Soil That Never Gets Sick: BD Farming Gathers Cosmic Blessings, Taking Only As Much From the Soil As You Give Back

Have you ever heard of BD (Bio-dynamic) farming? This friendly farming method sounds a bit mystical, and it is hard for outsiders to fathom its depths. In Dongshi, Taichung, and Dongshan, Yilan, in Taiwan, China, there are groups of farmers who believe in it deeply. They scatter seemingly fantastical preparations across their fields, yet these actually embody the profound principle of harmony among heaven, earth and humanity.

Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner gave eight lectures on agriculture in 1924. This was the origin of BD farming. After that, the method was embraced and tirelessly promoted by Demeter, an ancient European agricultural organization, and today it has spread across the globe.

BD farming was introduced to Taiwan, China, around 2010, but at first it was mostly just the spread of ideas. Only in recent years have farmers begun putting it into practice in the fields. Although the number of BD farmers is small, fewer than a hundred across Taiwan, China, the method's concept of being friendly to the land is worth everyone's attention.

Cow Horns Buried in Soil, Stag Bladders Stuffed With Herbs: Inviting Cosmic Energy to Flow

The most famous BD preparation is the cow horn. After the autumn equinox, at dawn, fresh warm dung from a cow is packed into a cow horn, which is then buried in the soil to ferment for six months. The cow horn's distinctive shape holds in the powerful stellar and "etheric" energies within the manure.

After the following spring equinox, it is taken out from underground. During the period when the moon is descending, on a warm evening with moist air, the preparation is placed in a bucket, water is added, and the farmer stirs it for one hour in a cheerful mood. Through stirring, the surrounding energies are invited into the water, first stirring clockwise to create a vortex, then reversing direction to create splashes, then stirring clockwise again to create a vortex. The preparation made this way can effectively boost the vitality of the soil.

Consider a few more preparations: chamomile is stuffed into a cow intestine and buried in snow. The more the winter sun shines, the more the stellar nature of the cosmos, as the snow melts and seeps into the soil, will act upon the soil where the chamomile preparation is buried. Yarrow is placed in a stag's bladder, creating a material situation through which the spiritual can penetrate; the stag's inner energy constantly interacts with the cosmic stars in a flow of exchange.

These preparations are either placed on bare soil to activate the soil's vitality, or added to compost to help the compost transform and retain its life force.

Does this sound like superstition, or even sorcery? Before jumping to conclusions, ask yourself: Have you ever paid respects to the Tai Sui? Do you believe in horoscopes or Chinese zodiac signs? Would you pick a good name for your child based on their birth chart and stroke counts? Must a bride get her hair and makeup done at three in the morning for an auspicious hour? Is having the stove visible from the front door a major feng shui taboo?

If you answered "yes to all of the above," it means you believe that beyond the visible world there is an invisible world exerting influence, and that its energies act upon us or push back against us at every turn. In the same way, "Anthroposophy" holds this view as well. Compared with horoscopes and birth charts, those cow dung and cow horns actually have more scientific evidence behind them.

The Father of Anthroposophy: Farmers Must Change the Way They Treat the Soil

Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner proposed Anthroposophy as a spiritual science, holding that human beings have four parts: the physical, the etheric, the astral and the self. We must consider not only matter but also the forces that shape matter; behind the laws of life lies the principle of the "aether" (or ether) organization. Applying these ideas to agriculture is what gives us BD bio-dynamic farming.

Steiner pointed out that plants are products of a healthy etheric world. They do not get sick; what gets sick is the environment, especially the soil. Therefore, the answer to plant diseases must be sought in the soil. To restore the soil's balance and health, we must change the way we treat the soil. Steiner believed that soil is not merely a collection of chemicals, minerals or organic matter, but a living system that depends on the interaction of matter and energy.

He proposed eight preparations, including the cow horn, chamomile and yarrow mentioned above. Tempered by the seasons and the environment, these elements taken from plants and animals can be transformed into a "blessing" for improving the soil (Steiner's own words). Analyzed chemically and spectroscopically, BD preparations respectively have advantages such as greatly increasing the proportion of aerobic bacteria, promoting plants' use of sulfur and potassium, improving soil pH, and keeping the soil loose in structure while forming aggregates.