Working with Elemental Beings

Get to know the different kinds of elemental beings (gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamandars) and how they are manifest in the forms of the plants. Learn about their role in the garden and how to work more consciously with these beings to create greater harmony and abundance. There will be time for study, eurythmy, and conversation about personal experiences.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Cynthia Hoven Harald Hoven

Weather is Not Climate

To understand the current climate debate, it is useful to be able to see the difference between the forces that form weather and the forces that form climate. Although these different domains have overlap, the crucial issues regarding climate are often blurred by the large number of daily weather forecasts available to people today. This workshop will look at how a climate phenomenon such as El Niño can be understood independent of the daily weather forecast.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Dennis Klocek

The Spirit of Healing Plants

The sustainable agriculture, biodynamic, and food justice movements carefully promote the protection, care, and production of healthy ecosystems, soils, vegetables, fruits, and livestock, but do not focus equal attention on medicinal plants and herbs. Reviewing indigenous knowledge about our relationships with the medicinal plants reminds us that, beyond a just concern for plant species, what is at stake is the reclamation of lost sacred and healing knowledge for humans - and for the land.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Claudia Ford Deb Soule

The Seed As Expression of the Farm Individuality

Thoughtful seed saving, selection, and plant breeding may very well be one of the best tools that we have to adapt gracefully to climate change. Don Tipping has been growing seeds using biodynamic methods at Seven Seeds Farm for the past 20 years, fine-tuning a menagerie of species to the Cascadia bioregion. The adaptation of plants to the landscape gives a voice to the soul of the land and diverse elements that come together in the living plant.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Don Tipping

Water on the Edge

What can the search for water’s qualities reveal for biodynamics? This workshop will explore "the world as a drop” and how to engage formative forces that foster Tierra Viva in farm and garden. Chris Tebbutt will explore these concepts, highlighting practical experiments from his home at Filigreen Farm in northern California, inspired by the frontiers of water science.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Saturday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Chris Tebbutt

Restoring the Health and Spiritual Integrity of Corn

Delve deep in to the world of corn—its domestication, richness, and significance; its development by native people; its development by European Americans; and the present dilemma between world views of the two groups. Corn breeder and researcher Walter Goldstein will share about the work of the Mandaamin Institute to breed and commercialize new corn with enhanced nutritional value and competitive, modern yields, using a phenomenological, biodynamic approach based on working with corn as a partner.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Saturday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Walter Goldstein

SEKEM and Sustainable Development

Founded by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in 1977, SEKEM is a diverse and interconnected initiative which combines biodynamic farming and sustainable development to bring vibrant life to the desert in Egypt. SEKEM has brought over 1500 desert acres into biodynamic cultivation, and helped over 700 farmers in Egypt to shift from conventional to organic agriculture. SEKEM has also established a number of companies that connect to its agricultural production, including phytopharmaceuticals, organic textiles and clothes, and organic food and beverages, where they are a market leader in Egypt.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Saturday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Angela Hofmann

From Seed to Grocery: Growing the Biodynamic® Marketplace

This workshop will give an overview of the growing Biodynamic® marketplace and some of the opportunities it is creating for farmers, as well as challenges raised by this growth. How can we protect the Biodynamic standards and the quality of the ingredients while also meeting growing demand? Can the biodynamic movement model of fair and associative trade be incorporated all along the value chain? Where will tomorrow’s Biodynamic ingredients and products come from? Come join us as we roll up our sleeves to shape the future of the Biodynamic marketplace.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

David Byrnes Elizabeth Candelario Errol Schweizer Todd Kluger

Water Resilience on the Farm

With a changing climate, historical weather patterns can no longer be relied upon, and developing water resilience is a must for every farm. Hugh Williams of Threshold Farm will describe how to create a whole-farm Keyline plan, including off-contour farming, drought-proofing your farm, engineering of Keyline dams and reservoirs, Keyline scale of permanence, and how Threshold Farm is implementing these to manage the flow of water across their land.

Event Type: 
pre-conference workshop
workshop
Date: 
Thursday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Don Bustos Don Tipping Hugh Williams

Owl Eyes and Coyote Ears: Nature Awareness Activities

Have you ever wished that you could see like an owl, hear like a coyote, or walk as silently as a fox? When we learn to focus our senses, quiet our feet, and closely observe the natural world around us, an amazing array of sights and sounds are revealed to us. In this workshop, children will have an opportunity to build nature awareness skills through a series of fun, hands-on activities, and games.

Event Type: 
workshop
Date: 
Friday
Location: 
Santa Fe Convention Center

Presenter(s)

Stephanie Steigerwaldt