and drink and to ensure it has sufficient throughout the year, through all the seasons. It helps to know that a cow has a majestic system of four stomachs which enables her to eat roughage, such as hay and grass, and that she will soon die if fed on too much wheat or other cereals. This is because the rumen of a cow is full of bacteria, which digest the roughage, and the cow then digests and lives on the bacteria, a delicate balance that can easily be upset by feeding fast fermenting grain!

The same goes for beehives, one has to learn to think and care for the needs of the bees. One does not have to feed them like a cow but one should ensure that they have enough to forage on through the seasons of the year by planting appropriate crops and for the long term even trees.

We all have soil. We all have to learn to care for the soil like any other living thing and tend to its needs. Just as it helps to understand the principle of how the rumen works to care for a cow by feeding her appropriately, it helps to have some understanding of soil and how it works, that we can feed it appropriately too. One can look at the soil as simply a substrate to which one adds specific chemicals, not to Friedrich Wenz standing in a green manure crop.

feed the soil but to directly feed plants growing in it; or one can look at it, like a cow, knowing that the more and better you feed her the healthier and more productive she will be, the healthier and more productive will be the plants growing in that soil.

Friedrich Wenz and his father have farmed a 30ha arable farm for many years in Germany. Originally farmed conventionally, using chemicals and ploughing, the resulting problems they experienced then led them on a journey of first becoming organic and then biodynamic and completely changing and evolving their cultivation methods. This led to the development of the Eco-dyn, a minimum tillage machine and seed sower in one. The development journey of how best to care for the soil continues. Friedrich describes how not a season goes by when he has not made a mistake from which he has learnt something important. Despite having no livestock on the farm and not bringing in fertilisers from off the farm, their crops become ever better, bigger and healthier as the soil fertility continues to increase. This is a wonderful example of what can be achieved; producing high yields of the very best quality and without bringing in fertility from off the farm; truly sustainable biodynamic farming.

This is what all farmers want to achieve and I would like to share some of what I learnt from the presentation and workshops at this year’s biodynamic conference First pass with the rotovator

Rotovating in the mixed green manure crop

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Showing how shallow the rotovator is being used.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

SOIL CHEMISTRY The soil chemistry, the balance of minerals in the soil, cannot be ignored and should be checked properly. This is not just about the major elements but also the trace elements.

Again it is not just about the amount of individual minerals but also their proportions and relationships to one another, not just about deficiencies but also surpluses. If there is a problem with these then they have to be corrected in some way. Friedrich gave the example of sulphur which is a key element in the soil and particularly needed when growing legumes. Their soil had a bad deficiency of it and when they added just 25kg per ha the yield of their soybeans increased by 1,500kg per ha. Friedrich was not suggesting fertilising regularly out of the bag but of becoming aware of the problem and then finding a way to treat any deficiencies. This can be done by adding certain minerals or rock dusts to the soil or growing certain plants, but it cannot be ignored.

SOIL PHYSICS Different soils have different physical consistencies depending on their sand and clay content and how they are treated.

A good soil has to have sufficient oxygen in it in for the microbiology and plant roots, which means having enough pore space in the soil and no compaction. A lack of air in the soil will lead to anaerobic conditions, which will cause the petrification of organic matter rather than the build up of humus and soil biology.

Soils lacking air or compacted can be caused by a number of things that have to be avoided, such as using too heavy machinery and high tyre pressures, using bad tillage techniques at the wrong time such as when it is too wet, chemical imbalances such as an excess or deficiency of lime and extreme weather conditions such as flooding.

SOIL BIOLOGY Once we have established that the chemistry and physics are OK then we have the basis of creating a good soil biology.

If we consider that a good biologically active soil has about 10 tons of soil life in the top 80 cm of soil, half of which we cannot see with the naked eye, it gives a good idea of what is involved in feeding it. 10 tons is equivalent to about 20 cows per ha when an average farm only keeps 2 cows per ha!

The big question is thus: With what and how do we feed this soil life?

Pictures @ Friedrich Wenz

‘Biodynamic Agri-Culture: A Matter of Life’.

A fertile soil is all about building up and maintaining plenty of humus and that is all about the soil biology. It is important to see though that the biology is like the top part of a triangle which is built on the two solid legs of the soil chemistry and the soil physics, of its physical properties. If they are not right then the biology does not work properly; like a house it has to be built on good foundations.

The same on a larger scale!

Sowing the field less than a month later

A small scale harvester and muck spreader collecting mulch

Spreading grass/clover mulch on planted potatoes

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This is what we are going to look at. It takes a lot of energy to feed the soil and it is provided by both living plants and dead plant residues. They feed the whole soil food web of different organisms including bacteria and fungi. They create the humus which stores the nutrients in a readily available form for the plants but without ‘polluting’ the soil water with nutrients.

Plant roots are crucial to feeding the soil life. The roots of plants do not just simply absorb food from the soil but they also secrete what are called root exudates into the rhizosphere, the immediate area around the roots. These exudates are complex and can be produced in large amounts and are different for each type of plant and even stage of plant growth. They feed the soil biota and can change the balance of the soil life communities and scientists still have a lot to learn as to how it all works. What is clear is that it plays a key role in the creating of humus in the soil as large quantities of nutrients are put into the soil by the plants, which have in turn produced them through the process of photosynthesis. Thus the sun’s energy is converted into humus in the soil.

Therefore the way to increase the soil biology as much as possible is to produce as much of the exudates as possible which is to have as great a surface area of roots in the soil as possible. This can be done by having as many different plant species growing together creating plant communities so that the soil is penetrated to a good depth by both shallow rooting and deep rooting plants and their roots. One has to find what plant communities do best in a particular location, both for intercropping of the main crops but also for

Spread mulch after a few days

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THE AMAZING EFFECTS OF MULCHING A fascinating part of Friedrich’s presentation was about mulching. This was not about mulching in the sense of simply using physical material like paper or old straw to cover the earth to stop water evaporating or weeds growing but providing a high quality plant material which feeds microflora and fungi and indirectly the plants growing in the mulch.

Coming back to the analogy of the cow, your cow will not give you much milk if you only feed her on old straw but if you feed her the best possible grass/clover mixture she will give plenty. Similarly, if you use a mulch of the best grass/ clover mixture it will really feed the soil life and roots well and the crops growing in it will be extremely healthy. Frie-

Potatoes with no mulch being eaten by Colorado beetles

A field of healthy potatoes!

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growing catch crops or green manures between harvests. It is important, for instance, to utilise the sun as much as possible for building up the soil by planting the green manure mixtures immediately after harvest. These will be worked into the soil before planting the next crop. A technique for this now being used is to use a rotovator with special ‘L’ shaped blades, but only going about an inch into the soil. A two or three foot high crop can be worked into the soil in this way.

As well as the root exudates from the living plants there is also the organic matter from dying back roots and the green manures, which feeds the soil biology.

A biologically active soil is not only highly complex but is also a self regulating system. We can influence it to an extent by choosing the plant communities we sow, the methods of tillage but also by using for instance the biodynamic preparations or specific compost or plant teas.

drich had a series of photographs, some of which are shown here, which show the mulching of part of a potato field with such a mulch spread by a large muck spreader. Where the potatoes had no mulch they were riddled with the Colorado potato beetle and yet where the mulch was, there was no beetle to be seen except where tractor tracks from the muck spreader had driven on a row causing compaction. The potatoes also had a better colour and the losses in the potato store over winter were almost nil compared to the potatoes without a mulch. Another benefit was that after planting the potatoes and putting on the mulch and the BD preparations nothing further had to be done to the field in the form of weeding etc. until they went in to harvest the potatoes in the autumn.

The effects of such a mulch on the soil fertility lasts for more than that year, but it needs the harvest of a cut of grass/clover from about 3ha to give sufficient mulch for 1ha of potatoes.

Friedrich also showed another example of mulching with good quality clover/grass, but this time in polytunnels on very poor soil. The tomatoes planted in the mulch were outstanding, completely disease free and with no fungal problems despite the watering being done from overhead.

A drip system of watering does not work when using such a ‘feeding’ mulch, because one needs the moisture between the soil and the mulch to allow the fungi and bacteria and soil roots to do their job.

Although I have been farming and gardening for many years I learnt a lot from the workshops and went away

keen to try out some of what I had learnt.

Learning to deal with soil as a living entity is just like learning to make good compost and is an art, but one that we can learn without too much effort, particularly if we understand on a basic level how it works. This is very different to treating soil as a chemistry set on an industrial scale.

We are intending to bring Friedrich Wenz over to the UK this ‘Year of the Soil’ to give us some workshops for interested gardeners and farmers. Keep an eye on our website for dates.

The same crop on 12.6.05

Tomato plants transplanted into a grass/clover mulch.

The crop on 8.9.05

The crop on 10.7 and 26.7.05

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A Land of Soil, Milk and Honey

By Bernard Jarman

The soil and its fertility is the foundation for our existence and it is the soil of our planet which is above all under threat today. We know that the frequent application of mineral fertilizers and the use of chemicals destroys life in the soil and that the value of the food produced is thereby seriously diminished.

Conversely, we also know that by feeding the soil in the right way and enhancing its vitality, abundant crops of health giving food can be produced. This is, at last, becoming more widely recognised with the designation of 2015 as the UN Year of the Soil1. Creating soil and improving its fertility lies at the root of all true husbandry. Careful soil management, cultivation and compost making techniques are therefore essential and yet without the help of domestic animals the improvement of our soils would be a far longer proposition.

Soil is created in the first place through the activity of countless microorganisms and earthworms and especially the garden worm (Lumbricus terrestris). This species is noticeably active in the period immediately before and immediately after mid-winter. In December we find it (in the UK) drawing large numbers of autumn leaves down into the soil. Worms consume all kinds of plant material along with sand and mineral substances. In form and action, they live as pure digestive tract. The worm casts excreted from their bodies form the basis of a well-structured soil with an increased level of available plant nutrients (5% more nitrogen, 7% more phosphorous and 11% more potassium than the

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surrounding topsoil). They are permeated too by the vitality of the worm’s metabolism. Worms also burrow to great depths and open up the soil for air and water to penetrate, increasing the scope of a fertile soil.

