Please post to BDNOW. Dear Chris and Allan,
For a moment, let's go back to basics and pick it up again. Rudy brought ways and means of reintroducing spiritual energy into plants that people and animals eat. The ways and means that he advised have been cobbled together into an imaginary "system" some people call "biodynamics" or "biodynamic farming". It is not an integrated system that has had the benefit of the kind of research, development and testing that conventional agriculture has had. The premises of Steiner Agriculture are arcane and suspect in the eyes of conventional farmers and researchers. Most of them couldn't understand these metaphysical principles and laws underpinning Rudy's ideas (what has come to be known as "biodynamic" agriculture) on their best days. "Biodynamics" is still, in fact, a backwater method of agriculture practiced by a few dedicated individuals. Also, as I said, the concept of "biodynamic farming" is so limited and limiting that in its present form, it is confusing and in some cases, all but useless. For example, without horn clay, the polarity of horn humus and horn quartz prevails. Without using ALL of Steiner's remedies, you don't benefit from a whole and complete approach to healing the land, etc. and you will fail. If the remedies are applied in the wrong sequence, odd things happen. Regardless of what anyone says or thinks, without Steiner's remedies, there is no "biodynamics". All the rest of it is "organic". We know all this. Let's move a little bit away from Steiner's remedies for a moment. The farming practices that go along with the Steiner approach are, by and large, I think, excellent if practiced by someone who sincerely believes and understands Steiner's ideas and premises. A perfect example of the application of RS thinking is the dairy farmer in Switzerland who puts 5 or 6 compatible cows (with horns) in large stalls approximately 10 by 20 feet in size with fresh bedding applied each day and some Steiner remedies sprayed in the barn to control the breakdown and odor of manure and urine in the stalls/barn. He found, you may recall, that with this simple change, milk production increased by more than 10% and fat content increased also, although I don't remember the exact amount. That was a great idea and a terrific application of the kind of reasoning associated with Rudy - not "biodynamics". The world isn't going to change overnight. Hydroponics farming is a fact of life. It's not going away. Conventional farming, aquaculture, greenhouse produce, poisons, pesticides - they're all here to stay. Be pragmatic. Unless someone comes up with a better way to farm, none of this is going to change and sticking your head in a closet in the hope that it will isn't going to solve any problem other than to keep you from getting skin cancer from too much exposure to the sun. On the other hand, you won't be making much vitamin D either. Another problem, one currently facing the wine industry, is that the leading "biodynamic" wine producer has a reputation for making lousy wine. So, as you can imagine, based on the quality of their wines, not many growers/winemakers are rushing to join the "biodynamic" crowd. Then there's the greed factor that is the basis for at least three winerie's decisions to convert to "biodynamics". For them, it's nothing more than a marketing gambit. And one that is not getting very high returns on their "investment". How do I know? I can turn their wines into REAL Steiner wine in less than 5 minutes. But, they're not interested in having a demonstration and frankly, neither am I in giving one. It's a waste of time to show an alcoholic that his wine can taste better. Also, I don't sell my products to "biodynamic" vineyards or wineries. They are simply incapable of understanding what Steiner's remedies really can do and I'm not in the business of increasing the quality and yield of Demeter certified wineries and let Mendenhall take credit for my work. After all, she's the one who sued me. I digress. Anyway - The way I see it is that we'll never see all the farms or food factories in the world convert to Steiner inspired agriculture (and certainly not biodynamics as it is currently practiced). I don't think we'll ever even convert 5% of them. So Allan, let's work with what we have and forget the narrow, dogmatic approach that destroyed "biodynamics" in the U.S. and other places. That's a dead end street with absolutely no future. The BDA, Demeter and JPI are perfect examples of institutions that have lived past their usefulness, though they won't admit it even to themselves. They're irrelevant. That's what happens when you don't keep up with the changes time and scientific advancement bring. And, once again, with regard to "biodynamics" being a "system", let's be clear about this. There is no "biodynamic" system. It doesn't exist. We might call