Adopting BD farming methods keeps the soil from getting sick and follows the principle of taking only as much from the soil as you give back

Have you ever heard of BD (Bio-dynamic) farming? This friendly farming method, which sounds a bit mysterious, is hard for outsiders to fathom. In Dongshi, Taichung and Dongshan, Yilan, there are groups of farmers who believe in it deeply. The seemingly fantastical preparations they scatter in their fields actually contain the profound meaning 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 upheld and promoted by Demeter, an ancient European agricultural organization, and today it has spread across the globe.

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

Burying cow horns in the soil, filling a stag's bladder with yarrow, inviting cosmic energy to flow in

The most famous BD preparation is the cow horn. After the autumn equinox, at daybreak, fresh warm cow 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 special shape holds in the powerful stellar and "etheric" (referring to the realm of flowing life) energies in the manure.

After the spring equinox the following year, it is taken out from underground. During the period of the descending moon, on a warm, humid evening, 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: stirring clockwise to create a vortex, then stirring counterclockwise to make the water splash, then stirring clockwise again to create a vortex. The preparation made this way can effectively boost the vitality of the soil.

You might also hear a few other preparations: chamomile is stuffed into a cow intestine and buried in the snow. The more the winter sun shines, the more the stellar nature of the cosmos acts on the soil where the chamomile preparation is buried as the snowmelt seeps into the soil. Yarrow is placed in a stag's bladder, creating a material situation that allows the spiritual to penetrate through; the inner energy of the stag continuously interacts with the cosmic stars.

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

Does this sound like superstition, or even sorcery? Before jumping to conclusions, ask yourself: Have you ever done a rite to appease 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 count? Must a bride get her hair and makeup done at three in the morning for an auspicious hour? Is seeing the stove from the front door a major feng shui taboo?

If your answer to all of the above is yes, it means you believe that beyond the visible world there is an invisible world exerting influence, and that its energies act or react on us like a shadow. In the same way, "Anthroposophy" holds this view too. Compared with horoscopes and birth charts, that cow dung and cow horn 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 is the principle of the "etheric" (aether or ether) organization. Applying these ideas to agriculture is BD bio-dynamic farming.

Steiner pointed out that plants are the product of a healthy etheric world. They do not get sick; what gets sick is the environment, especially the soil. Therefore the answers 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 "blessings" that improve the soil (Steiner's own words). Analyzed chemically and spectroscopically, BD preparations have such benefits as greatly increasing the proportion of aerobic bacteria, promoting plants' use of sulfur and potassium, improving soil pH, and keeping the soil loose yet crumbly with aggregates.