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Biodynamic Initiative for the Next Generation (BING)
connecting the next generation of farmers, educators, activists and others inspired by biodynamics

In this issue... 

 

Join us at the 2012 Biodynamic Conference

 

How Do You Build a Sacred Relationship With the Land?

 

Burying the Nettles: Beginning Biodynamics at Geer Crest Farm  

 

Living Questions Research Symposium & A Pathway to Living Knowledge

 

Organic Research Symposium Videos 

 

 Job & Internship Opportunities    

  

Upcoming Events

 

         

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Farm tour at the 2011 gathering









2nd Annual
BING + CRAFT
Midwest Young Farmer Gathering

at Angelic Organics Farm and Learning Center, Caledonia, IL

Saturday, August 25 and Sunday August 26

Building on a highly successful and well attended event last year, we are teaming up with CRAFT, Angelic Organics Farm and Angelic Organics Learning Center for another Midwest Young Farmer Gathering!

The 2-day event will again feature farm tours, skills workshops, great food, music and fun.

Young Farmer Gathering

Chicago band Cpt. Captain is excited to return for another performance, and if we don't get poured on again this year, we'll round out Saturday night with a bonfire.

Participants can camp out on the farm and enjoy a farm-fresh breakfast in the morning.

Want to attend or help organize this year's event? Contact Thea at [email protected] to get involved!
         
The Biodynamic Directory

Have you joined our new online Biodynamic Directory for members?

The more people join, the more useful the directory will become as a tool for collaboration and grassroots networking among members.

If you join the Directory by August 15, you could win a tote bag and bandana made from 100% hand-picked, organic Pima cotton, Demeter-certified Biodynamic�, grown and made in Egypt by the SEKEM initiative, donated by Quantum Culture.
 
Visit About the Directory to learn how to create your profile and search for others.
         
Know someone else who would like to get our monthly updates?


  

         
New book: Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers' Movement

greenhorns


Meet America's new farmers. Resourceful and hard-working, Greenhorns are passionate about improving the food we eat through sustainable and humane farming practices. Their inspirational stories speak to the challenges and rewards of earning a living off the land, embracing risks, and feeding local communities - all while maintaining a profound respect for the earth.

Find it in our web store.

         


Rudolf Steiner College Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Education 2012-2013 workshop calendar is now available. Visit their website for details.
Thanks for subscribing to the BING e-newsletter! Have something you'd like to share with others? Send it along to me at [email protected] and I will include it in a future issue.

- Thea Maria Carlson, BING Coordinator

conferenceJoin Us at the 2012 Biodynamic Conference!

 

2012 Biodynamic Conference 

Join us on November 14-18, 2012, at the beautiful Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison, WI, for an extraordinary event - the 2012 North American Biodynamic Conference. This biennial conference is the foremost event for biodynamic education, networking, and community building on the continent, bringing together hundreds of farmers, gardeners, educators, activists, and interested newcomers for five days of inspiring keynotes, informative workshops, networking, exhibits, film screenings, art, and organic and biodynamic foods.

Highlights for young biodynamic enthusiasts include:

  • 40+ workshops by leading organic and biodynamic educators, as well as 9 full-day and half-day pre-conference workshops on beekeeping, dairy, CSA management, seeds and breeds, the biodynamic preparations, cosmic rhythms, farm-based education and more
  • A young farmer social on Friday evening
  • A BING meetup during open space networking on Saturday afternoon

Want to attend but short on funds? Apply to be a volunteer, help us make the conference a success, and receive a discount! We also have scholarships available through the Biodynamic Scholarship Fund. Applications for volunteer positions and scholarships are due August 15.

 

We hope to see you there! 

journalHow Do You Build a Sacred Relationship with the Land?

 

In conjunction with our 2012 conference theme, we'd like to hear how you build a sacred relationship with your own land - whether farm or garden, rural or urban, rented or owned. 

 

We're looking for both shorter and longer articles and stories for the next issue of the Biodynamics journal. Please email [email protected] by August 1 if you're interested. Final deadline for submissions is August 27. We look forward to hearing from you! 

nettles

Burying the Nettles

Beginning Biodynamics at Geer Crest Farm

 

stinging nettlesby Christopher Chemsak, BING Oregon intern 

Five days prior to the summer solstice at Geer Crest Farm in Oregon, on a slope known by the farm family as "Nettle Hill," about half of 
the population of the infamous stinging nettle plants has bland beginnings of flowers. The other half seems more reluctant to transition from their youthful spring form as, one-by-one, their lower leaves begin to fade to a yellowy pale-brown.