After the earthworm, the most important helper of the biodynamic farmer is undoubtedly the cow. The cow is a domesticated animal which has accompanied human beings for several thousand years and could be termed a co-creator of the European landscape. A cow’s digestive system is designed to make use of roughage such as grass and hay. No creature has such a powerful metabolism as does a cow and on its journey through the organism the consumed plant material is thoroughly transformed and permeated with the vital forces of the animal’s inner life. Cow manure is arguably the most effective and long lasting of all the fertilizing agents at the farmer’s disposal and has been found to have a carry over effect of at least four years. It is also one of the most balanced. It is not only its manure however that makes the cow a valuable helper but also its ability to create rich and diverse pastureland. Cow and grass need to meet and interact with one another so that under the observant eye of the grazier, they can be productive and achieve what is best for animal, grass and soil. A herd of cattle and particularly a dairy herd, is often experienced as being the very heart of the farm. This has a lot to do with the rhythmic care required - milking twice a day, the regular changing of pasture, seasonal work etc. This dedication is a kind of schooling for the farmer and also lays the foundation for a vibrant living community.

Along with cows, sheep, horses and pigs also play significant roles within the biodynamic farm individuality.

Sheep are very different to cows. Used to the open sky and

Pictures: © Richard Swann

ranging across wide open spaces, these animals also serve to enhance fertility but in quite another way. Where the cow enlivens the earth and makes it rich and fertile, the sheep brings lightness and balance. A pasture grazed lightly with sheep can start to blossom with herbs and clover while the bite of its teeth encourages the development of finer and shorter growth. Speaking of sheep during a biodynamic conference held in Botton Village during 1964, Karl König founder of the Camphill Movement, described them in relation to the elements as being ‘light in air’. ‘Their wool is woven through the powers of inner light’ he said. This inner light is also gentleness and anyone who has worked with sheep will have experienced the heart warmth that seems to emanate from them, despite their seeming wish for constant flight. Perhaps this is why Christ is often described as the Lamb of God. Pigs by contrast are different in their contribution to a farm’s fertility. König describes them as expressing ‘fire in warmth’. They are beings of heat, have in most breeds virtually no hair on their bodies and are unable to sweat – a reason perhaps for their love of wallowing in mud. The heat burning within their organism might also explain why the manure they produce is so cold – it is only excreted once the warmth has been removed. Although it is cold and therefore slow to transform, the manure is rich in potassium and attractive to earth worms and its coolness beneficial on sandy soils. In earlier times, pigs were kept primarily for the fat they produce rather than the lean meat so much in favour today. Fat is stored energy and was made use of for candles and to provide warmth – bread and dripping was a farm staple for workers in the cold of winter. Pigs on a

biodynamic farm serve to convert waste and especially high protein wastes such as dairy by products. They are cleansers of the farm and love rooting about in the earth. The soil they consume helps bring balance to their high protein diet while their activity stirs up and brings warmth and activity into the soil. The inner nature of pigs is also one of warmth and fire. They are enthusiastic – about their food, their surroundings and their visitors! The presence of happy pigs on a farm draws in the visitors.

Very different to the pig is the horse. The element of ‘sound in water’ is how König characterises a horse – the sound is the music of movement. A horse is built for movement and outer muscular activity. Its place of origin is the endless open plain. Its movement creates a lot of warmth but instead of internalising it like the pig, this animal needs constantly to cool itself through sweating. Water moves through and perspires from the organism. The heat it generates is continually released. It is also excreted into the manure making it very warm and dry. This makes it ideal for creating hotbeds and for warming cold soils and compost. Its warmth increases soil activity and stimulates strong healthy plant growth. On their own horses are notoriously bad grazers but together with cattle can bring improvements to both the pasture and their own well being. Interest in using horses to cultivate the soil is gradually returning and experience shows it to be an excellent way of improving soil structure, reducing compaction and increasing vitality.

As well as the larger domestic mammals, farm poultry also play an important role. Like pigs, chickens have a connection to warmth and are constantly scratching around in the earth for grubs, roots and young shoots They bring air

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into the surface of the soil allowing it to breathe more easily while their rich droppings encourage rapid grass regeneration. Geese by contrast love to graze on the open field and associate well with sheep where they help reduce the number of parasites. They benefit in turn from the fresh young grass stimulated into growth by the grazing sheep. Ducks are citizens of the waterside and given access to a pond will keep water meadows (and gardens) clear of unwanted pests and parasites.

Although not directly involved in the building of soil fertility a farm may also have a cat and a dog. The cat has the task of keeping rodents at bay but it is also an animal that is familiar with every nook and cranny of the farmstead. Very little that goes on will pass unnoticed by the cat. The dog by contrast is a close companion of humans. Trained to herd sheep or guard the house a dog is the one who keeps communication lines open between the farmer and what goes on around. While the cat knows the place, the dog is interested in its master/mistress and in the comings and goings on the farm.

Finally we have the bees. Creatures of community and communicators of the sun. From their hives forager bees WOOL

by Ed Berger

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roam the countryside to collect nectar and pollen which they then transform in their hives through an intricate and powerful process of transformation using substances produced from their own bodies. As they harvest nectar from the flowers they release a fine aerosol of their venom which according to Steiner’s investigations is essential for ensuring the continued vitality of flowering plants. They appear to hold the whole landscape in their consciousness as they fly from hive to flower and back again. Like earthworms, bees are also masters of metabolism and transformation but in an opposite way. Between them are the cows and the other farm livestock. They all contribute towards creating a fertile land of soil, milk and honey. The farmer, like the conductor in an orchestra, is the one who guides and directs them so to become active assistants in the work of transforming and cultivating the earth.

References König. K, ‘Social Farming, Healing Humanity and the Earth’ Floris Books 2014 Osthaus. K-E, ‘The Biodynamic Farm’ Floris Books 2010 Steiner. R, ‘Bees’ 1 See http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/en

Biodynamic Farm Development Toolkit Huxham’s Cross, Devon

By Marina O’Connell

The Biodynamic Land Trust (BDLT) is in the process of buying 33 acres of beautiful land from the Dartington Hall Trust (just outside Totnes, Devon) with funds from 122 people who have bought shares, made gifts and loans to get the project started. This is a remarkable achievement as people are investing in a concept and vision to be developed on a bare piece of land that has been farmed conventionally with barley for the last 40 years.

The BDLT have offered the first tenancy to us, the Apricot Centre team as we have fondly begun to call ourselves, and we have worked in partnership with them to achieve this goal, guided by their expertise in this area. Our work really begins as the BDLT completes the purchase, and the farm tenancy is passed over to us, at which point we start to develop the farm into an entity in its own right. This will take three years and we hope to start delivering food, wellbeing services and training by 2017.

THE AIM Our aim is to create a mixed small farm, with biodynamic fruit and vegetables for about 100-150 families, with poultry for eggs and meat, and a few beef cows grazing the beautiful meadow that is central to the farm. These will be supplied either via a CSA type scheme or via farmers markets or other methods; this will depend upon the market research outcome that we are currently undertaking. The site will be run using the Biodynamic/Demeter Standards and designed using the Permaculture methodology. We aim to run training courses on BD methods and permaculture design and to offer a spectrum of wellbeing activities for families and children to interact with the farm. As part of the social events of the CSA and school visits, our goal is to work with the more urban communities such as Torbay and Plymouth that have little access to farms.

We will have a Forest school on site, and after school Farm clubs. We also aim to base a therapeutic service on the farm as a part of this wellbeing strand.

THE TEAM The Apricot Centre team is made up of three core members currently, Marina O’Connell, Mark O’Connell and Bob Mehew. Marina is a Horticulturist and trainer, Mark is a Process Oriented Child Psychotherapist who runs the Child and Adolescent Mental Health team for looked-after and adopted children in Suffolk, as a part of the NHS. Bob Mehew is a project manager, who recently left Essex County Council; he trained in Permaculture Design and Biodynamic methods and works part time for the local CSA. Mark and Marina lived and worked in similar fields in Dartington in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, and lived next door to the Steiner School at Hood Manor for 10 years.

THE METHODOLOGY We have been based in North Essex, on the edge of Constable Country for 15 years. We run a smaller version of the vision above, and have developed a multidisciplinary method of working within mainstream systems of schools, colleges, the NHS, and more organisations. We work with the land and sustainable food production, and with people and wellbeing, and where the two overlap, introducing people to sustainable food methods, and building relationships with nature or the farm. We do this as we believe this benefits people’s wellbeing. We have observed that if people and children become ‘attached’ to nature or a farm, and good food is a great way to do this, then they will in turn care more for nature and the environment inspiring them to make steps to a more sustainable and caring lifestyle.

We use the Biodynamic methods and preparations to enrich the soil, and our Essex soil structure is amazing! The P and K levels of the farm have increased dramatically over 15 years even with no application of fertiliser, something that I put down to the increased microbial activity in the soil.

Our growing methods also include Permaculture Design to create systems that work well for the people who work in them, that are closed loop, and that are resilient in the current challenging weather and economic changes. For example, we currently specialise

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in fruit production and grow more than 50 varieties and types of fruit. We start picking in June and keep picking until late October moving sequentially through the orchard as the fruit matures. The fruit trees are planted to maximise cross-pollination and disease resistance. We also use Agroforestry techniques - rows of hazel coppice provide windbreaks and fuel for our ceramic stove that heats the Apricot Centre. We will scale these ideas up for the new site to include vegetable production and poultry systems. The produce from the farm is currently sold via the ‘Growing Communities’ market in Stoke Newington in London, giving us 10 years of marketing expertise to bring to this project, which we will put to good use for selling our Devon produce locally.

We enjoy visits from a wide range of diverse people who are interested to learn more about these techniques, visit a farm or just like good food. We perceive sustainability as a ‘process’ rather than a state. Our aim is to start people off on the journey to ‘becoming more sustainable’, and we respect that people start this journey from many different places. We learn a great deal from our visitors as well.

We like the way Camus put it when he said, ‘Don’t walk behind me I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.’

We find it important to use language and activities which are age and group appropriate to introduce ‘sustainable food production’ in general and specifically Biodynamic, Permaculture and Organic methods. These interactions might be a two hour visit from a school to see where apples come from, or a full course on Permaculture design or BD systems. We believe that the way food is produced will need to change dramatically over the next 50 years and we want to encourage people to move towards a more sustainable approach.

We have developed our wellbeing work through introducing children to our farm and to the food that we grow here. This is done through walking, tours and explanations, picking and eating the food, looking at rabbit holes and worms, and having fun. This often has a lasting impression on children. A little girl with special needs recently said

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‘Miss, last time I came here I made nettle soup’. She said she did not like it much but had loved making it and knew exactly who in her class had liked it. The fact that she remembered this for a year was important. Recently we ran a two day workshop making lunches from the garden with groups of adopted and looked after children from the region.

