BIO-DYNAMIC FARMING AND GARDENING AN INTRODUCTION TO RUDOLF STEINER’S APPROACH TO AGRICULTURE
BY HERMANN POPPELBAUM Ph D
RUDOLF STEINER, Austrian scientist and thinker, is known as the founder of “Anthroposophy”
and its many practical applications, among which are the "bio-dynamic" methods of farming
and gardening. He was born in 1961 in Kraljevec (then belonging to Austria-Hungary) and
educated in and near Vienna. His scientific training he received at the University of
Technology in Vienna, his main interest being the natural sciences and mathematics. To the
country surroundings of his early youth he owed his knowledge of farming and industry
which was later on to enable him to give remarkable suggestions for the renewal of farming
and gardening! On the basis of a deeper insight into the forces operating in living nature. The
last 12 years of his life he devoted almost entirely to the building up of the School of Spiritual
Science in Dornach, Switzerland, known as the Goetheanum and a centre of artistic and
scientific activities. He died in 1925. surrounded by a large number of followers from all
countries, who try to carry further the numerous suggestions which he left to their care in
many fields of knowledge and practice.
His specific contribution to farming and gardening cannot be understood without reference
to his native gifts of direct insight into the subtle interplay of invisible forces in the visible
world. For him, the life body" which underlies the material forms of plants, animals and man
was perceptible as penetrating the physical body” and acting as its architect and continuous
rebuilder. The plant lives in a continuous stream of changing substances taken in and given
off again, which make the shape outwardly visible as they pass through it. What persists in
the metabolism is not the matter itself but the "formative forces" which rule it. They
maintain the shape in spite of the metabolism. The life body (also called the formative forces
body) builds the bridge between the different visible stages of the plant and connects them
into a unity. But it also links the plant with the formative forces in the soil and the
atmospheric surroundings, and even with the extra-terrestrial agents of which the sun is the
most obvious representative. The whole plant world and the living soil are thus embedded in
an invisible system comprising the sun, which in itself forms a huge organism. Things
permeated with life do not stand in a state of separation one beside the other as lifeless
things do, but bear about with them an invisible system of forces which connects them with
all other living beings. Thus they interpenetrate each other, and their physical outline does
not represent their limits. They project beyond it. It is for concrete research to find out with
what each plant species is linked up: it may be other plant species, or substances in the
ground or atmosphere, even though found at remarkable distances. Similar "dynamic
relations also link the plant world with the living forces operating in animals and men. This
was the picture which presented itself to the experience of Rudolf Steiner from earliest
youth.
CONCEPT OF NATURE
His view of nature bears a certain resemblance to the ideas held by Goethe (1749-1832), but
those ideas are restated in terms of modern thought, and made accessible to
experimentation. The striking thing for the student of Rudolf Steiner's writings is that he was
able to speak authoritatively about a great number of fields of knowledge as though by direct
acquaintance with the matter in hand. The conception of the world as a whole which is prior
to the part, and must be considered if the parts are to be understood is common to both
Goethe and Steiner. The difference lies in the enormous amount of concrete information
which Steiner provided to fill in the overall picture. These details are drawn from native
observation, while his vast erudition provided him with corroborating material from
contemporary science and literature. It is the details which give to his indications that
astounding bearing on practice that has again and again filled experts and experimenters
with wonder.
The reports of the Dornach Laboratories (Switzerland) contain a large amount of material
which has become important for practical procedures. We mention only the research work of
Lilly Kolisko and Ehrenfried Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer has also summed up his vast practical experience
in his books, Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening (1940) and The Earth's Face and Human
Destiny (1947).
NATURE OF THE EARTH
Steiner's conception of the earth as a whole can be confirmed with ordinary physical
methods of research. In studying, for instance, the changes of temperature in the
atmosphere, one finds the well-known regular change during day and night. But the
atmospheric pressure does not follow this simple rhythm as one would expect; it changes
regularly twice a day, attaining a minimum at three o'clock in the afternoon and a second
minimum at three o'clock at night. All properties of the atmosphere-electric tension,
ionization, etc.- show the same regular change, which reveals that they are the
manifestations of a life process that comprises the whole of the earth and makes it a
separate cosmic entity. Günther Wachsmuth, the first naturalist to follow in this an indication
by Rudolf Steiner, drew attention to the remarkable unity embracing the earth, and spoke of
a breathing process which involves the whole earth organism. Wachsmuth has extended his
research so as to include the remotest strata of the atmosphere, and has built a bridge to the
meteorological and cosmological research work of our day. See his comprehensive book Erde
und Mensch (Zurich, 1945).
