Workshop Session A

In this light-hearted and interactive workshop, we will explore the foundational practices and ideas in anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner's spiritual philosophy that is the wellspring of biodynamic agriculture. Through group and experiential activities, we will investigate the commonalities between anthroposophy and other spiritual philosophies, and dive into some of the practical applications anthroposophy can have for personal development and creating meaning in our busy modern world. We will provide some jumping-off points to begin your own study and exploration alongside your farm work.

Unfortunately, farm life is not inherently healthy, and, in fact, the demands of an agricultural lifestyle can at times be at odds with the well-being of farmers, farmworkers, and apprentices alike, on various levels. This workshop will draw on Rudolf Steiner's indications for understanding health and illness and explore how we can perceive and support our health needs on the farm, including understanding our constitutional tendencies, cosmic and earthly nutritional needs, and external therapeutic applications to support health and well-being and deepen our work on the farm.

This session focuses on the direct correlation between wealth redistribution, increased access to land, and healing justice for Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color (BIPOC). Through the intersecting lenses of decolonization, physiology, anti-oppression, and economics, we will share models of land access that restore harmony, reconfigure power, and reconnect the mycelial network of BIPOC land stewards to their purpose.

We will explore how soil science and spiritual science meet through a biodynamic look at soil. We will look at the factors of soil formation, reading soil maps, and a hands-on soil analysis, all as a way to get to know your special piece of land as an individual being.

Whether intentionally and unintentionally, farms provide habitats for wild organisms. Some of these organisms have apparent agronomic roles as so-called pests and beneficials. Others have little immediate interaction with farm production but are part of a region’s "ark of biodiversity." Roles shift depending on farm crops, farming techniques, climate, landscape, and the like.

Mac Mead has been farming and working with biodynamics for over 40 years and has helped hundreds of others to learn and start their own farms and gardens through his work at the Pfeiffer Center. In this workshop, he will cover all aspects of the biodynamic approach to growing vegetables, including planning, soil preparation, sowing, transplanting, weeding and pest management, and harvest. Other topics covered include: using raised beds, horn preparations, and the planting calendar.

Biodynamic preparations, along with application of the principles underlying their use, are an artist's palette of colors to create landscapes that give rise to vibrant life as well as food, fiber, and raw materials of amazing quality and abundance. Though often biodynamics is referred to as a practice, its more skilled practitioners may think of it as an art form that produces the nuttiest winter spinach; the most inspiring tarragon, basil, or ginger; the most delicious apples or cherries; and the subtlest fine wines.

At Woven Stars Farm in Ghent, NY, we graze all our ruminants in the same pasture using a regenerative rotational grazing system. The various species play a pivotal role in managing soil and a diversity of plants. The sheep, cows, and goats are followed by the chickens to disperse the manure and manage persists. Rudolf Steiner mentioned the importance of diversity in the farm organism, which we believe helps to build farm resilience. This workshop will highlight the ways to observe the land and plants in a rotational grazing operation.

As a pioneering Biodynamic® farm and the third CSA in the US, Brookfield Farm had many ideas, but not many models, for how to move forward with creating a more sustainable agriculture. Now, after decades of work on the same patch of ground, it's clear that one of the most successful strategies that has been followed has been a long-running apprentice program. Training over 40 participants who have gone on to create farms far and wide has been both beneficial to the operation of Brookfield Farm, as well as developing a more sustainable agriculture in the wider region.