When running training courses we have introduced BD methods to a wide range of people in formal and informal settings, in college courses, horticultural societies, through day courses or as part of the Permaculture Design Course. The pedagogy that seems to work in this scenario is explaining BD food production methods in everyday language, taking a rational, scientific, and objective look at the BD system. We then use experiential methods, discussions and reflection to explore the stirrings, the application of the preparations, and the use of the calendar. We support people to have a personal experience of this. If they then wish to take their studies further we signpost them to more in depth studies. This may take some years but people often come back to explore it further. This was in fact my own experience; I first ‘met’ a BD farm when I was at University studying Horticulture, and was amazed by it. I then attended the local study group on and off for 10 years at Hood Manor in the late ‘80s early ‘90s, learning a lot of the practical work such as applying preparations from the late Richard Smith and Moorfoot Organic Garden before using it myself on our small farm in Essex.

On the Devon farm we aim to offer a wide range of activities to as wide a range of people as possible so that they can become involved in the farm life, whilst also bringing us an income stream. Our aspiration is that people from South Devon will come to know the farm as ‘the place where I can get those really nice eggs/jam/carrots ...’ or ‘the place I went and had a really nice time making nettle soup with my school’.

The BDLT is interested in developing models which can be replicated on other BD farms. This project will have as a part of it a solid scientific and holistic research project assessing the before and after and development of soil fertility and wellbeing of soil, plant, animal and human. We are therefore developing strategies, partnerships and seeking

The farm will be designed participatively, in two weekend workshops in which participants will ‘walk through’ the design process, with a lot of design coordination work in between by us. We invite you contribute to the community survey part of the process which has just begun, walk the land, complete the survey which can be found in the ‘Huxham’s Cross Farm’ part of the website www.apricotcentre. co.uk or give us a call on 01206 230425 and we are happy to send out paper copies.

Pictures © Mark O’Connell

relevant funding to promote the demonstration, training and research aspects of the project The Apricot Centre has developed a diverse and pluralist approach, which sits comfortably with Biodynamic standards. We have found permacultural, process-oriented and organic principles to integrate well with and even enhance BD methods. The embracing of diverse language and cultural groups can welcome in a wide range of people moving towards sustainability, greater wellbeing, and also stimulating social farming. It is difficult to make a living through farming, but this diversified farming approach may prove to be more financially viable. The Huxham’s Cross Farm project will combine the quality and spirit of the Biodynamic Farm with other leading edge approaches to sustainability and social wellbeing.

Martin Large said, ‘The Apricot Centre’s diverse toolkit of land assessment, farm business surveys, participative planning and farm design, permacultural design, community engagement, research methods, agronomy, biodynamics, agroforestry, social farm business skills and more will help transform the Huxham’s Farm soil fertility.

Not only will this farm become a biodynamic learning and demonstration farm, but also a place where people can learn how to draw on the rich Apricot Centre toolbox for their own farms. We were delighted to hear The Apricot centre team and their interest to be in Devon again just when it seemed that others involved in this project would not be able to follow through as envisaged. The team came particularly recommended for their extensive experience and ability to work with people alongside their knowledge and practice of biodynamics and making projects work.’

Dates for the design workshops; (TBC) 10th, 11th,12th April 2015; Overall design of the pattern of the Farm 29th, 30th, 31st May 2015; Design of the detail of the Farm Venue TBA but in the Darlington South Devon area Cost; £150 per head per 2.5 day workshop To book contact info@apricotcentre.co.uk, or call 01206 230425 To become a supporter of this exciting project you can also join the effort to raise the necessary funds to acquire and set up the infrastructure for this farm through shares, gifts, and interest-free loans, see www.biodynamiclandtrust.org.uk or contact Martin on 07765 006829 or Gabriel on 01453 766296, the initial Share Offer is still open to the end of the year to help raise £50,000 that would otherwise need to be borrowed. Volunteers in Devon can also help in a number of ways – see the Apricot website as above.

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Bingenheimer Saatgut A.G. the seed seller with biodynamic at heart and a head for politics © Pictures courtesy Martin Kunz and Marianne Landzettel

By Marianne Landzettel

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It is a beautiful, crisp October morning with the sun making the dewdrops sparkle on the coloured autumn leaves. The door to the seed delivery and cleaning barn is wide open. Tangled carrot flower stands are carefully pried from the huge sack they have been delivered in. They have passed a first visual inspection when they arrived at Bingenheim.

Now they will be thrashed, cleaned, cleaned again, tested, sorted, graded, and eventually packed and shipped.

There are lots of different machines to separate all types of seeds from husk and impurities like leaves, twigs, bits of soil or dud seeds. From tiny marjoram seeds to the multi-coloured bean varieties – each species will be treated according to a cleaning protocol, specifying which machines to use in what order. Vibrating sieves of varying density, machines using airflow or specific weight and most recently the separation can be done with the aid of photocells, able to identify shapes and colours. It is another way to make sure that no seed shaped stone or soil particle slips through, but it also works a treat if someone accidently pours a sack of white beans into the container with the coloured ones...

Despite the noise of fans and seed cleaners – with its high ceiling, with light streaming in through large skylights and a smell of sun dried plants and herbs this is a pleasant place to be in.

Around 500 batches of seeds a year are processed, packed and shipped at Bingenheimer Saatgut every year.

The batches weigh as little as a single kg or as much as a ton and anything in between. Some of the seeds have to be thrashed, others just need to be cleaned, some have been hand picked others machine harvested. The batch, its grower, date of delivery, variety and weight and many more details are entered into a central data basis and with the batch code the content of every single seed packet can be traced back right to the place where it was grown.

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In regard to packing, shipping and logistics Bingenheimer Saatgut operates with the proficiency of any efficient, commercially oriented company. However at the heart of it are the seeds – not just the ones being processed on a daily basis, but the ones that started to sprout in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, grew and matured and finally led to the founding of Bingenheimer Saatgut AG. This is a modern stock corporation with the values of the biodynamic movement at its core and with Gebhard Rossmanith as CEO at its helm who not only defends these values, but makes them count on an international level and wherever policies are being thrashed out.

So here’s for a bit of history and why biodynamic concepts are central to the story of Bingenheim. In the mid 1970s biodynamic vegetable growers in Germany (now often simply referred to as Demeter growers after the biodynamic certification agency Demeter) watched the success and rapid spread of hybrid vegetable seeds, a development that made them very uneasy. ‘The integrity of a plant is central to the biodynamic concept’, says Gebhard Rossmanith and that explains why Demeter growers are unhappy using hybrids which are sterile. Out of this concern grew a grass root movement that understood the importance of open pollinated seeds for the whole food system and regards them as a cultural good to all mankind, something that cannot be patented or owned by a single person or a company. The Demeter growers formed a loose network called ‘Initiativkreis’, a forum to meet informally, discuss ideas and initiate action.

One initiative was to focus on breeding and propagating organic and biodynamic open pollinated seeds to reduce the fast growing dependency on a shrinking number of seed companies. And the consolidation in the seed industry had only just started. Once GM corn and soy began to be grown commercially in the mid 1990s agrochemical companies like Monsanto, Du Pont, Syngenta, Bayer and others went on an extended shopping spree to buy up seed businesses worldwide. Today only a handful of independent seed com-

panies have survived – and one of them is the Bingenheimer Saatgut AG. The ‘Initiativkreis’ and the Demeter farmers who were able to breed open pollinated seeds had a lot to learn with regards to registration, breeder protection and other EU regulations, for example sales. To save seeds, share and exchange them is fine for hobby gardeners, but if open pollinated seeds are at the basis of our food system high quality seeds must be commercially available to market gardeners and growers. By 1985 an organic and biodynamic seed company in cooperation with the Community (Lebensgemeinschaft Bingenheim) started operating in the hamlet of Bingenheim, a half hour train ride to the north of Frankfurt.

In 2001 the whole operation had grown so big that a new, independent company was set up: the Bingenheimer Saatgut AG. But the ties to the old network of breeders and growers remain as strong as ever: 80% of all seeds are bought from members of the original ‘Initiativkreis’, the rest comes from other organic and biodynamic companies, one of them being Sativa in Switzerland. If you leaf through the annual Bingenheim seed catalogue with around 360 open pollinated varieties, all lovingly described and looking their best in the many pictures, you might conclude that all is well in the organic and biodynamic seed world. It is not. ‘The house is on fire and we are desperately trying to put it out’, says JeanPierre Bringiers at Sativa.

Feeding the fire are new technologies, patents, big corporations and lots of money. And that is where it gets a bit technical and complicated. In Europe, only varieties that have been tested to be distinctive, uniform and stable will be registered on what’s called the DUS1 list which gives breeders a certain amount of protection – after all breeding a new varieties takes around ten years and a lot of hard work. In comparison with hybrids true organic varieties can often fail to make the grade where uniformity is concerned. But they will qualify for a simplified registration which at least states the name of the variety and the breeder.

US law does not protect varieties. That is one reason why US breeders prefer to breed hybrids, their sterility is a kind of inbuilt breeder’s rights protection. And big companies have the option to patent their seeds.

In Europe living organisms cannot be patented, but a process can. With a few exceptions, GM seeds cannot be grown in Europe. But what if you had a technology to engineer seeds that could be patented but was not classified as GM? Well, try CMS for a new generation of hybrid seeds. CMS stands for Cytoplasmatic Male Sterility and is a fusion technique that introduces, for example, DNA from a sunflower into a broccoli without integrating it directly into the broccoli’s own DNA. CMS seeds produce a crop that has an even higher probability of being yield-ready at exactly the same time.

The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement, IFOAM, decided in 2008 to follow the lead of Demeter Germany (i.e. Bingenheim) that such fusion techniques were in fact genetic manipulation because in nature a sunflower pollen would never fertilise a broccoli or a chicory and therefore they too should be excluded from organic seed breeding. And that is where we come to the very important distinction between organically propagated seeds and organically bred (and propagated) seeds. According to EU law CMS hybrids are organic if the seeds have been propagated in accordance with the standards of organic agriculture. In other words there is a major difference between organically bred open pollinated seeds which Bingenheimer Saatgut AG sells and organically propagated hybrids.

Since buying organic has gone mainstream and every supermarket carries at least some organic vegetables they have to match their conventionally grown competitors in size and uniform perfection and that is why high yielding hybrids are so popular amongst organic growers. Until in 2013 the German television consumer programme WISO tested samples of different organic and Demeter certified vegetables from major supermarkets specialised on organic

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food. 60% of the broccoli samples, 40% of the chicory samples as well as some baby food samples tested positive for CMS. Although the use of CMS hybrids is not illegal, it does go against the standards of organic standard setting agencies like IFOAM. The findings of the German TV programme were not just embarrassing, WISO had pointed out the emperor’s new clothes: Suddenly it was obvious that the organic seed market is being dominated by hybrids and increasingly CMS hybrids while organically bred open pollinated seeds are hard to find.

And that’s where we come back to Bingenheimer Saatgut, Sativa and Jean-Pierre Bringiers’ remark that the house is on fire. Biodynamic breeders sounded the alarm bell first not just because of ethical concerns, but also because of the alarming loss of biodiversity and genetic diversity.

‘Hybrids are very attractive for commercial growers’, says Friedemann Ebner, in charge of plant breeding at Sativa.

Hybrids make commercial sense because they produce uniform crops, high yields, are ready to harvest at the same time and can be bred to be disease-resistant. But the price is a very narrow genetic base. ‘What we really need is a very wide genetic base’, says Ebner. To a plant its genetic base is like a huge tool box that helps it adapt to changes in weather and climate and fight diseases and pests. Plants grown from open pollinated seeds have this genetic toolbox. Vegetables harvested from these plants may visually not always be ‘best in show’, but they can be enhanced by breeding and they can be regionally adapted through selection. By contrast, according to Ebner, registered varieties are protected where seed propagation for sale is concerned, but cultivators are free to use seeds to breed new varieties. ‘I can build on the achievements of other breeders and create something new’, says Ebner. At Sativa he is working on breeding back hybrids into open pollinated varieties with a broad genetic base, excellent quality, taste and yield. He started with extra sweet corn in 2004. Back then, extra sweet corn was only available as a hybrid and it had the nickname ‘one day corn’ because

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it needed to be harvested and eaten pretty much in one day, otherwise it would taste starchy. Ten years later Sativa has an open pollinated extra sweet corn that produces 90% of the yield of its hybrid ancestors and keeps up to 10 days.

Three varieties, Damaun, Mezdi and Tramunt, ripening early, at the height of and late in the season have undergone the simplified registration process and the Sativa seeds are available at Bingenheimer Saatgut. For Ebner breeding back hybrids and transforming them into open pollinated, organically bred varieties represents taking the best of both worlds: the commercially important characteristics like high yield and uniformity come from the hybrid ancestry while open pollination contributes the broad genetic base and with it the future option. These seeds will be what other breeders can use to create yet other varieties. At Sativa, Ebner and his colleagues are now working on back-breeding courgette, broccoli and carrot hybrids into open pollinated varieties. ’And someone should breed cauliflower’, says Ebner, ‘it’s such an important vegetable and nobody is looking at it.’

Breeders indeed do have to work fast.

Already organic growers in the US say they can buy only CMS hybrid broccoli seeds. Unlike ordinary hybrids CMS hybrids cannot be bred back because of the fusion technology used to create them. Once CMS hybrids have squeezed F1 hybrids out of the market the genetic potential of these plants will be forever lost.

Because a handful of (mostly) agrochemical companies have bought up almost all independent seed companies plant breeding now is done mostly in the laboratories of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont and very few others.

These companies are constantly developing new technologies to produce crops that are as standardised in appearance and as easy to handle as car parts on an assembly line. But engineering new varieties is expensive. It therefore makes sense for these companies to only produce seeds for a very limited number of ‘global crops’. Broccoli is such a global crop, it looks the same in China, the US or Europe. However

carrots are not, people in different countries have different expectations, in Asia carrots traditionally are dark red or even purple. In other words: scientists in Big Ag companies are doing their best to reduce biodiversity and the genetic breadth of plants. And as organic seeds must be organically propagated but not necessarily organically bred this leaves organic and biodynamic growers with fewer and fewer options, particularly if they shun CMS hybrids. Unless organic and biodynamic breeders cooperate amongst each other, and ensure that buyers have easy access to high quality, technically perfect open pollinated seeds, commercial growers will have no choice but to grow hybrids. (By the way, what breeders have to watch out for is absolutely mind-boggling!

Take broccoli. If you want to grow it in Italy the heads must be fairly rounded so that water drops roll off immediately.

Otherwise they would act as a prism and the winter sun in Italy is strong enough to cause a burn which in turn would cause the broccoli to start rotting prematurely ...)

‘At Bingenheimer Saatgut AG our main concern are (organic and biodynamic) market gardeners’, says head of marketing Petra Boie. Only if commercial growers are able to successfully work with organically bred open pollinated seed varieties, these seeds and their genetic diversity will survive and guarantee the food security of future generations.

You start to understand what selling seeds really involves once you meet Ragna Hinke, the head of seed diagnostics at Bingenheim. She and her team test each batch of seeds for fungi (tests for viral or bacterial infections are done in other laboratories). They have developed a hot water treatment protocol for each seed variety, should a batch turn out to be infected with fungi. They test the germination capacity, not only before the seeds are packed, but also during the time they are on sale. And they even test the speed of germination under unfavourable conditions so that growers really know that they get perfect quality seeds. For commercial growers seeds need to be technically perfect as well. They need to be uniform in size and some varieties, for

In a previous Star and Furrow Peter Brinch shared a bit about Sativa who breed biodynamic seed in Switzerland. Martin Kunz has been helping our new Biodynamic and Organic Plant Breeding and Seeds co-operative get established and in doing so learnt quite a bit about Bingenheimer Saatgut AG, which he shares here.

What we want to bring about in Britain is very much on the same lines as Bingenheimer Saatgut and how they work with organic and biodynamic growers on the continent.

Stormy Hall Seeds, who are amalgamating into our new Seed Co-operative, have been producing seed in this way for many years on a limited scale and go to Bingenheimer Saatgut and Sativa for seeds they are not yet able to produce themselves.The new Seed Co-op is not just about growing the seed in our local British conditions but also to start breeding new varieties in these conditions and to further education of seed saving, particularly of growers.

example, where seeds tend to stick together because of their shape, require a coating to work well in seeding machines.

But at Bingenheimer Saatgut each variety is also available in small quantities suitable for hobby gardeners: Growing them in an allotment or even in a pot on the window sill contributes to biodiversity. To Petra Boie and her colleagues it is extremely important that Bingenheim customers understand why open pollinated seeds are of such vital importance and why biodynamic concepts will always be at the heart of what this seed company does. With CMS hybrids, legal issues like patents, DUS testing requirements and the pressure on organic and biodynamic growers to compete directly with conventional producers, seeds have become a political issue. Bingenheimer Saatgut AG CEO Gebhard Rossamnith is spending a lot of time lobbying – within the organic movement to get clear, workable definitions of organic practices - and at EU level to shape policies that protect organic agriculture and seed breeding. At the core of his thinking remains the biodynamic concept and that is why he is very clear that a much more fundamental change is needed. At present supermarkets are defining breeding goals, but there are limits to what breeding can achieve and seasonality will remain inherent to all produce: There is a time when it is best. Year round perfection can only be (genetically) engineered in laboratories, the price is not just a lack of taste, and it puts global food security at risk. We all must choose. And Please look on that’s why planting organically bred open pollinated seeds is the BDA website and or on www. also a political act. seedcooperative.

1 Distinctness, Uniformity, Stability org.uk for more information.

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Picture Š Alysoun Bolger

By Alysoun Bolger (Coordinator of the Biodynamic Principles and Practice Course)

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Everything in biodynamic education at the moment seems to be about collaboration.

The biodynamic conference nearly two years ago really encouraged building bridges among biodynamic initiatives and from biodynamic initiatives to others. Although this has taken some time, now it really seems to be happening in education! Somehow education in biodynamic agriculture needs to be able to respond to the diversity of individuals who are interested, with a wide variety of backgrounds, experience, location and practice.

For the Principles and Practice (distance learning) course, students with small holdings study alongside those with hundreds of hectares. Different continents, climates and soils challenge practice in numerous ways and so the course has developed in a way that focuses very much on principles, building a common language and understanding which can then be applied in many different circumstances.

The two units that we ran this year reflected this by considering and practicing phenomenological observation of plants and then animals, researching ways in which to support health and hearing how this kind of understanding can be applied with different crops and animals. In the Plant unit this included written contributions from different farmers concerning different ways of working with plants in the context of the farm organism. In the Animal unit it included seminars with contributors from North America, Africa and the UK. To mention just two examples, Johan Reyneke, a grape grower from South Africa who is in love with his cows, and Keith Gelber husbanding bees in California spoke about their own places, context, history, work and deepening understanding which are of course are balanced between what is universal and what is unique.

This balance of the overarching archetypal with the individual specific circumstance is becoming the real focus for the Principles and Practice course. So in future units we are trying to extend this - the Farm Organism unit is aiming to include contributions from New York, Southern and Northern Africa as well as Israel. We know that biodynamic farmers can sometimes struggle with the task of teaching, but we also know that when farmers are invited to speak about what they do and why they do it, the results can be incredibly inspiring! Teachers can then simply facilitate and structure the interactions.

So as this course continues to develop in the future, that international focus of experience and contributors to

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meet the needs of an international group of students is becoming more and more clear. As is the importance of vital interaction between teachers, contributors and students.

Students’ questions often provide the vitality when the teacher and student are together in the classroom. As the principles and practice course is aiming for the same kind of vitality, we need to be creative, flexible and imaginative, when it comes to student/teacher interaction. Whether that interaction is a discussion forum, sequence of emails or questions in a live seminar, we are striving for the highest quality interaction we can manage at a distance. This continues to be an area of experimentation in developing the course structure and content.

For the distance learning course this has been a year in which we have run new units (Plant unit and Animal unit) as well as units that have been successful in the past (Fundamentals and Farm Organism), and for the first time this autumn we ran two units simultaneously, with one student who enrolled on both!

This is a course still in development, and so we are constantly inspired by the students on four continents who devote time and energy to the course alongside their extremely busy lives and make the time to include us in those lives. We are conscious of both the responsibility and the privilege that accompanies this, and are really excited about the possibilities for supporting people in developing their own work in and relationship to biodynamics. That is after all why the course exists!

Therefore, in the New Year, we are really looking forward to developing and running new units – Astronomy, Soils, Preparations and Social Aspects of Agriculture are all in varying stages of preparation, getting ready for launching in the New Year. These units are being worked on by new and old writers and new teachers with the intention of continuing to involve more practitioners around the world in the form of interviews, seminars and research. It is an exciting year to come!

At the same time we are in conversation with other biodynamic trainings, exploring ways in which to collaborate.

It is a dynamic time for biodynamic education both in the UK and across the world, with new opportunities for education at many levels. There is something for everyone now from weekend courses to a masters degree and just about everything in between. We are delighted to be part of it.

