Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/689634
4 4 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t Biodynamic farmers and gardeners take extra pains with their farms—but what do they get out of it? I asked this question of Jeff Dawson, a 20-year Biodynamic farmer who grows mixed crops of fruits and vegetables on his Northern California acres. He said, "From what I've seen, Biodynamics certainly increases the life force and the health of the organisms that live and grow here, as well as the health of the farm itself." That way of putting it gets to the heart of Biodynamic agriculture, which Increasing biodiversity encourages more biodiversity. Here, bare soil is sown with a cover crop of mustard, which attracts the cabbage looper. This attracts the parasitic ichneumon wasp that lays its eggs in the body of the caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, the young wasps use the caterpillar's body for nourishment and then fly away to seek out more pests to parasitize. ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF COX Biodynamic Farming: The Farmer's Perspective To see Biodynamics in action, I visited Bonterra's headquarters at the McNab Ranch near Hopland. It's a former sheep ranch on the floor of a box canyon with 175 plantable acres and 140 acres of Biody- namic vineyards, mostly the Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec and some Petite Sirah still on its own roots. The whole 175 acres aren't planted because Demeter USA, the American arm of Demeter Inter- national, the world's only certifier of Biodynamic farms and products, requires that ten percent of a farm or vineyard must be in native or non-com- mercial plantings. This "wild" acreage is habitat for whatever plants and animals naturally occur there. McNab canyon is surrounded by mountains that rise more than 2,000 feet above sea level. Perched right on top at 2,200 feet is the Butler Ranch—900 acres of prime mountain lion territory that includes Bonterra's 90 acres of Biodynamically farmed Rhône varieties: Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Bonterra Vineyard Manager Joseph Brinkley drove me to the top on a perilous road that clung to the mountain- side like a fire escape on a 220-story building. It was worth it for the magnificent view of Mendocino's coastal range mountains and the McNab Ranch laid out green and fair far below. As Cichocki, Brinkley and I walked through the Biodynamic vineyards of McNab, we came upon an odd-looking series of basins stepped down an em- bankment, with water flowing in a circular vortex in each basin before emptying into the next one below. This was a flowform, created by Bohemian Stone- works in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, and used to purify water by supercharging it with oxygen, and twirling it this way and that as required by the Bio- dynamic rulebook to make water for compost teas, fertilizers and the famous Biodynamic preparations. The six preparations are made from water that's been spun in a vortex, and then mixed with yarrow flowers, chamomile blossoms, the whole aerial por- tion of the stinging nettle while in flower, oak bark, dandelion blossoms and valerian flowers, ground Four of the six biodynamic preparations are sheathed in animal organs such as a bladder or a cow horn. Bonterra's headquarters at the McNab Ranch near Hopland is a former sheep ranch, but they are still employed to eat the weeds on property today. PHOTO: COURTESY OF BONTERRA PHOTO: COURTESY OF BONTERRA