By Jeff Schreiber

Bruno Follador gave four talks over the weekend,  interspersed with interactive activities

 

Through stories, poems, exercises, a movie, and wonderful living language - through portraying rather than explaining - Bruno carefully built up a picture of the whole issue at hand. These lyrics from the Canadian singer-songwriter Feist, for example, were displayed throughout the workshop with a series of images for us to ponder:

The mountain, the mountain

Came to recognize
Its steep and rocky sides
More than realized

- Feist

The issue at hand? Our thinking. One simple exercise, in which we viewed an image that first appeared to be random dots arranged in a circle, served to illustrate the complex process that plays out in our minds when observing phenomena. View the images and read more from Jeff on the biodynamics blog.

Megan Durney at the Pfeiffer Center

Thea: What inspired you to pursue biodynamic agriculture and participate in NABDAP?

  

Megan: I entered into biodynamics because I wanted to participate in an agricultural activity that was conscious, where farmers are awake to the true impact they have on the land and the earth as a whole. Coming to the Pfeiffer Center, a biodynamic training center in New York, was the first step I took on this journey seven years ago. An established training in biodynamics is very important to develop, and I joined NABDAP to support and participate in this effort. Many young people entering into biodynamic farming presently do not have an agricultural schooling but have heard a call to bring a healing impulse to farming.  In order to honor this call and the future, biodynamic practitioners need to provide a conscious training program in the art of biodynamics, A focused program is especially valuable for those who have a limited amount of time to participate in a training, and my hope is that NABDAP will continue to evolve to meet the needs of incoming farmers so that they may meet the needs of the future of agriculture.

 

Thea: Where has your journey taken you since you completed the program?

Megan: Since my completion of the program, I am still involved in the activities of the Pfeiffer Center. I am presently a staff member, assistant to Mac Mead, the director of the Pfeiffer Center and have taken on many responsibilities, which has enhanced my learning about and participation in the impulse of biodynamics. Currently, I am the main vegetable grower and primary beekeeper plus spend most of my hours working alongside the Pfeiffer Center interns attempting to enrich their education by sharing my agricultural experiences. I also co-teach classes for adults and children. My interests and projects have expanded immensely as I delve deeper into learning about the biodynamic preparations and the partnerships between the animal and plant kingdom. A few living questions which have inspired my steps are: What is the relationship between the human being and the farm individuality? What is the future of agriculture asking of us? How do I enter into right relationship with the Earth and all the kingdoms of nature as a farmer?

By Robert Karp

Anthony Graham, Lincoln Geiger, and Andrew Kennedy at the public entrance to Temple-Wilton Community Farm.

 

At Temple-Wilton, for example, there is not an equal, evenly distributed share price.  Rather, members attend an annual meeting each year to review and discuss the farm's total budget and decide what amount they each feel they can contribute to that budget. Each member writes down his or her proposed financial offering on a piece of paper; if those sums don't add up to meet the annual budget, then the members go around again and offer additional sums until the budget is met. The process, in other words, is highly participatory, communal, and transparent. 

 

To learn more about that benefits of this CSA style and to read more about Robert's trip to the farm see the biodyanmics blog.

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