Biodynamic
From WikiDemocracy
Biodynamic Agriculture
Biodynamic agriculture is a form of alternative agriculture based on pseudoscientific and esoteric concepts initially developed in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925).It was the first of the organic farming movements. It treats soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically interrelated tasks, emphasizing spiritual and mystical perspectives.
Biodynamics has much in common with other organic approaches – it emphasizes the use of manures and composts and excludes the use of synthetic (artificial) fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include its treatment of animals, crops, and soil as a single system, an emphasis from its beginnings on local production and distribution systems, its use of traditional and development of new local breeds and varieties. Some methods use an astrological sowing and planting calendar. Biodynamic agriculture uses various herbal and mineral additives for compost additives and field sprays; these are prepared using methods that are more akin to sympathetic magic than agronomy, such as burying ground quartz stuffed into the horn of a cow, which are said to harvest "cosmic forces in the soil".
Biodynamic Farming: Poop in a Ram's Horn
by Renee Fisher 4/6/14 HUFFPOST
LBL, plunk in the middle of her annual warm weather tour of local ice cream emporiums, hadn't been keeping up with the world of anything sprouting from the ground. LBL's friend continued explaining that the bread LBL's Now Husband was eating, as well as all the root vegetables LBL and Now Husband had consumed, grew in soil prepared with a ram's horns filled with poop.
LBL decided to do some hard research. She started with the Internet.
Alan Chadwick in the Budding Grove: Story Summary for a Documentary Film
by Elizabeth Lennard 17/8/18 COUNTERPANCH
In 1971, when I was a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I would wander through the campus Redwoods to a dense flower-filled garden and an adjoining small log cabin. A suntanned man in his early sixties, dressed only in shorts and armed with a simple spade, would barely look up from his work. When he ceased digging, he spoke in a fine British accent about a variety of subjects ranging from plants to literature to Greek philosophy.
Food Informants: A Week In The Life Of Rudy Marchesi, Biodynamic Wine Maker
Rudy Marchesi assumed ownership of Montinore Estates in 2006, but has had a hand in the estate since 1992 when he lead the fine wine department of the distribution house of Allied Beverage. In 1998, he began consulting on Montinore's vineyard management, winemaking and marketing. He became Vice President of Operations in 2001 and President in 2003. Marchesi obtained the Demeter Biodynamic certificate in 2008, which certifies wines based on the strict principles of biodynamic farming. This process involves an organic approach that treats the soil with fermented manure, minerals and herbs.
