Making Biodynamic Preparations
Fall Workshop Summary & 2023 BDA Discount Code
Hi everyone! Great news!
We had a fantastic annual Fall Workshop. We enjoyed hosting our attendees and making new friends, and it was great to see returning faces from our Spring Workshop. We undertook hands-on preparation-making focusing on 500 horn manure, Barrel Compound (BC) and burying the preparations we hung up in spring.
While preparing for the workshop, a hawk landed on the mound of dirt from the horn manure pit and watched us with curiosity.
JPI now has over five thousand (5000) horns in the ground with manure from our own cows fed with hay from the neighboring field treated with biodynamic preparations.
Image: Ben Nommay with the JPI cow horns, from which we make bounteous 500 horn manure.
Image: Deep autumnal thoughts at the 500-horn manure burial pit. Left, Ben Nommay; Right, Francis Lenna Keefer.
I can say that this is the first time a biodynamic workshop has felt like a Hugh Courtney practicum since his passing. Familiar faces and that distinct aroma of these workshops — where else will you be likely to smell chamomile blossoms and cow intestines? Where else do you have smiling faces on people stuffing poop into horns? If you can be happy doing this, perhaps you can be happy doing any work!
Over a decade ago, when I first tried making my own preparations by myself, they failed. But that failure was a success because it convinced me that these weren’t just magic tricks. You can’t just put manure in a horn, and expect it will automatically transform. There’s a lot more that goes into it. I learned I needed to go learn from someone with experience.
My first experience with an in-person biodynamic workshop was a full-day intensive with Gunther Hauk. But my first prolonged practice making biodynamic preparations with others was with Hugh Courtney. And I carpooled with M Mueller.
To my delight, M Mueller was here this weekend at JPI, bringing his elemental energy (and his fiddle)! I’ve learned that a flame can light many candles, and yet it remains its own flame. There is a kinship between all flames lit by the same source. So the flame of Sophia passed from Steiner to Pfeiffer to Porter to Courtney continues today in Ben, who learned from M (who learned from both Gunther Hauk and Hugh Courtney) and myself.
Image: M Mueller introducing our group to our place within the grand cosmic situation of the stars and the seasons.
Rudolf Steiner says in the Agriculture Course, when asked about Ritter’s Remedies that many herbal remedies are incorrect, but when an enthusiastic physician prescribes a remedy to a patient, even if the remedy itself is wrong, the enthusiasm imparted by the doctor renders it efficacious. The better half of our work is kindling souls to newborn enthusiasm, without which all is for nothing. Here is a re-creation, in a new way — a new incarnation of the fire that passes not from hand to hand but from heart to heart.
The better half of our work is kindling souls to newborn enthusiasm, without which all is for nothing. Here is a re-creation, in a new way — a new incarnation of the fire that passes not from hand to hand but from heart to heart.
M Mueller reminded us of where the Moon is in relation to us, where the planets are, and helped reorient our sense of place within the Cosmos. His presence brought a feeling of light (and his fiddle helped get that tone ether moving!). With M, what might have been a workshop shifted subtly towards what might be closer to a festival. And what’s a festival without music?
On Saturday night, we were treated to a private concert by bluegrass musician Colin Culter, whose new album Tarwater, inspired by the stories of Flannery O’Connor, just came out! Here’s a clip from his live performance at the JPI barn:
We enjoyed a bounty of delicious food from our generous helpers, and it’s safe to say no one went hungry!
Image: Hank the Farmdog, M Mueller, Ben Nommay, and our motley crew of biodynamic enthusiasts.
Don’t forget to watch out for our Spring 2024 Gathering: more preparations, more fellowship, more music, and: you!
Register for the Biodynamic Conference in Westminster, CO from November 8-12, 2023!
We will enjoy presentations from JPI Board Members Barbara Shinn, Will Bratton, JPI Board President Mike Biltonen, and JPI Creative Director Stewart Lundy.
JPI Board Member Barbara Shinn is co-presenting Supporting the Health of Wild Lands and Elemental Beings with Biodynamics:
What are the unseen, energetic connections between so-called wild lands and agricultural lands? Can biodynamic preparations bring healing to forests and rivers, mountains, birds, bees, and to that sacred mantle of the earth we call the atmosphere and climate? This workshop will present possibilities for envisioning fields, forests, open water and other ecosystems through biodynamic eyes. Our panelists will each share ways they are working with the biodynamic preparations and other methods to heal the wounds of the earth, support elemental beings and stimulate the overall health of farms and wild lands. We will close this workshop with a brief ceremonial application of biodynamic preparations in a natural area near the conference center.
