A Letter from the JPI President

Spring Update from JPI board president Teresa O'Shaughnessy

Dear friends,

My tea kettle is on and I am thinking of all of you today. Winter in Austin, Texas has been an adventure this year with freezing winds, rains, and some snow. Then a few days later we warmed up to the 70’s and 80’s. My fruit trees thought it was time to bloom and then the temperatures dropped below freezing for several days. As farmers and gardeners, it feels like we are having to learn how to balance on constantly shifting ground.

We had an ice and snow storm a few weeks ago on the JPI Farm that took out our power for several days while we were there. Friends of JPI, Lloyd Nelson, Ben Campbell, and Jacob Gibbons, helped Stewart Lundy and me process our two cows. We now have plenty of beef to feed people at our 2025 workshops and enough sheaths to make preps for a whole year. It was an amazing experience, to have no technology working around us. It was quiet in many ways. Even with no water, toilet, or heaters, we recognized the beauty in this opportunity. We worked together in the barn as we processed the cows. There was a lot of reverence, prayers, laughter, joy, and stories shared while we worked.

Left to right: Lloyd Nelson (Biodynamic Source, Colorado), Stewart Lundy (JPI, Virginia), Jacob Gibbons (Perennial Roots Farm, Virginia), Teresa O’Shaughnessy (JPI board president, Texas), Ben Campbell (Sophia Farm, Japan)

We could all feel the elementals’ approval of our work. It was clear that we were not alone. There was a strong presence of friends of JPI beyond the threshold. They appeared to be relieved, in a way; sad for the rough roads we have traveled but also a quiet confidence that we are on the right path now. Our pioneers and elders bore witness to the kindling of something new that brought hope and the renewal of faith in our purpose. We used sage sticks to smudge the offices and barn area to clear out the old, stuck energies. We swept, dusted, and scrubbed. After the work was done we rededicated the spaces to the Light, to all beings who support our mission, and to the transformation of the earth and ourselves through the spirit and practice of biodynamics.

I hope that, wherever you are, wherever you call home, you feel supported in using the biodynamic preparations. I have learned through my years of applying the preparations, that there are times when I need them as much or more than my gardens and small orchard. When life gets heavy or too much unkindness surrounds us, I spray BD 501. As I walk and spray that preparation, I can feel the light lightly touch my skin and my mind. There is a breathing that encompasses me and I can take a full breath again. I have to look up when I spray the 501 and when I do, I am reminded of the beauty in the world. The trees, the birds, the bees, the wind, the flowers, the lizard, the stones, the earth are always with me.

When there are too many emotions and things are swirling too fast, I stir BD 500. I need to be grounded again. So I prepare the soil and spray the 500. I look at the land when I spray the 500, I notice where I walk and what often gets overlooked when we are rushing. There is an old saying that the best fertilizer for the land is the farmer’s footsteps. Walking invites me to not hold my breath. Sometimes I find that I am taking big gulps of air filled with the wonderful scent of soil and life.

JPI continues to actively work with St. Michael, the Being of JPI and Christ. We are still committed to a threefold approach to our mission and to our work. You are our community. We ask that you continue to support us through prayers, thoughts, deeds, patience, and love.

We also invite you to join us for one of our upcoming Workshops at the JPI Farm. They are listed on our website. Among other upcoming events, we are very excited to be hosting:

• Chromatography Workshop March 21-23, 2025 (recordings will be made available for those who are unable to attend in person)
  
  

• Late Spring Preparation Workshop, June 13-15, 2025
  
  

• Fall Preparation Workshop, September 5-7, 2025

If you are able, please consider helping someone attend who cannot afford it. Any amount, big or small, will go a long way in helping others to discover biodynamics.

JPI is awakening from the winter festivals where we took the time to listen to and work with the spiritual beings that support us. We are looking forward to the promise of Spring and our time with each of you. Thank you for sharing a cup of tea with me.

With deep gratitude,

Teresa O'Shaughnessy
President
The Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics