2025 Annual Gathering
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Gathering:
Forces and Processes of Stirring Biodynamic Preparations
January 30 - February 2, 2025
Viroqua, WI
Registration
Stay tuned for registration information and other details!
2024 Annual Gathering Resources
Download a Summary of Presentations
"Two Suns" — mystery and miracle working with the preparations during the Holy Nights, by Brook LeVan and Lloyd Nelson, Carbondale, CO
"Reflections about Easter 2020 and Planting by the Moon," an article by Fellowship of Preparation Maker member Dewane Morgan of Midheaven Farm, Park Rapids, Minnesota
The mission of the Fellowship of Preparation Makers
is to ensure that good quality biodynamic preparations are available now and into the future throughout North America.
The Fellowship of Preparation Makers (previously called the Future of the Preparations) is an informal, vital, and growing group that has emerged in the cultural/spiritual sphere of biodynamic agriculture. The Fellowship began its work with a conference in Copake, New York in 2002, and has held annual conferences in various locations around North America for the last sixteen years. These conferences have focused on the intensive study and discussion of the biodynamic preparations and have strengthened the preparation making community.
A guiding principle for the group’s work derives from Rudolf Steiner’s suggestion that we attempt to 1) discern what of a positive nature is already arising and developing in the world, and then 2) seek to intelligently support its organic developmental process, the way a farmer or gardener supports a living plant. It is in this spirit that the FOPM seeks to fulfill its mission.
Photo by Barbara Westfall
Photo by Karen Davis-Brown
Biodynamic Preparation Makers Interview Project
The mission of the Biodynamic Preparation Makers Interview Project is to chronicle the knowledge and practices of a representative spectrum of experienced preparation makers in North America.
The project’s vision is that it create an overview of preparation making in North America that will serve both as a historical record and as means of sharing instructive practices with current and prospective preparation makers. It is envisioned that insights shared during these interviews will advance preparation making and spur innovation, collaboration, and dialogue.
The making of biodynamic preparations is foundational to biodynamic agriculture. Without dedicated preparation makers, biodynamic farming practices would not continue. The Fellowship of Preparation Makers feels that the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of preparation makers in North America has never been adequately recorded for present and future biodynamic practitioners.
Current supporting organizations and individuals include:
- The Biodynamic Association (fiscal agent)
- Agriculture Section of the School for Spiritual Science in North America
- Demeter USA (link is external)
- Frey Vineyards (link is external)
- Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics (link is external)
- Meadlowlark Hearth Farms (link is external)
- Michael Field Agricultural Institute (link is external)
- Arizona Muse
- Hugh J. Courtney, Earth Legacy Agriculture (link is external)
- Pat Frazier, Peace and Plenty Farm
- Marjory House, Gobiodynamic (link is external)
- Bill McCranie, Chickamaw Farm~Ranch & Wildlife
- Lloyd Nelson, Biodynamic Source (link is external)
- The Oregon Biodynamic Group
- Tablas Creek Vineyard (link is external)
- The Viroqua Biodynamic Group
The Fellowship of Preparation Makers (FOPM) Interview Project is a multi-year initiative that collects written information and oral interviews with a wide spectrum of preparation makers in North America, including both more senior as well as more innovative colleagues. This information is then archived for future use, and Summaries made available to the North American and international biodynamic communities. Seven interviews have been conducted so far, with others in the planning process.
This project is funded solely by individuals and organizations committed to the availability of preparations to North American biodynamic practitioners.
Now Available -- Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Wali Via for the Oregon Biodynamic Group
The Oregon Biodynamic group began in the mid-1970s, with guidance from Dr. Herbert Koepf and Evelyn Gregg. Wali was a founding member and has made preparations as part of this group for forty-four years.
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Steven Adams and Brian Wickert
Brian Wickert and Steven Adams have been making biodynamic preparations in the North American heartland -- Viroqua, Wisconsin -- since the 1990s. They are core members of the Viroqua Biodynamic Group, which meets regularly to study and make preparations together. Here is the story of their journey and of the development of preparation making in the "Driftless" part of the continent.
Now Available — Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Chris Boettcher and Uli Hack
Chris Boettcher and Uli Hack -- both second generation German farmers whose families immigrated to Ontario, Canada – have provided – with their families -- wisdom, energy, and leadership for the Ontario biodynamic community for decades. In this interview, they talk about their personal preparation making journeys and how preparation making is done in Ontario.
Photo by Gabi Boettcher
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Harald Hoven
After his biodynamic training in Germany, Harald taught biodynamics and oversaw the CSA market garden at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California, for almost thirty years. Since his retirement he works as an international consultant for biodynamic initiatives, particularly in Asia and South America. Harald was interviewed by Pat Frazier and Brian Wickert in January 2019.
Photo by Thea Maria Carlson
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Laura Riccardi Lyvers
After working for several years at with Hugh Courtney at the Josephine Porter Institute, Laura joined Biodynamic Foxhollow Farm in Kentucky, to support their preparation work. She also makes preparations for several other biodynamic initiatives around the country. She was interviewed by Brian Wickert of Viroqua, Wisconsin, January 2019.
Photo by Karen Davis-Brown
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview with Mac Mead
Mac Mead has been the Program Director of the Pfeiffer Center in Spring Valley, New York since 2007, and a leader and mentor for the North American biodynamic community for many years. He was interviewed by Brian Wickert of Viroqua, Wisconsin, Fall 2018.
Photo by the Pfeiffer Center
For more information or details about the project, contact Project Coordinator Karen Davis-Brown at callofthecontinent@gmail.com. (link sends e-mail)
To make a tax-deductible donation in support of this multi-year project, donate online or mail a check made out to the Biodynamic Association with the note “FOPM” clearly written in the memo, to:
Fellowship of Preparation Makers Interview Project
c/o The Biodynamic Association
P.O. Box 557
East Troy, WI 53120
Feel free to download this letter from the Biodynamic Preparation Maker Interview Project Committee, for more information and for a form to use in submitting your check or credit card donation.
Thank you for your support!
Photo by Kaitlin Downs
Photo by Jim Brett
Photo by Rand Carter
Preparation Evaluation Committee
How can one know if the biodynamic preparations they have made or obtained are of good quality and will be effective? This is a central question motivating the work of the Preparation Evaluation Committee. The committee is exploring what methods have been used or could be applied in the future to understand and assess the quality of biodynamic preparations, ideally supporting practitioners to make their own assessments.
The mission of the Preparation Evaluation Committee is to identify ways to assess the quality of biodynamic preparations through their characteristics and effectiveness, considering observations of both physical substances and unseen forces.
To learn more about or participate in the committee's work, please check this page for updates or contact Brian Wickert (facilitator) at 608-606-1275 bwickert@frontiernet.net.
Photo by Jim Brett
The Chroma Study Group
The Chroma Study Group is open to anyone who is interested in making Pfeiffer circular chromatograms for the first time and needs to source supplies—and those who have made chromatograms and would like to share their understanding of the interpretation of chromatograms of soil, compost and preps.
Currently, we are looking at the quality characteristics of different samples of BD 500 that might possibly indicate the unique signature of the farm or garden where the horns were buried in different regions of the US and Canada.
We have interesting conference calls on the second Tuesday evening of each month. For more information, contact Dewane Morgan at 218-366-1296 or email dewanemorgan1@gmail.com.
Chromas comparing samples of 500 (horn manure) from Moorhead, MN (A) and Park Rapids, MN, winter 2017-2018.