For more information see: http://bdacollege.wawordpress.co.uk/

Learning by Heart a new biodynamic impulse

Remembering Flight. painting by LUCY VOELCKER

by Kai Lange

As educator, I wonder what and how to teach today. In the emerging time of individuality, everyone has different needs, but more important everyone has the key for new potential. I am amazed by the young people searching for connection to the land and eager to work for a better future. They are so full of ideas and eager to immerse themselves. A real new generation; not so much interested in my old stories and experiences any longer.

Sometimes I feel, they are already far ahead of myself. So, what can I give them today?

What will they need for the future?

Media and environmental science threaten us with dark future scenarios. Now we need optimism that gives us hope. New thinking and ideas are needed to meet coming challenges. Foremost we must have energy within us to engage our will.

I believe we need a shift in our consciousness too.

Knowledge and skill that we used to teach are not enough any longer. Information is abundant and accessible anywhere anytime. Today we consume masses of information that is stored in our head. Our brains will become obese, as our bellies. What is used less and less are our body and senses.

The twelve senses connect us to the world through the land, plants and animals. These sense experiences combine with consciousness and imagination. Love and passion are then

born there in our heart. This engages our will and body to respond to the world with creativity.

The future is meeting us. Do we sense what she has to offer?

Education needs to change, as well as for the young as for us older generation. We used to learn the facts from the past to manage the present. Now we need to learn from the present to meet the future. As educators, we must train sensibility, learn to think with our heart and value the individual potential. As elders we are called to pass on our passion, essential insights and present questions.

Emerson College will start in 2015 a range of new courses that will practice this future approach. Biodynamics offers itself, to be the springboard for this agenda of sustainable -farming, -growing, -environment and -community.

Full time, part time or just a weekend, accredited or not, a range of courses to suit many, will offer essential knowledge, sensory skills and space for individual contribution. A collaboration between Emerson College, the Biodynamic Association, and Crossfields Institute will pool a wide range of input from people, with a holistic approach to nature and culture.

Watch this space and check the Emerson College and the Biodynamic Associations websites for latest developments. www.emerson.org.uk/biodynamics-course www.biodynamic.org.uk/training

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Imagine this;

you wake up in the morning to start another day’s contribution to the growth and development of biodynamics in the world.

Maybe it is time to let the goats out, or to check on the sheep, perhaps you have a market to go to, or apprentices to guide in the next stage of practical learning in this exciting realm. It could be that the tasks ahead of you have more to do with farm management and finance, education and outreach, or certification. Whatever it is that you do in relation to the biodynamic impulse these first thoughts are about your own personal tasks and responsibilities.

Now, imagine that you then think of your colleagues. These are your fellow researchers, separated by county, by country and even perhaps by an ocean, but colleagues nonetheless. What unites you is the common focus on research into transformative approaches to agriculture, to practical aspects of that task as well as to the social and personal dimensions of that work.

You are a master’s student studying with the Crossfields Institute and your ‘campus’ and ‘classroom’ is your own farm, garden or enterprise related to holistic approaches to food and land stewardship. You are also part of an innovative global learning community who are also studying, researching and learning ‘in situ’ while being linked to each other through the Masters research process. This is situated learning and research undertaken by individuals seeking to go beyond an abstract or detached approach to deepening understanding and practice in their field (both literally and metaphorically!). You will come together as a group during the course of your studies, but your studies and research will be ‘located’ in place and community.

You are linked across the globe through a wish to both deepen and broaden your practice, and through a wish to contribute to the articulation and dissemination of insights into the potential for practicing, supporting or developing holistic approaches to agriculture.

Apply Now! Join now to be part of this pioneering course.

This is a three year, part-time distance learning research degree run by Crossfields Institute in conjunction with the University of Coventry. You will be supported throughout by experienced faculty and by your colleagues, through both online resources and face-to-face intensives. This is a unique opportunity for you to undertake research in a theme of your choice while being active in your work in the realm of biodynamics and holistic land stewardship.

Crossfields Institute is accepting applications for the MSc in Researching Holistic Approaches to Agroeclogy due to start in 2015. For more information contact jane.tyler@crossfieldsinstitute.com, jonathan.code@crossfieldsinstitute.com, isis.brook@crossfieldsinstitute.com

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

REVIEWS Not all of these books are available via the Biodynamic Association. Please check the BDA online store before phoning the office.

BIODYNAMIC, ORGANIC AND NATURAL WINEMAKING Sustainable Viticulture and Viniculture

by Britt and Per Karlsson Published by Floris Books Paperback 280 pages Price: £14.94 Reviewed by David Chapman I was very favourably impressed by this book which ticked many boxes as a fairly comprehensive study on the industry as it stands today. Taking the authors’ years of acquired knowledge in the wine industry, running organised tours and meeting many producers, they have put together a great book suitable for anyone from the interested novice to the wine devotee.

I am a fan of books that are easy to read as I think reading should be a joy so the physical layout pleases me no end. Easy to read print set on large pages and regularly broken up by chapters and sub-chapters, photographic illustrations, clearly headed and well indexed. It does weigh some though! (Not printed on recycled Paper?)

The photographs are numerous throughout the book and help to explain, emphasise and break up the narrative as I read along. The Vineyard photographs clearly illustrate the diversities of approach between vineyards and are often beautifully scenic as vineyards often are, yet they are also often informative of methods, seasons, diseases and to an extent, the diversity of ‘Terroirs’ that abound throughout the wine world, helpfully defining the word.

There is a brief overview of Farming followed by short definitions for the categories of ‘Conventional’, Sustainable, Organic and Biodynamic, and then a further distinction of ‘Natural wines’. The definitions are kept impartial but readers will be pleased to see the authors’ preferences in the excellent and enticing appendices, which list contacts of their own favourite producers with brief descriptions of the wines and vineyard characteristics. Their History of viticulture is detailed enough to inform and stir interest yet brief enough to retain the readers attention and touches on the recent rise and revival of Organic and Biodynamic wines and food products more generally as health and environmental concerns increase worldwide. The emphasis here is on Organic over Biodynamic, arguing that Biodynamic is similar to the former, and much more widely spread, distinguished largely by observance of Rudolf Steiner and the cosmological influences.

Although Britain’s modest wine industry is not mentioned, there are concise descriptions of the Organic wine industries of the Old and New world producers, useful statistics and tables of acreages under Organic. The factual information, arguments and discussions from each perspective are well presented and impartial. In fact, pretty much all aspects of modern viticulture are discussed from biological control of pests and diseases to hedge-planting and compost-making and the ever contentious issue of copper use in the vineyard and the repercussions.

The regulation and certification guidelines for both Organic and Biodynamic are explained as simply as space allows and give an overview of the world situation, empha-

sizing the European standpoint and many of the complexities of regulating the widely diverse requirements of cool and warmer climate growing. For the consumers benefit and guidance, labels are usefully illustrated with photographs of the various certification bodies logo’s and branding from around the world, especially for the New world wines which European readers may be less familiar with.

There is a generous section devoted to Biodynamic growing and wine-making, the basics of which had been covered already in the Organic chapters and is therefore devoted largely to what distinguishes bio-dynamic vini/ viticulture. Preparations are described and explained, the methods and timing of dynamisation and compost creation and use discussed and crucially, the importance of cosmological influences and rhythms emphasised. In the winery of course the major consideration is about the use of Sulphur and if so, how much? But my interest was very much caught by the range of possible additives and procedures available in the modern winery to capture the desired qualities of the grape in the wine. Stability, longevity, filtration, colour and clarity can all be enhanced and improved, although some of the methods seem quite alarming, and then to note how few are permitted by Organic regulations even fewer by Biodynamics.

Apart from a short but vital section on Natural wines to explain their place and perspective in relation to the whole, the book concludes with an environmental overview that discusses energy efficiency within the vineyard and winery, irrigation and alternative energy, packaging, transport and the carbon footprint plus a great little feature on the sustainability/desirability of Cork!

To conclude, this book is well written and easy to read through or dip into as necessary. The points raised are well presented and are fairly explained and argued from an informed perspective. Although not comprehensive and detailed enough to add much knowledge for the established farmer or grower, that is not the intention with this book. To me this book is for the curious consumer wanting to expand their knowledge, or a newcomer to the industry who wants good, solid factual information to base a decision on, or basically anyone with an interest in wine production, Organic viticulture or Biodynamic production.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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REVIEWS Not all of these books are available via the Biodynamic Association. Please check the BDA online store before phoning the office.

I DARE YOU TO BE GREAT

By Polly Higgins Publisher: Clink Street Publishing Paperback: 152 pages Price: £6.99 Reviewed by Jojo Mehta Polly Higgins’ new work ‘I Dare You to be Great’ is not a book in the conventional sense at all. It would be more accurate to describe it as a catalyst or agent of change, both in terms of the content and with regard to the physical object itself with its beautifully beckoning mandala on the cover.

Polly Higgins’ first two books Eradicating Ecocide (2010) and Earth is our Business (2011) set out the urgent need for an international Law of Ecocide which would criminalize the destruction of ecosystems, just as genocide criminalizes the destruction of peoples. Enshrining the rights of ecosystems in law will cause a profound change in business and government, whereby a duty of care for the planet and its inhabitants for the first time would be placed above the current legal imperatives of profit and property rights.

I Dare You to be Great takes up this theme but in a radically different way and in a different context.

First and foremost, it is an awakening call to those ready to step into the true power of being human and incarnate at this exceptional moment in history. Higgins recognizes this as a step that is unique to each individual, an essentially spiritual step that must be guided by intuition, and that requires courage to take, hence the title of the book. In language that is highly accessible and free of any kind of religious jargon, she invites us to connect with and trust our intuition or ‘innate’, crediting the latter with its true force as a faculty, to be honed and exercised (and in my view she is completely in accordance with Rudolf Steiner in this respect).

Higgins acknowledges that this process can be tricky, throwing up areas in which we sabotage ourselves and sometimes others due to pain and hurt, and that bringing these ‘inner Ecocides’ out into the light can lead to deep healing, enabling thereby a deeper care both for ourselves and for the world around and beyond us - a sense of serving something

greater than ourselves and finding ourselves freer as a result.

She illustrates this process by interspersing her own story-so-far as a concrete example, in a conversational style that almost makes us feel she is in the room while we are reading (and more than once had me laughing out loud). It’s peppered with invitations for reflection and action: not sequential exercises but short, fun, deceptively simple ‘tools’ and ‘keys’ which can enable that ‘innate’ voice to be heard and any obstacles to appear and be dealt with.

This is not, however, just another ‘self-help’ book or twelve-step procedure. In telling her own story in this uniquely interactive way, Higgins is directly recruiting us to her quest for Ecocide Law, for the health and happiness of the Earth and all its inhabitants, human or otherwise, and we find ourselves wanting to rise to that through the process of reading it, in whatever way makes the most sense to each of us.

