Time for an overhaul of Biodynamics?

I always enjoy reading profiles of other small farms, how they operate — what makes them “tick” — so this piece on Shalefield Organic Gardens from new Vancouver-based food magazine Eat Bread and Butter is an interesting short read, made all the more so by their plain-language explanation of some of the practices in Biodynamic agriculture.

I admit to not being much of an expert in the field of Biodynamics, from what I understand, the vast majority (perhaps not all?) of the practices employed can be traced to Rudolf Steiner. Without digging into Steiner’s personal history here, from what I understand Steiner received this information through channeling.

I’m certainly not one to poo-poo metaphysics, esoterics or other non-traditional/alternative systems of exploring knowledge in actual practice. (Which, hopefully should be evident via some of my recent personal ruminations on the place of “woo” in the garden.)

In fact, I would even go so far as to say I’m inclined to agree with something I happened to come across recently while reading about mycology: (paraphrasing):

“The best way to learn how to grow mushrooms is on mushrooms. They will tell you exactly what to do.”

I haven’t tried that myself, but from what little experiences I may have had in the past with psychedelics as a gateway to other modalities of experiencing reality, I don’t doubt it.

Which is partly why I am personally leery of ever fully-adopting Biodynamic practices in the garden. That is, I’d rather learn about the mushroom from the mushroom. Or the chicken from the chicken, through a complex intimate conversation of day-to-day living.

It’s not that I doubt that Steiner was onto something, either. He probably was, but he was no more a conduit for divine/natural/supernatural knowledge than any one of us is — or could be, if we make ourselves a vessel for such things (whatever that means to you).

You could call it a kind of gnostic gardening.

Direct experience. Personal knowledge gained from the heart and tempered by the head, and then brought into flowering and fruition in the world of action. I’m just not willing to rest on someone else’s received knowledge, and say that’s enough. Because it’s not enough. Belief won’t keep rats out of my chicken coop.

Which is why, I would personally enjoying seeing a new conversation about what Biodynamics could be wherein each gardener is their own channel, all drawing from the same deep well, all nourished by the same flowing source. And at the same time, one which expands its technical rigor by incorporating the best and most robust scientific and practical advances of the day which are not just “Life-Positive”, but which can harmonize with the Secret Force and the Grand Mystery of Life.