It's flower time again!!!

Oooh how I love my flowers! The sweet peas just keep going, making everybody happy, and now also the sweet William is really starting to take off. All sorts of different colours, and very, very scented... Hmmmm.... Unfortunately the wholesaler just wants the colour 'cerise' which I don't know whta that is, but since my sweet Williams have all sorts of colours I don't think they want them. So, I printed some nice leaflets, had a bath, a shave and a clean pair of underpants, and off I went on tour with two buckets of flowers, to visit 7 different farm and flower shops in the area. Alison, my WWOOFer, came along, and we made so many people happy with our free flower bunches! And now the orders keep streaming in, so much so that I am running out of flowers! It's now just picking picking picking, bunching bunching bunching, and off they go. Really flowers are fantastic! Flowers flowering everywhere - flowers in your hair! Flowers, flowers, flowers!!! Oh what beautiful flowers... Yeehaaaaaa

Bonjour Tous le Monde!

Hello everyone!
I just thought i'd check in with you wild biodynamic love cats! I hope all the BD2 lot are doing well out there and BD1's are learning lots on their placements. I'm working on a little family market garden here in the south of France and i'm really enjoying it! Its only 9 acres but next to a big river at the foothills of the Cevennes mountains, very pretty! Working in polytunnels in severe heat is a killer although I may be able to work off some of the lager that Sparky forced me to drink at college! I'm also starting to spray preps at our place (see website) we're turning it well Biodynamic init!

sending you all love....

Nick x
P.s. Contrats to Arjen with Marriage and baby!

Not even pretending to farm

Its raining, which is good. The grain needs rain. I have planted some lettuce, beans, carrots, sweetcorn and sunflowers in my raised beds after having gone to great expense and ringed the edges with copper tape in an attempt to inhibit slug action. All seems a bit low key compared with what everyone else is up to. The ulterior motive was partly met as someone made an offer on the house, low, but it's a start. The farm we are looking to rent is proving a hard nut to crack and so we might rent a small house for a few months while we look around and await the downward repricing of the next phase of the global economic contraction (this article is especially for Adam).

Just read Animal Pharm by Mark Purdey, extraordinary book, should be on the BD reading list. As Monbiot says, 'If Pudey is right he should get a Nobel prize for medicine'. Great exploration, research and analysis of BSE (globally) and TB. Does leave you feeling disgusted and saddened at central governments (how surprising) but also relieved that there are answers to the questions BSE raised about how we keep our animals. It's in the soil. However, I am now worried about grasssickness in the horses (found where there is low pH, CU & K deficiency and excess Fe, like our buttercup covered, iron clay fields, often triggering Clostridium botulinum of the TB family). Symptons, are severe gut paralysis and sudden death. Not much of a heads up there then. I could spread some lime on the fields and an Fe chelating compound. Or I could not worry about it. Maybe I'll spray some 501. I wonder what Glen would say? I shall go and study my charts.

Make sure you have read this regarding golden rice and its benefits (hhmmm), the proGMOers use it as their standard bearer for saving the world. It is always useful to be able to debunk that line of arguement.

Happy planting, prepping, parsing, picking and packing.

First Job offer!

Got my first Job offer! my farmer asked if I want to stay after the placement, he needs someone xD not bad for me!

I' ve got a good time here milking and carring for the cows.

Mowing will start next week after the rain.... 

Got a few woodcutting etc to do after a huge storm last weekend.

Finally I know allmost all the 25 cows by name ;-)

have a good weekend and post, post, post!

michaela

What's happening at emerson?

Things are thriving here as usual! The may fair has just passed (Arjen, Rob, and others dancing merrily before a very large crowd of people ranging from outsiders to ex-emersonians to scientlogists and even anthroposophists! The courses are well on their way and coming closer to their endings, and someone’s been rotivating up about a quarter of an acre behind carson!??

Well, it seems as though a lot is transpiring here at Emerson, in the garden and in the course. Im sure most of you already know the Neir (spelling?) has joined Arjen in carrying the course. I get the sense that they both have been working extremely hard since all of us began our placements and/or took our leave from Emerson, and I believe that there are a few things in the cooker for the course itself which is very good.

The lunches now include a few things from the garden! Amazing huh? After all that whining we did in october about Emerson not having a garden and now it is no longer only talk or planning but reality. Yes, there is plenty in the ground and it is only getting buisier.

Well, i send my blessings to you all and i hope your biodynamicing is going great!

Fix the Food Chain

Wandered into the fields of Plaw Hatch today to watch Richard and Tony roll out their latest gizzmos. After the (ancient) transplanter had been steamed back into life (with help from a couple of Findhorn groupies plus Claire) the latest watering contraption appeared. Fortunately it was strapped atop a tractor that was unable to exceed 5mph otherwise a little sideways sloshing might have had it aside (rather than astride) the newly planted celariac. Overall the garden looked great and the shop displayed almost an entire wall of farm grown produce.

Friends of the Earth started a campaign 'Fixing the Food Chain' earlier this year, very timely given the Swine Flu, sorry, novel human flu virus H1N1, outbreak. Read their 'Feeding the Beast' article. If you felt so inclined you could even write to your MEP (elections next month) - (European member of parliament - we all have one). And at the same time remind her/him that GM food should probably continue to be restricted until substantive, meaningful test are carried out to verify their safety.

If you haven't read it, find the time to take a look at the best commendation for ending intensive farming yet published. The UN FAOs 'Livestock's Long Shadow'. And, for those long winter nights (huh?, Ed.) the UNCTAD report on how organic agriculture is Africa's best hope. Or the IAASTD report from last year on how the world should look at agriculture, esp. Point 4 which includes the line 'Existing multifunctional systems that minimize these [environmental] problems have not been sufficiently prioritized for research.'

Sadly, Obama's new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced he will be pushing harder for bio-tech (read GM) than Bush was. Not a surprise but likely means heavy lobbying of Europe/Africa to buy Monsanto/Dow/Pioneer Hi-Bred/Syngenta products. Will there be a serious debate in the US about this? Will anyone point out that yields have not been increased, that the only success story are seeds that are herbicide resistant meaning guess what, yup, more Roundup? Oh, and this is Monsanto funded research saying their crops require a lot of work especially due to over-relience on herbicides and that super pigweed and ragweed is becoming a serious problem.

The US public don't appear to be completely fooled, despite a sharp economic downturn sales of organic food were up 16% in 2008. However, total organic meat sales are a paultry (there's a joke in there somewhere) 0.34% of total. That's $448mm vs $8.5bln on fruit & veg. Odd how people are happy eating non-organic meat but love their organic apples and lettuces. Having said that, I saw lots of very free-range, pasture-fed beef wandering around Arizona, the owners of which wore funny hats and boots, occasionally said 'yeeeha' and thought organics was for uptight, liberal citytypes (at least I think that's what they said).

fire

happy beltane. the goddess has been transformed into the flower maiden and united with the green man, don't you know? if not then wake up like...