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s p r i n g / s u m m e r 2 0 1 6 | 4 5 quartz, cow manure and other substances. Four of these six preparations are sheathed in animal organs such as a bladder or a cow horn. All are made with regard to the rhythms of the sun and zodiac. All but one are buried in the ground for a specified period of time. When the preparations are finished, they have the appearance of well-ripened compost, with the exception of the valerian preparation, which is in a liquid form. Then they're sprayed on the fields and crops. Many folks scoff at them as magical thinking or utter hogwash. Biodynamic practitioners think of them as representing metaphysical forces and energies that are beyond our daily experience and with which we want to make contact in order to reach that "big picture" spoken about before. Not far away from the flowform is a thick stand of lavender. "It draws pollinators and provides food for beneficial insects," Brinkley said. And beyond that was a vineyard whose aisles were lush with spring grasses, two kinds of clovers, Persian strawberries, Queen Anne's lace, nitrogen- fixing legumes and wild mustard that releases gasses that control root-damaging nematodes as it decomposes. Oh, and a big flock of sheep chomp- ing their way along the aisles. "They cut down on the need to mow. We string the first trellis wires high so the sheep can walk under them and eat the vegetation directly under the vines," Brinkley said. "Conventional vineyards use herbicides to kill off the vegetation. We find using cover crops and sheep makes for nicely balanced vegetative and fruiting growth of the vines." "And the sheep manure adds its benefits to the vineyard, too," Cichocki added. The imperative to recycle everything on the farm without bringing in outside inputs even extends to the material used to tie grape canes to their trellis. Instead of the typical green plastic tape used in most vineyards, these Biodynamic practitioners use strips torn from the tule rush sedges that grow in the property's marshy places. conceives of the whole farm as a living organism. The health and well-being of the farm's plants and animals, the farmer, the farm and the Earth are all viewed as integral parts that make up the whole. This increase in the life force of the farm means "all its biological systems work at their top level," Dawson says. "This reduces the level of inputs [meaning anything brought to the farm from outside], and it reduces the need for heavy amounts of fertilizer and compost. It reduces the pest and disease load as it builds up the immune systems of the plants and animals and of the farm itself." Like organic farming, Biodynamics relies on nature's built-in systems of checks and balances among a wide range of creatures to keep things stable. Biodynamic growers recognize that biodiversity is key to good health. "And," Dawson says, "once biodiversity is established, it attracts even more diversity" through positive feedback loops. For example, a farm or garden may be planted with a diverse "green manure" seeding comprised of clover, vetch, fava beans and spring-blooming mustards to be plowed down in late spring to fertilize the soil. But while they're growing, they help establish a biodiverse ecosystem that supports beneficial insects. The mustard, being a member of the cabbage family, can be used by certain moths as a place to lay eggs, which develop into caterpillars. Caterpillars in turn can attract beneficial ichneumon wasps, tiny stingless, parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in the caterpillars' tissues, even- tually killing (and naturally controlling) them. Thus biodiversity begets more biodiversity—nature's wheels within wheels, tending toward a balanced ecosys- tem. To promote this, Biodynamic certification requires that ten percent of a farm's arable acreage be set aside as a sort of natural "wild" area that supports non-commercial plants. A Biodynamic farm not only produces health in its ecosystem and products, but that health can be passed up the food chain. As Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Biodynamics said, "Plants will take from a properly prepared soil the sub- stances necessary to their own vitality, and human beings who eat the plants will likewise partake of those revitalizing forces." This chain of health is becoming more and more apparent to the general public. Sales of natural, organic, Biodynamic and healthy products Biodynamic preparations are made with regard to the rhythms of the sun and the zodiac. PHOTO: COURTESY OF BONTERRA