>Hey Everybody,
>
>I've been rounding up stuff I've written in the past and when I found this,
>I figured somebody here might find it interesting. At one point I tried
>starting an on-line newsletter about my ideas and attempts at homesteading,
>but nobody read it, so it's defunct. Here is the main article from the
>first issue. I do have an on-line journal that replaced the newsletter in
>part, so further efforst will be publicly documented.
>
>==>paul
So how's it going since you wrote this Paul?
A couple of quick comments - I too am turned off by the hocus pocus aspects
of BioDynamics HOWEVER
1. you don't need to buy in the preparations, in fact BD friends tell me
that they don't think the bought in ones work and that they are only
effective if you make them yourself on site which brings me to
2. Don't know about the stellar influences but the lunar ones are well
documented - I've tried it both ways and moon planting works for me. I
think the preparations are essentially cultures of all the various aspects
of the micro herd present on the land in the first place and are thus - I
was going to say vaccinations, but realised that by the time was has
diluted and stirred them in the appropriate manner they are homeopathic
preparations - develope the natural health of the land and crops
3. I happen to know a very, very, good organic farmer and a very, very good
BD farmer who have side by side tiny farms on identical slices of hillside
and bottom land. They get very, very similar quantities of crops off the
land but by the ultimate test - my kids blind tasting - the BD stuff tastes
best
Having said which I'm too lazy to get into the detail of observation
necessary to do BD and whilst I happen to be an organic certification
manager on my own plot I just do what comes naturally. Which is a mixture
of no-till, square foot, stick it in a handy spot etc. Our only input is
organic straw and some organic chicken feed. Apart from the chickens we are
currently stock free until I can raise time and cash to make sure sheep
can't raze the garden (again) on 3 acres. We don't raise grain, because the
wildlife always gets it, but otherwise we have, in the past, been
self-sufficient in food and got a useful income as well - certainly enough
to more than cover capital outlay. (Why we aren't doing this now is another
story)
kathryn
