Workshop Session D

A Biodynamic farm aspires to be a harmonious living organism. What does this mean for the people who work on the farm? How can we nurture mutually supportive and fair relationships in the context of employer and employees on a farm? What are the roles of Biodynamic processors and retailers? This panel will lay out the issues and provide an opportunity for community discussion.

In this workshop we will explore what economic thinking really means, in the context of the times; how many social problems can you solve at once; the concept of the threefold commonwealth; the basics—land, labor, and capital—rethought; the nature of value and price; and the notion of economic associations beyond the marketplace. This workshop will be dialogue based along with reflective artistic exercises.

From year to year, we are getting more and more information on the physical aspects of the honeybee's life processes, behavior, and anatomy. More books have been written about the honeybee than any other of our beloved animals. In this workshop we will explore Rudolf Steiner's spiritual insights into her unique role among all the other animal group souls and what this signifies for our human evolution.

In biodynamic farming, the farmer is tasked with creating dynamic relationships with natural systems. These natural features, habitats, syntropic partnerships, and energetic flow are tied together in a deeply complex fabric that makes up the functioning organs of the farm body. In this workshop we will identify and examine these organ systems and discuss best practices for bringing health and vitality into these ecologies through observation, farm design, cultural practice, the biodynamic preparations, and spiritual awareness.

Rudolf Steiner often referred to milk as an important element in the human diet. Unfortunately, modern processing ruins the benefits of nature's perfect food. This lecture will discuss the safety and health benefits of raw whole milk from cows on pasture, especially for growing children.

"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility.” — Wendell Berry Each one of us has our own unique experiences with the natural world. As farmers, gardeners, and land stewards, we have made commitments to particular pieces of this good earth that nourishes us. Through the lens of our direct experiences with land (our biographies), we will explore the nature of our kinship and commitments to the part of the earth that we live with.

You recognize the transformative and healing power of biodynamics, but how do you share it with the wider world? The right image can speak instantaneously to countless hearts and minds, inspire vision, and ignite action. Building on her extensive experience as an international fashion model, as well as her deep dedication to biodynamic agriculture, Arizona Muse will share her insights into content, messaging, aesthetics, and attitude, to help you create and share compelling images that tell your biodynamic story.

Photo credit: Sarah Hearn

Modern biological farming practices, including organic and biodynamic, include many practical requirements, down to actual soil testing and fertilization formulae. Yet most guidelines and methods used by labs offering insights in this soil field are markedly reductionistic and mechanistic, based on the long history of scientific-industrial manipulation of nature and conventional academic research supporting it. Soil Labs generally do not acknowledge or affirm non-reductionistic models and have not received training in it.

The basis of biodynamics studies the interplay of formative cosmic forces and earthly material stages. These same forces are active in the human body and are the foundation for health and healing. Anthroposophical medicine is based upon an in-depth understanding of the correspondences between nature and the human being. Even as the cosmic forces have influenced the natural world of minerals, plants, and animals, so also their influence extends into our human form. Planetary forces are active in the human organs; zodiacal forces in the skeleton.