Bio-Dynamic Farming

Biodynamic Agriculture works with the forces of the earth and the cosmos, combining them with those of plants, animals and human beings.  Acknowledging that all realms of nature constantly penetrate one another the farmer/gardener aims to balance them in an interrelated organism.  This approach is adaptable to any size of farm or garden in any climate.  The striving to create harmony within this organism reached towards sustainability, not just environmentally, but in the economic and social realms as well.
 
Begun as the first form of organic agriculture Biodynamic is inspired by anthropology and the work of Rudolph Steiner and has been actively practiced around the world since 1924. 

The Work

In the daily work of ploughing and sowing our fields, keeping crops weed and pest free, feeding and fielding cattle, we sometimes forget the truth of what we are doing.  We have contact with plants and animals on a daily basis, but how often do we actually glimpse the true essence? 
 
Plants and animals show more than their physical appearance.  Plants live in a field of tension between the earth and the heavens - growing from the dark wet soil upwards to the light and the warmth in which they reveal their characteristic form, colour and scent.  In the development of the plant we can understand the effects of the four elemental forces of earth, water, light and warmth as the plant grows from seed to leaf, flower to fruit and returns to seed. 
 
Animals show their characters in how they develop in their behaviour  The slow and dreamy ways that cows ruminate their days away contract starkly with the nerves chatter and flapping wings of chickens.  Every animal species shows its own specialized way of interacting with their surroundings. Cows with their highly distinctive digestive organs have a completely different way of living in the world than jittery hens.  These qualities can be seen during the whole life of an animal, in the food that they eat and even in the manure that they produce.  Such an approach to understanding animals can lead us to a new, more appropriate way of working with them, acknowledging their essential qualities as organs in the complex organism that is the farm.