One can easily see that Steiner's contribution is by no means a matter of mere theory, but
changes the whole attitude of the practical farmer towards his tasks. Nobody who begins to
understand that the earth is an organism which lives within the regular interplay of the forces
and substances of its surroundings can fail to regard the soil as a particular part of this
organism, as an organ of the earth, so to speak. True, this organ is permeated with mineral
matter and the processes which hold sway in it. But there is a continuous stream of living
forces to be found in the soil and this counteracts the forces which tend towards
mineralization. The process in the soil must be understood as an interplay of two opposing
tendencies: vitalization and mineralization. Every substance, whether mineral or alive, solid
or liquid or gaseous, comes within reach of this interplay. Even air, light, and warmth become
different after entering the soil. What is needed is an exact knowledge of what all these
substances are doing inside the earth and what their function is when they emerge above the
surface. There can be no conscious and responsible handling of anything in the realm of
farming without this exact knowledge of "bio-dynamic conditions.
BIO-DYNAMIC METHOD
Bio-dynamic research inquires into these riddles in close co-operation with the practical
farmer and gardener. It is, therefore, not only interested in the question of better manuring
and fertilising, but comprises a large body of information about the interplay of forces on the
earth, within and around it.
The bio-dynamic methods" originally arose from answers given by Rudolf Steiner when
farmers in Germany and Austria asked his advice for the improvement of soil and crops. The
first comprehensive information was embodied in a course of lectures given by him to
farmers at Koberwitz, in Silesia, June 1924. The facts pointed out in this course, and widely
followed up later in practice, cannot in any sense be directly compared with the suggestions
put forward by the adherents or opponents of certain methods of fertilising. They are not
mere material in the battle for or against artificial fertilisers, but far more comprehensive
procedures with the aim of re-establishing natural conditions in farm and garden. The
biodynamic methods comprise a great many steps which start from the careful consideration
of the complicated interplay below and above the soil. Rudolf Steiner's point is that the
farmer or gardener should be led to the understanding of the realm of life which he has
concretely to deal with. Modern farming has lost the instinctive wisdom which in former
centuries guided husbandry. Rudolf Steiner, from his concrete knowledge of this subtle
interplay, helps the farmer and gardener to devise a practical plan for the improvement of
soil and crop, for the establishment of healthy livestock, the cultivation of trees and shrubs
and hedges, the fostering of birds and bees, and butterflies, and even of the earthworm.
Great progress has been made recently in devising laboratory methods to prove that
"formative forces" are present in organic matter, the most efficient method employing the
so-called sensitive crystallisations developed by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer following indications of
Rudolf Steiner. A salt solution, preferably copper chloride, is left standing overnight on the
plain surface bottom of a glass dish, protected from outside disturbance. It appears that the
resulting thin layer of needle-shaped crystals show a characteristic arrangement of its
elements. If a drop of an organic fluid is added before the crystallising begins, the pattern
appears modified, so much so that Pfeiffer was able to draw conclusions concerning the
nature of the fluid added from mere inspection of the crystal pattern. Students of the
method can grow familiar with these patterns and use the method themselves for testing
various fluids: for instance, plant juices or blood, or an extract from the soil or from various
manures and composts. With sufficient practical experience --the method is teachable--a safe
diagnosis can be made about the properties of soil, the health of plants, and the organic
conditions of animals and human beings. In recent years, due to the growing interest among
medical men, the method has proved of value for the diagnosis of various diseases. There can
be no doubt that it has proved invaluable as a source of advice for practical farming and
gardening when it is applied to soil testing and crop evaluation.
B.D. PRODUCTION OF HUMUS
A few remarks may be added about Rudolf Steiner's specific advice concerning the "biodynamic
production of humus. In recent decades the soil has not been regarded as an organ
containing and providing life forces, but merely as a substratum which has to transmit certain
substances, especially salts, to the body of the plant. The usual modern treatment of the soil,
which has its origin in laboratory experiments, starts from the question: what substances
does the plant consul does the plant consume, what does it draw from the soil and what,
therefore, are we to give back to the when it is exhausted? The loss of substance has to be
made up if the balance is to restored. The task becomes widely different when the soil is
regarded as a transmitter of subtle life forces, as a kind of diaphragm which separates the
spheres above and below the surface. Not only does matter have to be replaced, but a
healthy interplay of most intimate working has to be restored. The soil has merely to be
replenished, but, in a certain sense, cured of a latent illness. The carrier of this cure is humus.