You may well find yourself wanting to pass it around, not so much in the spirit of ‘this book will change your life’ - although it certainly could - but more in the way that you might offer someone a particularly effective and tasty vitamin pill. This book is a concise, light yet potent antidote to the powerlessness and frustration many of us can feel. It punches above its weight, so to speak. Even the mandala on the front has a power of its own that is energizing. When I saw the book for the first time, the words that jumped out at me were ‘I Dare To Be’... inevitably, I thought: what do I dare to be?

This is not a work of ‘literature’, and neither is it meant to be. It is also the opposite of precious, ponderous and selfconscious. It is a quirky, bubbly, fast-paced revelation (hers and ours) that acknowledges the extraordinary - and often frightening - acceleration of the rate of change we see around us in the world. It tells us that if we stop struggling to keep pace, or holding ourselves back for fear of the unknown, and instead trust the prompts of our own ‘innate’, we can dare ourselves to step into that stream and discover our own freedom and our greatness - our own way to affect the direction of flow. As Higgins reminds us: ships are safe in harbour - but that is not what ships are for.

practices. Learn about planting in tune with the lunar calendar, biodynamic preparations to put as much back into the soil as growing takes out, and discover how the biodynamic approach, seemingly strange at first, has an unbeatable logic based on old-fashioned farming values familiar to many Get tastier produce from your garden with this fresh apalready growing organically. proach to growing veg, fruit, and ornamental plants. With Author Monty organic practices now mainstream and home-grown food Waldin is an award-winning a reality for many, eco-conscious gardeners everywhere are wine writer specializing in keen to explore methods that increase yield, and harvest green issues, with first hand edible crops with a depth of flavour rarely matched on experience of developing supermarket shelves. Biodynamic gardening techniques biodynamic vineyards in promise both: if you are interested in a pragmatic guide to Europe and North America. an all-natural, ethical approach that delivers great results, He featured in Channel look no further.

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BIODYNAMIC GARDENING Work in harmony with nature for healthy plants and amazing produce £16.99, Published 1st March 2015

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

MUCK AND MIND Encountering Biodynamic Agriculture – An Alchemical Journey

By Jonathan Michael Code Lindisfarne Books, 2014.

Reviewed by Aksel Hugo

Poetics of preparation In one way this is a simple book cast in quite a modest format. In essence it is a reflective research journal, where we follow a sequenced journey through field and laboratory.

As Code states; ‘a record or account of a quite personal foray into the realm of possibilities and challenges, that the biodynamic approach entails’. His driving question is also quite straight forward: ‘.. the meaning of what the biodynamic practitioner is engaged with in the making of preparations.’

The trail that is trodden is, however, quite advanced.

What Code is attempting, is no less than to shed light on indication by Rudolf Steiner of ’hidden alchemy’ informing organic process – in processes of transformation in the plant and soil: Why a skull? And why the bark of a tree? … and why the particular choice of plant and animal organs?

The original entry point he chooses is to transform these question into ’an alchemical way of staging them’. The long detour he takes himself and the reader leads us to the key processes that we need to understand in alchemy: right separation and right synthesis. It is, according to Code, a similar principle of right separation and right synthesis at work in the biodynamic preparations. First there is a very distinct process of separation of very particular parts of the mineral, plant- and animal kingdom, like in a poem where words are chosen. Then there is a particular synthesis, again like in a poem. The poet feelingly understands how particular words are chosen, and when they are put together in a particular way, all of a sudden, a new wholeness arises, something more than the sum of the parts. In alchemy, as in poetry, what is singled out needs to be put together to produce a substance that has enhanced what the words could do by their own powers. Yet, there is no randomness in choosing the words, or in placing them in a whole. Similarly, biodynamic preparations – both traditional ones and those not yet developed, should, according to Code, be viewed as precise ‘poems’ for potential precise effects on the key processes of the living earth.

If I should attempt to distil an essence of the ’findings’ of the book, I feel it dawns upon the reader in Chapter 8. ‘The turning point’ is the name of the chapter. And for me, here, the dew drop forms: ‘.. the reversal of the will is, I propose, the key difference between right separation and right synthesis.’ I choose this sentence as my ’dew drop of the book’, because it has that simple clarity and worldencompassing, transparent character that new insights tend to have. It is suddenly clear to Code that what we may experience on stage in theatre, is so related. You cannot force that being-touched-ness of audience and actors alike, that ’tangible intangible magic’. You can only recognize it when it is there. The score of the play and a truthful acting is a condition, nothing more and nothing less. Right synthesis

cannot be produced. As ‘magic (it) can take place as a touching in – grace – from the living and unifying realm of the spirit’.

Right synthesis experienced in theatre is related to right synthesis in biodynamics: you open up to a potential influence of the cosmos.

In his book ‘Art as Experience’, John Dewey defines human experience as embedded in life, and as a continuous interaction – leading us into a being one with - our environment.

Experience is the result, the sign, and the reward of that interaction of organism and environment, which when it is carried to the full, is a transformation of interaction into participation and communication. (Dewey, 1934, p. 22) Reading the pragmatist Dewey and his approach to experience in art, while at the same time alchemist Code’s approach to new poetics of agriculture – I found common ground!: If precision and poïesis seamlessly combine, you have something remarkable, you have life. And you also have art. In Jonathan Code’s new book, this unusual blend is achieved; precision and poiesis combine. With a few exceptions, a precise, seamless coherence is accompanying his research journey: One chapter carries into the next in the unfolding of an original piece of inquiry. There is specificity: the question of understanding the ’oak bark preparation’, which leads us into explorations of substance. And it is through the specific that we encounter the universal; the overarching epistemological question: What does it take to understand the dynamic transformational processes, the magic at play - in muck infused with the biodynamic preparations? The direction which he proposes is experience cultivated to art - linked back into participation in a new fine art of agriculture.

Code is a poet, this is clearly a feeling one gets from turning his pages .. and more. For his material is earth; oils, alcohols, salts, plant materials, animal matter. So Code is a chemist – and again, since he is poet in the way he deals with transformation of substance, he is more than a chemist.

He is an al-chemist. Poet, farmer and chemist. If you braid the three you are bound to get something unusual. And yet, what Code tries to demonstrate is that he is only picking up a strand of knowing that has deep cultural roots. There is tradition – the Rosicrucian - which he refers to, studies and explores in his laboratory. He argues that this way of knowing has been an undercurrent in much of western cultural history of science. Explicit connections and references to this tradition, with its key bearers, is in my view another strength of this book. The collaboration with farmer and fine drawer Ed Burger gives the heaviness of the topic a certain freshness and lightness.

Dewey, J. 1934. Art as experience. Penguin Books, New York.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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The Spirit of Nature - Energy of Farming

1-Day Workshop with World-Renowned Organic Farmer/Gardener, Author and Metaphysical Time Traveller Michael RoadsTuesday 2nd June 2015, 9am to 5pm Venue: Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7QW Cost: £99 including organic lunch For bookings please contact: mail@michaelroadsuk.com Tel 01926 316962 or book online at www.michaelroadsuk.com

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For more information please contact: James Mansfield (Technical Director), James.Mansfield@ecodynamic.org.uk (Mobile) 07747 335841

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

In association with the Biodynamic Land Trust

THE MARIA THUN BIODYNAMIC CALENDAR 2015 MATTHIAS THUN

Homoeopathy at Wellie Level

Teaching the responsible use of homoeopathy on the farm

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The original biodynamic sowing and planting calendar, now in its 53rd year, shows the optimum days for sowing, pruning, and harvesting various plants and crops.

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BIODYNAMIC, ORGANIC AND NATURAL WINEMAKING BRITT AND PER KARLSSON This is an award-winning introduction from two renowned wine experts, perfect for all winegrowers and winemakers who are considering turning to a more sustainable form of winemaking.

paperback | 280 pages | £14.99

WHEN WINE TASTES BEST 2015 A Biodynamic Calendar for Wine Drinkers MATTHIAS THUN This handy little pocket guide tells you which days are optimum wine-drinking days, and which days to avoid if you want to get the most out of your glass.

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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Building the Biodynamic Movement

By Sebastian Parsons The Biodynamic Association is keen to build a vibrant movement that carries the biodynamic impulse out into the world. This article describes how we are trying to do this.

At the heart of the biodynamic movement in the UK is the Biodynamic Agricultural Association (known as the BDA), the membership charity founded X years ago.

Membership of the BDA provides its members support and advice on their biodynamic journey but also, crucially, it allows us to staff an office, provide a website and online presence, put on events, and run and support campaigns that fight the BDA cause.

The BDA is a fully democratic organisation, governed by an elected council, and with a network of local groups around the country. There is a small paid staff to manage its core activities. Over the years it has grown and some of that growth has come from solving problems and meeting needs that have arisen. For instance, supplies of the products needed for biodynamic growing began to be made in the 1980s, and around then it also became necessary to start licensing producers under the Demeter trademark scheme.

More recently the BDA has tackled the need for training with a much loved level 3 apprentice programme and now an online level 4 training course. The BDA was also at the centre of the development of a land trust to protect biodynamic land in perpetuity, and is currently in a process of fostering a new biodynamic seed initiative.

All council members are voluntary and although there are 6 all day meetings a year, there is a limit to how much time and energy they have available to manage what has become quite a complex and varied organisation. It was also realised that, as a democratic organisation, with Council membership changing every single year, governance could also be a burden on the organisation as people are brought up to speed and priorities shift and move.

Many of us have also had the painful experience of watching the Soil Association struggle with its journey of development. Also a democratic organisation, it has seemed to many that with success came interest from powerful external forces, such as the supermarkets, who were able to gain access to and influence in the Association through its democratic process. We want to be successful in the world but are keen to avoid as many dangers as possible.

A single organisation has distinct and defined boundaries. But a movement is something bigger, looser, where there is common purpose, but in which discrete organisations and people collaborate rather than are controlled. We realised that a successful biodynamic movement was an even

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more important goal for us than a successful Association.

A powerful imagination emerged of the BDA as a single shining organisation sitting at the heart of a vibrant Biodynamic movement in the UK, its energy and passion galvanising activity far beyond the limits of its own constitution.

However the question arose as to which activities should remain in the centre and which should be, so to speak, orbiting further out in the “solar system” of the biodynamic movement? We realised that we had an opportunity to release creativity by setting activity free to develop in ways that simply are not appropriate for a membership based charity. An organisation such as ours cannot take commercial risks, and yet aspects of our movement are commercial and could greatly benefit from entrepreneurial spirit.

