Our Hearts Are with Our Friends and Members in Northern California
We have been so saddened to watch the spread of the massive wildfires in California this week, which have affected so many lives and so much land, including many in the biodynamic community. Frey Vineyards, a pioneer in Biodynamic® wine and dedicated supporter of the BDA, has experienced significant losses (link is external) due to the fires, as have many other farms and vineyards. Our Co-Director, Thea Maria Carlson, and one of our Board members, Daphne Amory, have been evacuated from their homes and are waiting anxiously as the fires continue to spread. Our hearts are with all of the living beings who this fire has impacted, and we encourage you to send energy and focused thoughts for relief and safety.
In response to the devastation of these fires and other recent natural disasters, the Biodynamic Association is considering setting up a recovery fund to enable our members and friends to donate money to assist biodynamic farmers experiencing losses of animals, crops, homes, and infrastructure. If you or someone you know in the biodynamic community is in need of financial support, please contact Karisa Centanni at karisa@biodynamics.com to help us understand the needs of our community and how we can mobilize support.
For current information on the situation, we suggest the San Francisco Chronicle, Cal Fire, or the National Fire Situational Map, as well as following local emergency management updates on Facebook or Twitter like @CountyofSonoma, @Countymendocino, or @CountyofNapa. We also invite you to share or seek information in the Biodynamic Disaster Response Forum on our website and in our Biodynamic Community group on Facebook (approval needed to join, but we will add you quickly).
Help Us Revitalize Our Website!
Come Join our Team!
We have an opening for a new staff person to fill our Administrative Assistant (link is external) role. We are looking for someone with passion for providing administrative support in a non-profit environment and a high degree of organization and attention to detail. Although most of the work for this role can be done from home, we hope to hire someone based in or near Sonoma County, California. Please read the full announcement (link is external) for position details and how to apply.
Biodynamic Webinar Series
Learn from top biodynamic educators from the comfort of your home through interactive webinars. Space is limited in these classes, so sign up now to reserve your spot!
- Practical Carbon Solutions: How Biodynamics Can Engage Climate in the Farm and Garden — Thursday, October 12, with Stewart Lundy
- Transitioning Your Farm — Wednesday, November 15, with Daphne Amory
- Animal Husbandry — Wednesday, December 13, with Steffen Schneider
Our New Office Home
Over the past few years the BDA has become a distributed organization, with modern technology allowing our staff to work from anywhere. We now have staff living on the West Coast, East Coast, and in the Midwest, helping us to better represent our members and the biodynamic community in numerous regions. While we still need a space for our historical archives and other important documents, our large Milwaukee office was no longer needed for daily work and meetings, so in July we moved the BDA office back to East Troy, Wisconsin, where we are now housed in the same building as the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute (MFAI). Two staff remain in Wisconsin and will attend to the office regularly. All of us, regardless of location, remain committed to serving you, our members, to the best of our ability. We are excited about this move and think it will help us better harness our resources and capacity while also providing more opportunities to partner with MFAI.
Biodynamics Journal Moving to Quarterly Publication
We are pleased to announce that the Biodynamics journal will be moving to quarterly publication, starting this fall. Biodynamic Association members will receive news, information, and stories twice as often, and in a more accessible and compact form. The journal will continue to share informative and thought-provoking articles, news, and stories from across the spectrum of the biodynamic community.
A benefit of membership in the Association, Biodynamics has a long history (since 1941) as one of the preeminent publications on biodynamic farming and gardening in the world. Online access for the most recent two years, plus supplementary materials, is available to BDA members.
Alan Chadwick Archive
The online Alan Chadwick Archive offers hours of previously unseen video footage, dozens of audio lectures, many with transcripts, hundreds of photos, and a biography — with more to come — of an influential and visionary figure in the biodynamic and organic communities.
In Memory of Dr. Basil Williams
Dr. Basil Williams, a long-time supporter and member of the Biodynamic Association, passed away on July 16, 2017. He was a founding participant in the "Bridging Biodynamic Agriculture and Anthroposophical Medicine" learning community, which was formed to explore connections between these two holistic approaches to healing the land and healing human beings, both developed by Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Dr. Williams presented in a workshop on this topic at the 2014 North American Biodynamic Conference, "Farming for Health," and shared his wisdom with many other groups as well.
Read more about Dr. Williams' life and relationship to biodynamics and anthroposophy. We welcome contributions.
In Memory of Andrew Lorand
By Robert Karp: With the passing of Andrew Christopher Lorand, I feel that a mighty and fiery spirit has left the earth and moved his field of action to the spiritual world where I am confident he will continue glow forth and shine fresh impulses into the biodynamic community and beyond. Andrew was an important mentor, colleague and friend to me and so many in the biodynamic community. Read more memories of Andrew and selected articles from the Biodynamics journal. We welcome further contributions.
Revised and Expanded New Edition
First published in 2002, before the term “colony collapse disorder” was coined, Toward Saving the Honeybee (link is external) provides a straightforward, holistic approach to the honeybee crisis that is even more necessary now than ever. Renowned biodynamic beekeeper Gunther Hauk provides a light that shows the way forward for farmers, gardeners, hobbyist beekeepers, and anyone concerned about the future of our planet. This new edition (link is external) is richly illustrated with color photography and has been revised and expanded with new content by the author.
Biodynamic Research References Portal
With our new research references portal, you can filter, sort, and search a collection of biodynamic research references from around the world. They include long-term biodynamic research trial results, journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports from innovative organizations, and more. Both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed documents are included.
New Faces at the Biodynamic Association
Welcome to Our New Board Members
We are pleased to welcome Osiris Abrego Plata (California) and Joseluis Ortiz (New Mexico), who joined the BDA Board of Directors during the biannual board meeting held earlier this month in at our office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Learn more about the committed individuals who volunteer their time and wisdom on behalf of our Association.
BDA Board of Directors (L to R): Joseluis Ortiz, Wali Via, Peter Littell, Steffen Schneider, Janet Gamble, Daphne Amory, Lisa Murgatroyd, David Byrnes, Osiris Abrego Plata (not pictured: Greg Georgaklis and Susan West Kurz)
Welcome to Our New Development Director
The Biodynamic Association is pleased to welcome a new member to our team! Karisa Centanni has been selected to fill an important role for the BDA as the organization’s first-ever full-time Development Director. “We are so grateful to have Karisa join our team,” said BDA Co-Director Robert Karp. “She brings to this position just the combination of biodynamic passion and nonprofit savvy that we were hoping to find.”
Centanni brings both practical knowledge of biodynamics and agriculture as well as the experience to help the Association secure new resources to support its growing work. Learn more about Karisa here.
Discover a Treasure Trove of Information and Inspiration
2016 Conference Recordings Now Available!
Revisit the talks you loved and explore what you missed through the 2016 Biodynamic Conference recordings! For the first time we are offering all recordings as a package online. BDA members receive a $75 discount! Purchase recordings now and you can instantly access:
- Video recordings of all 10 keynote speakers
- Video recordings of popular 90-minute workshops with leading biodynamic educators Gunther Hauk, Mac Mead, and Sherry Wildfeuer
- Audio recordings of more than 35 workshops, including both pre-conference and main conference workshops
Anchoring Biodynamics on the Front Range - Light Root Community Farm(link is external) (link is external), by Robert Karp: Every bioregion needs a vital biodynamic farm and educational center that anchors the creative light of the sun, moon, and stars deep into the body and soul of the local geography and community. If Daphne Kingsley and Cameron Genter have their way, the Front Range of Colorado will soon have such a center. I had the great pleasure recently of visiting and touring their aptly named Light Root Community Farm in the scenic foothills of the Rocky Mountains just outside Boulder, Colorado. On a modest 40 acres of rented land, Daphne and Cameron have indeed put down a powerful tap root for this vision....
My Introduction to Homeodynamics with Enzo Nastati(link is external) (link is external), by Stone Hunter: When I arrived at Sustainable Settings in Carbondale, Colorado, in March 2015 for the continuation of my North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship (NABDAP) training, I landed into a world of shifting perspectives and practices in respect to biodynamics. Just two months prior to my arrival, there was a five-day intensive seminar in the neighboring town of Paonia, titled “Spiritual Agriculture I,” with Enzo Nastati. My mentor, Brook Levan, attended the seminar after first hearing Enzo speak a year earlier in Paonia and then in Kentucky. Enzo then visited Sustainable Settings to consult with Brook regarding the farm as a whole organism and the Homeodynamic* approach to farm stewardship....
Reverence and Awe,(link is external) (link is external) by Karen Davis-Brown: You know that biodynamic agriculture lives in you, when you see or smell manure — particularly cow manure — and a deep appreciation and joy wells up within you. I sometimes refer to it as having the value of “gold” for a farm; I am not the only one....