it a "method" but even that would be a stretch. As soon as you call "biodynamcs" a "system", you limit it to how you, and Mendenhall, define it. This not good. To say that hydroponics is not adaptable to the ideas of Steiner is foolish. Don't go there, Allan. There is no "there" there. Unless you're insane, of course, which I don't believe you are. Move forward. It is possible to bring the same principles and laws, the same practices and remedies to hydroponics that are in use today on many inspired Steiner-type farms. That is a fact. It will not be constrained by the fact that it is not a "biodynamic system". It is the application of Steiner's ideas in new and creative ways that will bring about the change you want to see happen. We have new super-combination remedies that bring spiritual energy to all food, including meat, wine and plants, instantly. There is no reason on God's Green Earth to believe that this same "prana" can't be brought to hydroponically grown plants. At this point, that's not even worth the time to debate. It's a done fact and you've seen it work in your field. As to the question of bringing in the Four Elements of Creation - Earth, Air, Water and Fire - that's a piece of cake. What must be done, as Chris says, is to bring more of the natural world to hydroponic farming so that plants, and the consumers of the plants, benefit from the increased nutrition and balance that these plants will exhibit if they are grown in a more "natural" environment and benefiting from the addition of the Steiner remedies. The addition of humic colloids, clay and other soil-type material solves the Earth element. Air can be circulated easily. Water can be amended in the right way and heat or light can be brought the right way. Don't misunderstand. These factory farms with plants growing on assembly lines produce food that I, at least, consider, garbage in their present form. So I'm with you on that score. But they can be fixed. About 8 years ago I designed, built and tested a greenhouse based on the Sacred Geometry and the geometry of Buckminster Fuller, which he used on his geodesic domes. J. Baldwin inspected a finished version and pronounced it the best greenhouse he'd ever seen. J. Baldwin, of Whole Earth Catalog/Magazine fame worked with Bucky for 17 years and built over 160 geodesic greenhouses on his own. In it, seeds germinated 25 to 35% faster and grew 25 to 35% faster than conventional greenhouses. The air circulation system was so sophisticated that I was able to elminate hot and cold spots in the structure. One of the attributes of this 10' by 16' greenhouse that surprised J. was that even though it was made of redwood 2 by 4's (with laminated redwood arches), it had less than a 5% shadow inside. By comparison, geodesic domes also have the same low shadow percentage and the famous Biosphere, which J. predicted would fail as it did, had about a 49% shadow percentage. These advances and concepts are very important, Allan. The more sun you can bring to plants, the better, and it fulfills the Heat Element requirements. But what would you do in Alaska, Greenland, Island, Norway or Siberia where in the wintertime there is darkness for 23 hours a day? You have to make your own light. This is a necessary compromise if you want to fresh vegetables. In many regeons, it is impractical to truck in fresh vegetables, not to mention expensive. And what does the research say about the nutrition of lettuce grown under lights versus lettuce grown in winter greenhouses (which have elevated nitrates) versus lettuce trucked in on a 3 day road trip? You see, Allan, there are no bases in physical science nor metaphysical science that support your assertions. Research must be done on these things so that we understand them better. I am really interested in what Chris has to say with regard to his ideas for growing plants under glass or lights. Please, Allan, open your mind to the possibilities here. Remember what you said to me after you used our field sprays on your paddock? "The sheep returned to the meadow for several days after that [one application of our new field sprays] (undoubtedly cherry picking) to graze contentedly and now I have the cows fenced to that meadow. For the first time, they have not breeched the fence looking for other grass and have, in fact, eaten almost every green blade in that meadow!" The Forces of Nature, with which Steiner, and indeed, Burbank and Carver, worked are contained in Steiner remedies and can be transferred at will to anything we choose, instantly. No one will ever achieve Steiner's goal of bringing his healing methods to all of agriculture all over the Earth, especially if you are hobbled by a narrow, dogmatic view of what "biodynamic" is, and what it isn't We must toss the word "biodynamic" out of our vocabulary completely if we're ever going to do this. Greg Willis