To foster creativity and to encourage the formation of initiatives that can grow and develop our movement we decided to divide our activity into 2 groups: 1. Activity directly controlled and managed by the BDA. 2. Activity that is influenced and supported by the BDA. It was clear that in the first category fall membership services and the BDA communications activities. Membership because that is our movement’s warm core, and communications because that is our light that shines out – shines out our message out into the community of our movement, and with care can shine so brightly that we actually reach the mainstream and start to grow and expand biodynamic practice.

It is a tremendous act of will for a group of elected trustees to decide, on behalf of their community, with hearts and minds aligned, to take a step, to launch a project. We knew that we wanted the BDA to be creative – a source of initiative – we knew we wanted to be able to bring new things into being. With a relief born of hard won experience managing the biodynamic training course at Emerson, we knew that once the initiative was born we would release it to become an autonomous satellite, a new source of activity, an expansion of our movement. And our attention would turn to the next initiative…

The BDA, creative and generative, must also attract funds that it will use in supporting the biodynamic movement and launching its initiatives. We suddenly understood why we were right to keep the name of the Grange Kirkcaldy fund when it was merged with us. The BDA would have been within its powers to bring the fund into its general

funds but it decided not to do that. It therefore sets out on this journey of fostering the biodynamic movement with a seed-fund already in place and a name for its fund that is rooted in the soil of Britain and the history of, not only the biodynamic movement, but the whole organic movement too.

But what of the satellite organisations to be set free to autonomously orbit the BDA? What was, so to speak, to be the force of “gravity” that would hold them in the movement? A research project considered the matter and decided that in every case individual circumstances may require a different solution, but that the following principles should be applied. n To protect the integrity of the movement, the BDA should retain ultimate ownership of the assets of the satellite, either directly or through an asset lock. n To provide the BDA initiative fund and communications funding with resources the satellite organisation, if commercial, should direct a proportion of its surplus to the BDA, for example 70% of the surplus to the BDA and 30% to the staff. n To foster entrepreneurial spirit the Directors of the satellite organisation should control it, for example, by holding the shares which have voting rights. They should not have to look over their shoulders. This means that the BDA might have to watch a satellite organisation go out of business and not be able to intervene, but without this boundary, the BDA will not sit at the heart of a “movement” but at the centre of a “group”. This will not achieve our goals as it will turn the Council into a Board and involve it in the endless leadership and management issues that the Board of a Group of companies has to deal with. n To protect the reputation of the movement the BDA should have full transparency into its satellite organisations and should have the power to act against its Board should they behave in an unlawful manner. n To ensure there is transparency and good communications the BDA should have the right to appoint a Trustee Director of its choice to the satellite organisation, who can be removed or replaced at any time at the will of the BDA.

n To ensure the movement is purposeful and aligned the satellite organisation should adopt into its constitution the Objects of the Association, and the constitution of the satellite organisation should be agreed by the BDA. n To protect the movement in the long term decisions to change the articles of the satellite organisation, or on any change of objects, or change in use of the assets, or disposal of the assets, or change to the name of the organisation should require unanimous agreement of the Directors, shareholders, or the BDA Trustee Director should be given a veto.

The Association has the task of managing the health of its own organisation and supporting the growth and development of the movement. To do this we came to understand that we must carry out the following tasks in consciousness and with good will. n In the forming of the satellite organisation the BDA must oversee the writing of the constitution and the appointment of the first Board. n The BDA must ensure that it appoints suitable individuals to be the BDA’s Trustee Director on the Boards of the satellite organisations. These Directors must be able to contribute on the Board, share the BDA’s perspective in the satellite and share the satellite’s perspective in the BDA. n Give Trustee Directors the access to and opportunity to communicate with the BDA Council and potentially with the BDA communications teams too. n Promoting the activity of the Satellite organisation to the whole movement and general public.

We hope that this article has brought to life for you the picture living in Council as it leads the BDA through transformations that will allow the biodynamic movement to take a leading role in the ecological movement and in due course, in society as a whole.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Patrick Holden – Patron of the Biodynamic Association Last October I participated in the BDA Annual Conference at the Ruskin Glass Centre and although I was only able to join the gathering for a short time for my introductory talk, it was an energising and inspiring experience.Whilst gathering my thoughts for this address I came across a copy of Rudolf Steiner’s Agricultural lectures which one of my fellow students, Melanie Rebbeck in the course of 1972/3, had heavily annotated.

She must have lent the book to my ex-farm partner, Nick Rebbeck, the man who purchased my farm and gave me a tenancy many years ago, but I suspect that he forgot to return it!

Reading through Melanie’s notes, I was struck, both by their freshness and the level of demand that interpreting what Steiner offers, places on the reader. It was instructive to reflect on the intention of the lectures that Steiner gave at Koberwitz in the former East Germany, in the sense that he was advising farmers how to respond to a decline in vitality that they had observed in their crops and livestock.

Ninety years on it would be fair to say that the situation has only got worse, as evidenced by a short news story in Farmer’s Weekly of 24 October.This reported a conclusion reached by a group of eminent scientists that such has been the scale of the destruction of top soil during the post war period, that there are only 100 harvests left before we will have exhausted all the accumulated fertility of the world’s arable soils.

Bearing this in mind, the impulse which gave rise to the lectures seems as relevant today as ever as more and more farmers wake up to the fact that the combination of nitrogen fertiliser and pesticides used on long runs of arable crops, is quite literally destroying the biology and structure of their soils.

All this presents a challenge to the Biodynamic movement, both nationally

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and globally, how we can remind ourselves on a daily basis that merely reinforcing the sense of community, which already exists between biodynamic farmers, is not sufficient. I feel certain that had Rudolf Steiner been around today he would have endorsed the demand and responsibility, which anyone who has deeply understood the principles behind the biodynamic system should feel.This is namely to be a source of influence and hopefully inspiration to the most intensive farmers who are probably still farming in an exploitative way, rather than merely seeking the comfort and sense of mutual reinforcement of mission which is always present at gatherings of the sustainable food movement.

In doing so, we should be mindful of one of the major barriers that is at present standing in the way of the mainstream adoption of sustainable farming methods, that is the absence of true cost accounting in food and farming. I have already drawn attention to this in the article in the last issue of Star and Furrow. But it becomes ever more clear to me that until there is a better business case for ‘doing the right thing’ in terms of sustainable farming (as well as on the other side of the farm gate), and sustainably produced food becomes more affordable by comparison with its intensively produced counterpart, we are not going to see the systemic shift which more and more people now agree will be necessary to build more secure and sustainable food systems for future generations.

In writing this, I am mindful that the underlying message seems to be ‘it all comes down to money’, which of course is not always the case. Unless we rectify the distortions in the current economic climate, which prevail, in our food systems, it is very hard to see why the majority of farmers would take a decision to change their farming practices in such a way that it would make their businesses less profitable than they are now.

Peter Brown Director This year, I was employed as the Director of the Biodynamic Association. It was recognised by the Trustees that this was necessary to further the aims of the Association more effectively, particularly concerning the seed and bee projects. It has been a privilege to take up this role.

Regarding the Seed Project, the Biodynamic Association has been supporting its farmers and growers for a long time through advice and training to help them produce and save their seeds. Stormy Hall has been closely involved in this process.

Over the last few years, the need to develop the plant breeding aspect has become ever more urgent. It was also recognised that Stormy Hall Seeds was no longer able to meet the country’s growing demand for organic and biodynamic seed due to its location in Yorkshire.The decision was therefore made to create a Seed Co-operative as a Community and Benefit Society.This incorporates three aspects: to increase the production and availability of UK produced biodynamic seed; to start a plant breeding program to meet the needs of growers; and, thirdly, to ensure that the knowledge and skills is available to enable growers to participate in growing and saving seeds as part of the Co-operative.

Good progress has been made with the project. A clear business plan is in place. We are renting land and buildings on Willow Hall Farm in Essex, which has suitably light and high quality soils.The legal entity of the co-operative has been formed as Biodynamic and Organic Plant Breeding and Seeds Limited and there is a grower in place for next year. We have been given £25,000 from the Swiss based Salvia Foundation to help start a major fundraising process and, to date, the Case of Support for the project has been written and potential sources of funding have begun to be mapped out.

With the Bee Project, we are working closely with the Natural Beekeeping Trust to explore different ways forward for raising awareness about the fate of the bees and creating education resources for people to encounter bees first hand. It is not possible to have healthy bees without a healthy, diverse and balanced landscape, as can be created on a biodynamic farm.

There also needs to be good bee-centred beekeeping. It has become clear that many people have an instinctive love of bees and it is a matter of how we can harness this to both help the bees and our landscape. My main activity has been helping to bring what biodynamic beekeeping can offer by promoting the Sun Hive, a design developed by a biodynamic beekeeper in Germany.This has included running workshops for members of the public on how to make these hives, as well as a week-long course with long-term prisoners in a prison near Rugby. I have been able to bring the Sun Hive, via workshops, to South Africa and also attend shows and events such as ‘Art in Action’ near Oxford.There is no doubt that Natural and biodynamic beekeeping is growing fast across the country – that people are keen to hear what the bees have to tell us.

2014 also marked 90 years since Steiner shared the Agriculture Course, thus founding the biodynamic movement.To celebrate, the BDA planned a large conference for the autumn held in Stourbridge and called ‘Biodynamic Agriculture: A Matter of Life’.The event took stock of all that has been achieved both in the UK and internationally. It also looked forward to explore how to help meet the challenges we all face today.The conference took considerable planning and preparation over many months by a small group of us and I am glad to report that it was a resounding success with lots of very positive feedback. We will build on this important gathering to further the work in the coming year.

Chris Stockdale – Chairman of the BDA Council After our AGM at Brantwood in autumn 2013, our next significant gathering was at the splendid Bibury Court for a fundraising dinner and auction.This was a first class venue with a Michelin-starred chef, wonderful company and a plethora of items to auction, which yielded a memorable evening and an incredible four and half thousand pounds.The beneficial impact of this event has continued to roll on – so a big thank you to John Lister and his team and everyone who made this event such a success.

Commencing in January last year, the BDA once again employed a Director, albeit part-time and for a limited (two-year) period.You can read in Peter’s Report what has been achieved. As Chair I am satisfied that Peter has enabled significant cost-efficiencies with our Accountancy process, supported the staff with regular Office Management Group meetings (in addition to the Monthly Executive Meetings, and Working Days. He has made great strides with the development of the Seed group, represented us very well to the wider public, and made a major contribution to our recent and also truly excellent 90th Anniversary Conference – thanks for which must go to all the organisers and especially Aonghus Gordon, for providing such a wonderful venue and support.