The living forces within it have to be strengthened to counteract excessive mineralisation,
and then have to be directed into the plants to keep them healthy. Soil and air, light and
warmth must once more be allowed to form a mighty organism which pulsates around the
plants and penetrates them so that they again may become the visible organs in the invisible
body of the farm or garden. Since the soil is often deprived of life forces, and spoiled through
wrong measures (so that it is no longer in good heart"), it must be stimulated with new life.
This is done by various preparations sprayed in remarkably small quantities over the soil and
the plants, and by various specially prepared plant substances which are inserted into
manure and compost heaps. Manure and compost become "earth" quickly, and good earth
at that. Rudolf Steiner entrusted to the farmers! the ways by which these spraying and
stimulating substances can be prepared. All of them are taken from nature, the raw materials
being parts of common plants subjected to special treatment. These substances have come
to be known as "Bio-dynamic Preparations".
BIO-DYNAMIC PREPARATIONS
As the methods of manufacturing these preparations are complicated and require a good
deal of experience, a number of practical farmers in various countries have undertaken to
supervise their manufacture and to guarantee their appropriate production. The
preparations can be ordered from these "information centres” in almost every country by
those who want to use them. It goes without saying that the use of these preparations alone,
apart from the many other necessary measures advocated by Rudolf Steiner, will not go far
enough in improving soil and crops. The information centres give comprehensive advice on
what the individual farm or garden needs.
One of the most characteristic features about these preparations is their action in fine
distribution. The quantity in which they are added to the soil or sprayed out over a large area
matters much less than the quality which adheres to them by Virtue of their careful
production. In this they are comparable to the highly diluted solutions used by certain
schools of medicine. It is for this reason that the action of the bio-dynamic stimulators is
sometimes called homeopathic. Rudolf Steiner himself advocated high dilutions (so-called
potencies) for the treatment of certain illnesses, although he never made it a matter of onesided
preference. He wanted to leave the problem of high dilutions to scientific experience.
For him the was to have the efficiency of such preparations practically tested in order to in
which cases and to what extent they could be found working. Under his Lilly Kolisko, in the
year 1923 and after, carried out a systematic inquiry into the effects of progressively rarefied
salt solutions upon germinating wheat. She was able to show that the efficiency of such
dilutions fades away when the dilution surpasses the 10th or 12th decimal potency, but that
the stimulating effect reappears when the dilution is carried further. By a simple calculation it
can be figured out that in such high dilutions nothing "material" of the ponderable solute is
left. The effect therefore must be called imponderable; that is, not based on the physical
presence of the material salt in the solvent. The substance then exercises an effect which is
merely dynamic, It is independent of the quantity used, yet dependent on the rhythm of
progressive rarefication.
MINUTE QUANTITIES
In spite of the minute quantities (whose presence cannot be proven by chemical means), the
effects on plant growth are clearly visible. Such findings can give an idea of the subtlety of
the interplay of forces in the soil. It is quite possible that all principal effects in the realm of
life are of this dynamic kind. Certainly the investigations of L. Kolisko and Pfeiffer go to show
that the presence of infinitesimal traces of substances within the soil and in plants, and
consequently also in the organisms of animal and man, may be a paramount influence on
health and illness. The bio-dynamic preparations, however far spread-out or sprayed, may be
rightly expected to work profound changes. The practical experience with their use bears!
out this expectation. A remarkable change in the conditions of the treated soil occurs, it
becomes more crumbly and fibrous, and retains moisture more easily. The appearance of the
crops is also improved, they become more resistant to drought and infection. In short, the
soil and crop show remarkable improvement, even after a short time. The full effect of the
methods, however, appears in the course of three or four years. It consists in the continuous
increase in the fertility of the soil, and an improvement of the quality and flavour of the
produce. Both the plants and the soil in which the forces of life are stimulated are found to
provide themselves actively with the required substances by attracting them from the
surrounding circuit of forces, just as a healthy organ in the body supplies itself body. actively
with what it needs from the circulating blood and the other juices of the body.
Many reports from various countries, even including those with a hot climate, enumerate the
good results obtained by the described methods and have made Rudolf Steiner's name
known. They all bear witness to the fruitfulness of the measures which have their origin in his
investigations. They provide plenty of material for the building of a new and more
comprehensive science of life. They also prove invaluable for the efficient handling of the
farm organism as a living and self-supporting entity. It may even be said that the task of the
farmer and gardener assumes a new dignity because he deliberately contributes to the
regeneration of the earth.
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