Biodynamics is a waste of time.
I can say this now, having studied it in context for some time now. The main problem is that the general theories of Biodynamics sound great in practice, but then once you start digging into it you realize it’s way more based on taking Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner’s “spiritual school,” on faith, and accepting Steiner’s theories than on any kind of sound agricultural practice, and the guy wasn’t even a farmer.
Biodynamic Agriculture is very much like Scientology in that way. You start with stuff that’s good, like composting and “holistic” farm management (the “Agricultural Individual,” where everything on the farm is part of the whole). Next thing you know you’re stuffing deer guts with yarrow and applying it homeopathically to compost piles full of horsetails (GREAT IDEA). Suddenly you’re in the rabbit hole, relying on stuff like this, from Steiner’s Fourth Agricultural Lecture:
“Have you ever thought about why cows have horns, but certain other animals have antlers? Remember that I said that something living need not have (cosmic) forces that only stream outward, it can also have forces that stream inward. What happens at the places where the horns and hoofs grow? At these places the streams (cosmic forces) are especially strongly turned back inward, and the outside is particularly strongly shut off. All outward communication, such as can occur through skin or hair, is completely ruled out. In this way, the development of the horns and hoofs is connected to the form and development of the animal as a whole.”
“Antler formation is something totally different. In the case of antlers, the streams (cosmic forces) are not directed back into the organism; instead the antlers serve as outlets so that certain streams can be led outward for a ways and discharged there.”
“A cow has horns in order to send the formative astral-etheric forces back into its digestive system, so that much work can be accomplished there by means of these radiations from the horns and hoofs. So you see, there is something inherent in a horn that makes it well-suited for reflecting living and astral influences back into the activity of the interior. In a horn you have something that can radiate life, and even astrality.”
What the hell does that even mean?
I’ve never met a single individual who practices Biodynamics who doesn’t end up getting into Anthroposophy full-stop, and then begins proselytizing like a Baptist mom at a heavy metal concert. If you peruse the literature (which I have), you’ll find that proponents of Biodynamics insist that it’s “the only way forward,” or, “the next step in evolution,” or, “the agriculture of the future.”
I’m all for spirituality in agriculture, just like you, and if somebody wants to get into Biodynamics, that’s all well and good for them, but using Biodynamics means accepting a religious belief system, and I don’t think that’s useful when you’re growing plants. So, I think any “new conversation about Biodynamics” would need to be, “Biodynamics is ridiculous. Let’s do something else.”
As an aside, don’t even get me started on Steiner’s racism. No way I’m letting my plants grow in that soil….