This autumn, Ellie Austin and Heidi Herrmann stood down as Trustees – both are missed, your contributions were valued, and we remain in communication.

We were joined this autumn by Sophie Christopher-Bowes who is a valuable addition to our team. I am glad to report that Council expenses have been very low in the past year, but must also mention the incredible work carried out by Ian

Bailey at the Grange packing and mailing out Preps and books for the Association, transporting and manning book stalls and helping with an income stream.

Our AGM last year was in Herefordshire at the Steiner Academy Hereford, in Much Dewchurch; a terrific venue, with its mixture of medieval and brand new buildings, and its focus on land issues.The welcome from the School Community was palpable, with volunteers on hand to facilitate with everything.The food and drink were once again superb, thanks to the help of Anne and Chris Addison. Peter gave us a short talk on the future of and need for biodynamics, and then Gareth on ‘Bees- Ambassadors for Nature’, both of which were interesting, inspirational and captivating.The Business part of the day was concluded early on, with the Minutes and the Accounts being approved.

Our Membership has remained loyal and constant – we have nudged over the thousand mark. A point made by Helen Pilbeam at the AGM was that if we could each of us encourage one other person to join, we would double our membership – which would possibly enable us to have a full-time Director.

We are a small organisation that has an impact way above our size. But we could do more if we had a larger Membership base, with the subsequent increase in income. So, I hope that in a year’s time we will be able to report that all is well and that our Membership has grown – 2015 (members) for 2015, would be wonderful.

Finally, I would like to thank all our Organisational supporters, our ongoing donors and supporters, our Patron, all our Trustees who give their time as a gift, all our Staff, and thank you, our Members, for facilitating our work.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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Tarry Bolger – Managing Director, BDA Certification The past year in the Certification department has been a land mark year on several different levels. In December 2013, the BDA Council agreed to separate the Certification department out of the BDA and form an independent company.This will act like an orbiting satellite, communicating with and supporting the BDA and its work through the formation of conjunctions and where necessary and where appropriate, trines with other organisations as we continue to strive for a Biodynamic, organic and sustainable future for our food and environment.

The year has also seen the implementation of our new database, which has been on a low heat in the oven for quite some time already.The database, which occasionally still gets on like a bull in a china shop, is now ready to face its ultimate challenge which is to enable us, within a couple of button clicks, with all the statistics and data that we collect from licensees throughout the course of the year. We are required to report this data to Defra and Demeter International on a regular basis and the ability to generate this (imagine a mountain of paperwork, times it by 4 and you will get the picture) automatically, instead of manually.This is a massive step forward for us, which will eventually enable us to spend more time on supporting what we care about most, all of our wonderful licensees!

Probably one of the most significant developments this year has occurred in our staff body. We have had to say goodbye to Raphael Rivera and Lucy Jones, our certification officers who have sweated blood and tears over the years supporting us with their work. Both Raphael and Lucy

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Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

are extremely talented and bright individuals who gave their heart and soul and they are missed dearly.Thank you both and we hope our paths cross again in the not too distant future.

As a consequence of their departures and for the first time in our history, all employed staff in the Certification department are based in Stroud and work out of our Stroud Office.This is as significant to us as an organisation as a nucleus is to a cell and as the saying goes, change brings opportunity.

In other areas of our work, we continue to represent the organisation and your interests in the various working groups that we attend. I recently took over the Chairmanship of UKOCG (United Kingdom Organic Certifiers Group), which is an honour and I hope I can support this group going forward in our work with Defra to develop further the regulatory framework for certified Biodynamic and organic farmers in the UK. Margaret Richardson, Richard Swann, Gabriel Kaye and all of our inspectors continue to make the Certification department a vibrant and enjoyable place to work and our growing licensee base is continually agreeing with us in our conviction that certification doesn’t need to be an officious box ticking paper exercise.

We are actively trying to carry and share the fact that within our standards lies a structure and character that has the potential to support the management and integrity of your farms, gardens and food processing enterprises whilst at the same time giving your customers, and all of us consumers the confidence in the products we purchase.

We look forward to working with you in 2015.

2013-2014 Key activities 2013 was a successful and important year for the organisation.The AGM in October was held at Brantwood, Coniston, and at that meeting the membership voted unanimously for the incorporation of the Association into a Charitably Incorporated Organisation.

Overall the organisation is in good health with stable and productive activity in training, solid promotion of biodynamics and continued development of the team.

A new Director was appointed, Peter Brown, who brings his considerable experience of farming and leadership to the role. A milestone was reached with the 1000th member signing up.The BDA ran its first fundraising dinner* a glamorous evening event held under a spectacular harvest moon at Bibury Court Hotel in the Cotswolds.

Representatives from all over the world were hosted by us in June as the annual Demeter International Members Assembly came to the UK. We attended the international Biodynamic Conference in Dornach, as well as many events in the UK where we were able to promote biodynamic methods.

Donations and Support April 2013 - 31st March 2014 General donations: Simon Hanks, Weleda UK, CA Twyford, In Memory of Alan Brockman: Mr & Mrs French, R Blackmore, Mr G Seddon, Mrs M Dickie, PA Druitt, PA Thomas, SM Syder, Blackthorn Trust Thanks to Bibury Court for hosting our fund raising dinner and auction Thanks to all of our members who donate over the recommended membership rate of £30 Seed Project Donations: Margaret Shams, Simon Blaxland de Lange, Sarah Merrifield, Richard Smith, Simon Couldry, Barbara Weavers, Yvonne Crocker,

Stuart Jones, Ildiko Bibor, Richard B Evans, Isabelle Clinton, Peter Brown, Nino Redeutchin, Rupert Widdicombe, Patricia Ross, Dr Martin Kunz, Brian Wain Particular thanks for continued donations Roger Ross Organisational Members nWeleda UK nRuskin Mill Trust (including all the colleges - same as last year) nEco-Architecture and Permaculture nThe Mount Camphill Community nTriodos Bank n Tigh a’Chomainn Camphill Remembering those who have died: Alan Brockman, David Herman, Mary Barnsley

TRUSTEES OF THE BIODYNAMIC ASSOCIATION

2014 2013

INCOME

Chris Stockdale Donations 39115 56,624 Chairman

Subscriptions 27152 38,101 Chris runs a small farm with his wife Fundraising 4348 1,798 and family in Herefordshire. He is also

Investment Income 7728 7,563 a trustee of the Biodynamic Land Trust.

Education and promotion

- Training 58178 26,759

Education and promotion

- Publications 23330 27,482 Ian Bailey

Certification - Inspections 126538 124,509 Ian is former treasurer of the BDA

Certification - Manuals and along with Jess now manages the

and application fees 6552 691 books and preparations mail order service.

Certification

- Defra grant 32556 33,237

TOTAL INCOME 325,497 316,764 Sebastian Parsons

EDUCATION Founder and director of AND PROMOTION Stockwood Community

Benefit Society, Liv Trading Ltd and the Elysia Commons.

Training and conference 43177 16,296

Publications 12186 12,332

Promotion 32969 8,431

Book sales 14098 16,895 John Lister

Salaries, NIC and Pensions 28435 29,865

Biodynamic Land Trust John Lister owns Shipton Mill which produces stoneground, organic and Biodynamic flours

and outreach grants 13000 43,000 for artisan bakers throughout the UK. Participation

and subscriptions 1213 (123)

Office expenses 9160 8,261 Depreciation & impairment 313 1,335

Other costs 18772 12,361 Gareth John

Gareth is a beekeeper and lives

TOTAL EDUCATION with his wife, four dogs and many beehives

AND PROMOTION 173,323 148,653 in West Oxfordshire.

CERTIFICATION

Training 2615 2,788 Sophie Christopher-Bowes

Accreditation 10007 9,959

Admin and meetings 10297 7,317 Sophie is a landlady/investor with over 7 years experience in the property business and eco

Management 606 1,918 renovation of properties.

Processing and certification 1844 1,832 International representation 4376 4,454 Inspections 53970 53,050

Salaries, NIC and Pensions 62045 66,535 Rachael O’Kelly

Other costs 4004 4,752

Rachael O’Kelly is a mother learning and

TOTAL CERTIFICATION 149,764 152,605 experimenting with how best to feed and

nourish her family with small scale, back garden biodynamic growing.

Governance Costs 5998 5,099

Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Spencer Christie

Resources for Year (3,588) 10,407 Spencer has been farming Biodynamically on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex for over ten years.

Star & Furrow Issue 122 January 2015

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arts

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sustainability

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spirituality

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well-being

Mon 26 January—Mon 2 February Holistic Science, Agroecology and Food

An open Crossfields Institute Seminar with Jonathan Code, Touchstone Collaborations and others April– May Biodynamic Agriculture and its Background three modules, Bernard Jarman 14 JANUARY—25 MARCH: Biodynamic Farming and Gardening with with Bernard Jarman 14-15 April The Human Being, Ecology & Culture; 28-29 April Soil fertility, farm animals and the nature of substance Six 1-day modules covering principles and practice.

12-13 May The art of composting, preparations and the stars Life, nature and the human being—ecology & agriculture—soil fertility and the nature of substance—farm animals, the farmer’s Monday 4 May Open Day 10am-5pm Freemoon entry;and parking £3 per car.orTaster sessions, family fun assistants—the art Hawkwood of compost making—the world of stars, planets. £350 £70 per day, inc.music, Lunchfood, & refreshments Friday 19—Sunday 21 June Understanding Honey Bees Michael Weiler JANUARY courses: Funky Fused Glass28—Sunday ~ Where I Truly From: A Biographical Journey ~ Polly Higgins: Dare to be Great Friday 30Come August Astrosophy with Ian Bailey Helen Chadwick: Songwriting ~ Viol Consorts Tuesday 6—Wednesday 7 October Celebrating the Harvest: Gathering, storing and processing the Autumn yield.

Jarman and Hawkwood Butt Embroidery ~ Observing Nature with FEBRUARY & MARCH courses: FutureBernard Self Now ~ Intuitive Sculpture inChef ClayJohn ~ Japanese 16—Sunday 18 October Discovering withMethod Monty Waldin Creative Imagination Friday ~ Baroque Chamber Music ~ Hawkwood CookeryWine ~ Rosen Bodywork ~ Infinite Tai Chi Lots more round, as well as dayand & evening classes, talks and special events.

Friday 4– courses Sundayall6 year December Food, Land Healing with Touchstone Collaborations Warm welcome in our beautiful house and grounds PLUS DELICIOUS FOOD!

DISCOUNTS ON COURSE FEES for members of the Biodynamic Association—please enquire when booking

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www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

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01453 759034

Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 7QW

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