For biodynamic preparation 504, it was strongly recommended to us that we harvest stinging nettles in the early part of the day, between dawn and noon, when the earth's energetics are comparable to the exhalation of breath and when the vitality of plants is most present in their aboveground parts while photosynthesis occurs. In addition, though, the issue of convenience in the context of busy farm-life was also discussed and, on this particular day, the task
of harvesting stinging nettles did not occur until after dinner when time allowed for the harvesting and burying to be immediately sequential.

Read more on the biodynamics blog...

livingquestionsLiving Questions Research Symposium

and A Pathway to Living Knowledge

 

BDA Oregon PropertyThe 2012 Living Questions Research Symposium, Toward an Art and Science of Wholeness, will take place September 20 - 24 at the Threefold Educational Center in Chestnut Ridge, NY. The executive director of the Biodynamic Association, Robert Karp, along with Craig Holdrege of the Nature Institute, biologist and biodynamic preparations researcher Malcolm Gardner, and many others will be presenting at the symposium.

Visit www.threefold.org/research for all of the latest details.

Following the 2012 Living Questions Research Symposium, Craig and Henrike Holdrege will be offering a course on the nature of phenomenological inquiry, both as rooted in Goethe's approach and as developed further through Rudolf Steiner. A Pathway to Living Knowledge takes place September 24 to 28 at the Threefold Educational Center.

More details about the weeklong course can be found at www.threefold.org/conferences.    
organicresearchNOFA NY Organic Research Symposium Videos Available on YouTube 

  

Videos of the NOFA-NY Organic Research Symposium, held in January 2012, are now available on YouTube. The inaugural event took place in Saratoga Springs in January 2012, in conjunction with NOFA's Winter Conference. Each of the fifteen sessions was videotaped and now all 45 presenters, as well as each Q&A session, are available for viewing.
NOFA research symposium videos

Each Symposium session appears as a playlist. The channel can be searched by topic, keyword, or speaker's name. Most of the videos are under 20 minutes.

To see Organic Research Symposium photos, proceedings, and lists of presenters/papers, visit www.nofany.org/symposium.

jobsinternshipsJob & Internship Opportunities

 

For more details, additional openings, or to share an opportunity, please visit our forums.

Farmer sought for CSA operation - Uriel Pharmacy, southeast WI

Uriel Pharmacy is seeking a motivated farmer-leader to turn a 4 acre southeast Wisconsin property into a productive CSA operation to provide employees with biodynamic vegetables and fruit, as well as to incorporate their own business to provide healthy food to the surrounding communities and work in the pharmacy in the off season with leadership energy. My vision for Uriel is to become a destination place combining Uriel Pharmacy, production herb gardens, medical practice and farm. I also would like tour groups to be organized which would include pharmacy, farm, sense experience, and educational activities in medicine and agriculture.

Quivira Vineyards & Winery Estate Manager

Quivira Vineyards & Winery, the leading Biodynamic Wine Estate in Northern Sonoma County, is seeking an exceptional candidate for the role of Estate Manager. This key individual will be responsible for the day-day operations of our Demeter-certified Farm & Garden (including produce sales), maintenance of all estate landscaping, managing an active livestock program, and serving as brand ambassador when called upon for winery events, media/trade interviews, etc. This is an extremely physical, hands-on position, while also supervising a small staff. 

1 apprentice opening still available for 2012 at Meadowlark Hearth. The farm also welcomes visits from individuals or couples interested in 2013 positions. At Meadowlark Hearth, our main focus is the development of biodynamic seed out of a whole farm organism. We grow, select, process and distribute a wide variety of seeds grown organically and biodynamically. We also strive for social and ecological outreach in a conservative rural agribusiness based region.  

  

Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz, California, is seeking a new Garden Manager.
We currently have a Garden Manager that will remain with us until October of 2012 and that person will train their replacement. The candidate will start out as a farm apprentice, working alongside our current apprentice crew, and will receive special instruction to grow into the paid-position of Garden Manager. 
events

Upcoming Events

 

For details on these events and more, or to share your event, visit our calendar.

July 14-15: The "Bien," The Life Line of the Biosphere (part of 
"Living with Bees"), Healdsburg, CA

July 21-22: Biodynamic Beekeeping, Mont St. Gregoire, Quebec

July 26-30: Intensive Hands-On Cob Oven Workshop, Lopez Island, Washington 

August 9-12: Anthroposophical Society Annual Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan

August 18: Honey Harvest, Mite Treatments, Winter Preparation, 
Floyd, VA

August 25-26: 2nd Annual BING + CRAFT Midwest Young Farmer Gathering, Caledonia, Illinois

September 7-10: Growing Power's Urban and Small Farm Conference
Milwaukee, WI

September 8: Introduction to Biodynamics, Fair Oaks, CA

September 11-14: National Heirloom Expo, Santa Rosa, CA

November 14-18: North American Biodynamic Conference, Madison, WI

Biodynamic Initiative for the Next Generation

www.biodynamics.com/bing

 

BING is a program of the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association