Gunther Hauk speaking at the 2013 Farm-Based Educators Retreat at Spikenard Farm

In our time now, with all of humanity experiencing a tremendous "fall" into separateness from and disharmony with the Earth, Nature, and her manifold forms of life, there is a resurgence of interest in sustainable lifestyle choices, especially growing, harvesting and preserving one's own food. This interest is reaching down into the realm of education. Waldorf schools, homeschooling groups, and public and private schools are more and more recognizing the value of children from early childhood through high school gaining the sense of security and self-sufficiency that such educational experiences foster.

Farm-Based Education Inspired by Anthroposophy, FBEIBA, is a learning community supported by the Biodynamic Association (BDA), and has been meeting regularly for five years, recognizing and serving this growing educational movement. This year's FBEIBA event, held as an Advanced Retreat at Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary, in Floyd, Virginia, September 27-29, 2013, demonstrated a maturing of this group's sense of purpose and direction as can be seen in the activity inspired by the participants' interaction.

Activities resulting from this gathering include the following:

• A planning team has come forward to work on the farm-based education content and activities for the 2014 North American Biodynamic Conference.
• A small group proposed and is facilitating the large group's participation in working with the 6 exercises with a monthly conference call to discuss questions and progress.
• Various participants have submitted workshop proposals to bring farm-based education content to the next AWSNA national conference, which will be held in June 2014 Hartsbrook Waldorf School in Hadley, MA. Nikki Robb, one of the retreat participants, runs the Agricultural Arts program for the Hartsbrook school.
• Participants have begun to build a bibliography relevant to this field of work, in part to gather and organize research that verifies the results we see as well as to find the language that helps us communicate the impact of this education to a wider audience.

What contributed to such a productive gathering?

Our gracious host and teacher, Gunther Hauk, welcomed us warmly and nourished us with his wisdom and examples. On Friday, we enjoyed a tour of the farm, including the beautiful welcome yurt, the almost-finished educational center with its green roof, the bees and their various types of hives, the flower gardens and the vegetable gardens.

Saturday afternoon, we worked with Gunther to plant rye as he spoke to us about how to work with the children and about the purpose and meaning of such activity. Saturday evening, we were enriched by Gunther's presentation on the meaning of Michaelmas in our time, which a few members of the Spikenard board attended as well.  And on Sunday, we worked to thresh and winnow rye to the rhythm of various verses, again gaining insight into our own farm-based education work.

Participants had prepared for the retreat by reading Study of Man, lectures IV, V & VI, relative to the development of the will nature. This common ground and foundation of Rudolf Steiner's view of the developing human being contributed to the quality of our conversations. With many years of experience among us, all but a few participants also prepared and shared their own presentations on such themes as cultivating the will, strengthening the will, and the artist's will.