CHAPTER THIRTEEN
STANDING BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH
The Biodynamic farm stands between heaven and earth. It is influenced by both earthly and cosmic influences and the farmer works with both, when looking after his land. The terrestrial or earthly forces are the most familiar to us, so it is these influences that we farmers are most used to working with. Rudolf Steiner showed us how we can work with the celestial forces through the use of the Biodynamic preparations and by being aware of the position of the planets and constellations of the zodiac in relationship to each other and the sun and moon. When we think of the terrestrial forces, we have in mind the physical properties of the farm, mainly the soil. The smell and feel of soil tells so much, is it rich and earthy with little bits of organic matter still visible? Does it feel full of life? Does it crumble between the fingers? Is the soil deep? Are there lots of earth worms? Can the soil hold moisture? These are all good signs of a fertile soil with lots of organic matter. Other considerations might be….. Where did it come from? Is it clay or sand? What is the vegetation? Are there trees and hedgerows? Is the terrain steep or flat? These are all terrestrial forces that a farmer works with on a daily basis. Although we can’t do much to change some of these things, such as the original parent material of the soil or the slope of the land, over the years we can modify and improve the fertility.
In the past, peasant farmers felt the holiness of the earth but now with our large-scale farming and economic pressures, it is hard to maintain the feeling of reverence. It is interesting that in the Agricultural course that Rudolf Steiner gave, he spends the first page and a half thanking the hosts of the conference. This sets the mood for farming. Reverence used to be a basic mood of soul when working with nature. Growth and decay, birth and death, the wonder of a newly planted field greening up, brings me a feeling of wonder and thankfulness. One naturally starts to see the world in a flow of time and movement. This does lead the farmer through a path of initiation which can make it possible to hear intuitively what is needed on the farm. But this natural path of initiation is not necessarily available to a modern farmer. Sitting in an air-conditioned tractor cab listening to the radio in order to keep awake for hours on end…. this is not conducive to a spiritual path. It now needs a conscious inner spiritual effort by a farmer to have this same intuitive connection to his farm. By cultivating his inner soul life and caring for his land and animals, a farmer can develop an intuitive connection to his farm. He is like a mother who is closely connected to her small child and knows when she is in danger. Even in my thirties when I was most involved in building up my farm and most involved with physical work, I would try to put aside thirty minutes after breakfast for meditation.
Over against the terrestrial forces, there are cosmic or celestial forces that affect the growth of plants and the health of the animals. The sun is the driving force of our planet and allows the great variety of plants and animals ranging from the poles to the equator. The moon affects mainly the watery aspect of our world. This can be seen in the rise and fall of the tides and in the growing habits of plants. Before the full moon, seeds germinate and grow faster than at the new moon. It is easier to make and dry hay at the new moon when there is not so much moisture in the stems and leaves. We know of these influences but are not so aware of the more subtle affects. When the sun stands in front of one of the twelve constellations, the energy that reaches the earth is different for each one. The growth and nutritive value of the plants is dependent on this dance of the heavenly bodies. Rudolf Steiner gave us the gift of being able to work with the cosmic forces through the use of the Biodynamic preparations. With the use of the preparations we can enliven the earth so that our food can have the nutritional forces that we need. When Rudolf Steiner was asked about our food he answered, “Nutrition as it stands today does not supply the strength necessary for manifesting the spirit in physical life. A bridge can no longer be built from thinking to will and action. Food plants no longer contain the forces people need for this.”
One of the main concepts of Biodynamic farming is that we try to create a self- sustaining farm organism. This idea is wonderful to me as it lifts the farm out of the economic realm into a cultural artistic realm. It creates boundaries within which to work. We have a picture frame within which to balance all the terrestrial and celestial forces at work within this planet. Up above, we have the sun and stars and planets influencing the land. On the earth, we create a vessel which contains the soil, the plants, the animals and the farmer who creates the vision and orchestrates all the parts. All living entities have a skin that embraces the organism whether it is unicellular or a complicated plant or animal. A farm is part of the earth, a living system, and it is part of a farmer’s task to create a landscape where the right balance of plants and animals exists so that a vibrant whole is created that is self-sustaining. A modern conventional farm has no boundaries, only economic considerations. Its very concept is unhealthy, as there are no natural boundaries to stop growth and therefore growth becomes cancerous.
On my last farm in Wisconsin, I tried to create this diversified landscape. It was a beautiful farm, with areas of woods reminiscent of the original oak savannas of the plains. There were marsh areas with small streams that the wildlife loved. There were hedge rows between pastures and Susan always said that our farm was a bird sanctuary. Within one area of woods, we had a fine hill on the top of which we cleared the grasses for our gatherings. Kindred Spirits would gather there when I talked about the spirituality of the earth, so we called it the Sacred Hill. Many ceremonies were held there for our friends and for the community and Susan will never forget the circle of women who helped her celebrate there the morning of our marriage. On our farm, we felt the animals, plants, people and spiritual world were one.

I had some areas of good fertile soil but most of the farm was poor rolling land, good for pasture and hay and dairy cows but not suitable for intensive crop farming. I farmed about five hundred acres and I knew that I needed to have about four acres of pasture, hay and crops for every cow. Therefore everything was designed for one hundred and twenty cows. Through experience, a farmer knows how much feed a cow needs per year to attain a reasonable level of milk production. How many tons of hay or silage are needed? How many pounds of concentrates such as beans and corn? This then has to be converted to acres to be planted for each crop so that there are enough to feed the cows through the long winters. This then has to be balanced against the tons of cow manure produced. Will there be enough compost for the necessary acres of corn? This can never be an exact science, as things change yearly with the weather. It depends so much on when the rain falls. For instance, if it is a wet warm spring, it could be that the corn gets planted late and can’t be cultivated in order to kill the weeds. Yet all this rain is excellent for pasture and hay. If, at hay-making time, it stops raining for a couple of weeks, then a bumper crop can be harvested. One summer was terrible because it never rained and I was buying hay by October. That year I was certainly far from my dream of the farm being self-sufficient.
The rotation that worked best for me was forty acres of corn, forty of soy beans, forty of small grains (mainly oats but it could be rye or wheat) under sown with hay that lasted three or four years before the cycle started again. This utilized about two hundred and eighty acres and I had another two hundred acres in permanent pasture. In addition, my farm provided manure for a neighboring community-supported garden that grew enough vegetables for one hundred and twenty families and other sources. I also sold wheat to a kosher bakery and sometimes I was able to sell the beans for human consumption.
The farm organism does not stop at the farm gate. It extends into the community via the consumers. I sold my milk to Organic Valley, one of the biggest certified organic distributors in the country, so I lost the direct connection to the consumer. However it is still interesting to see how much food we could produce on my farm with just three workers, so I capturing that below.
Milk
Being a dairy farm, I produced mainly milk. Each cow produced 40 lbs of milk per day or 1,500 gallons per year. An average family consumes about three gallons of milk and milk products (cheese, butter, yogurt and ice cream) per week or 150 gallons per year. This means one cow supported 100 families and as I milked 120 cows we supported about 1200 families.
MeatA byproduct of milking cows is that you have bull calves that are usually sold to another farmer and cull cows that you sell to companies that have that specialty. We sold about 20,000 lbs of meat per year and, according to statistics, beef consumption per person is about 65 lbs per year. If a family of four eats two hundred lbs per year, then we supported about 100 families.
WheatI grew about twenty acres of wheat per year with a yield of 40 bushels per acre. This averages 48,000 lbs or enough for 24,000 2 lb loaves per year. If a family eats two loaves per week, we grew enough wheat for 240 families.
Vegetablesalthough we did not grow vegetables beyond Susan’s garden, the cows did supply much of the fertility through their manure and our vegetables were grown on the farm property. The twenty acres of vegetables which were sold through a CSA, farmers markets and wholesale channels were enough to feed 300 families.From this description it can be seen that a farm with the sun and rain and the help from the farmers can produce a truly remarkable amount of food. For Nokomis Farm alone, this totaled:Milk – 1,200 familiesMeat - 100 familiesVegetables – 300 familiesWheat (bread) – 240 families