JPI Board President Mike Biltonen will be presenting Biodynamic Orcharding:
Have you ever walked in an orchard and felt everything was “just right,” that there was an energy where you sensed the life? It’s likely that biodynamic practices were at work. In this session, we will walk through a season in an apple orchard relating typical orchard activities with seasonal rhythms and biodynamic practices. We’ll follow a year in an orchard from winter pruning to bloom and then through harvest where we begin the cosmic cycle again. Each of an apple trees’ growth stages – critical physiological developmental periods in its annual journey – require special understanding, stewardship, and attention that are enhanced through the use of biodynamics practices. We will discuss the use of each of the biodynamic preparations, the special role of silica, tree paste, and even pest peppers in relation to the biological realities and real-world situations every orchardist eventually encounters.
JPI Board Member Will Bratton is co-presenting Biodynamic Medicinal Botanicals: Production, Procurement, and Products:
Bringing together a panel of experts in their respective fields, we will discuss Biodynamic Medicinal Botanicals: how and where they are grown; the current state of global supply chain; and examples of the products they go into, from cosmetic to dietary supplements and herbal medicines. We will trace a line from the initial advisors involved in such project's establishment; examples of production operations globally; the procurement and supply chain around those botanicals; some of the veins of research that support the development of botanical products; and examples of some such finished goods. Most importantly we will conclude with what is wanted and needed for further development in North America.
JPI Board Member Will Bratton is presenting Indigenous Agricultural Practices as a Source for Biodynamic Research:
Indigenous people have had a profound relationship with nature and its rhythms, including the world of the stars. Humans have celebrated their connection with nature with festivals, rituals and activities for thousands of years. Calendars, poems and songs were an integral part of the ritual year and they were also used in agriculture. This knowledge was transmitted through folk stories and practices in the past but it is almost lost in our day.
We will explore, share and rekindle ancient traditions from different parts of the world through small group work and intimate settings. We would like to create contemporary biodynamic research topics based on ancient knowledge to bring new light to our present agriculture practices.
JPI Creative Director Stewart Lundy is presenting Integrating Livestock and Vegetable Production
Learn about the principles of making a farm more self-sufficient with integrated livestock, diverse crops, and fertility management. Practice treating the farm as if it is a living organism and nurturing it in a way that reduces input costs by creating fertility from within the farm or garden.
The Josephine Porter Institute is a proud sponsor of this conference (and we will be present as the official bookstore). Use our discount code CPJPI for $50 off your registration!
The Biodynamic Conference need-based Scholarship Fund helps facilitate aspiring biodynamic farmers to participate and learn. Your contribution helps grow the movement by transitioning and empowering folks with the tools to create their own fertility from within the limits of their own available land.
The Biodynamic Conference brings together 700-1000 farmers, gardeners, educators, students, activists, entrepreneurs, and others interested in Biodynamics from across the United States — and beyond. The largest Biodynamic gathering in the US, this conference offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect, learn, question, share, and explore over the course of five days of programming.
Anyone from beginners to long-time Biodynamic practitioners can learn in a variety of ways, including on-farm field days, intensive pre-conference workshops, inspiring keynote presentations, and breakout workshops. Special events provide many opportunities for connection, conversation, and celebration. "We are also having the first-ever Biodynamic Food & Wine Showcase on November 11 from 12-6 p.m. as a part of the conference, featuring the largest selection of Biodynamic food, wine, garden supplies, and medicinal products ever assembled in North America!
The 2023 conference will serve to launch the US celebration of Biodynamic Agriculture’s 100th anniversary throughout 2024. Please plan to join us as we host our first conference as the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance, with inspiring speakers, workshops, hands-on opportunities, tastings, exhibits, community-building opportunities, and so much more — all showcasing the interrelated cultural, certification, and marketplace aspects that encompass Biodynamic agriculture in the US today.
Date: November 8-12, 2023
Location: The Westin Westminster
Westminster, Colorado
http://www.biodynamicconference.com/
Special recognition to Francis Lenna Keefer, Natalie Brinkley, Ben Nommay, and Doug Wilson for the “afterparty” stuffing of hundreds (thousands) of additional horns! We can’t do this without you folks.
Image: the party doesn’t stop when the party stops. Packing horns after sundown!
“Humans are weird.”
“The fish was this big!”