What's this blog all about?

For the next 5 months, starting February 6th, I will be working and living on a biodynamic farm on Vancouver Island in the city of Duncan. I'll be posting photos and stories about the experience on a regular basis for our collective viewing enjoyment and hopefully to garner some interest in a method of farming our Earth desperately needs more of. For those of you wondering what the heck biodynamic farming is, let me tell you.

What is Biodynamic Farming?

Biodynamic Farming is a form of agriculture that focuses on soil health and food quality.  In 1924 Rudolf Steiner, a remarkably gifted individual, gave a series of lectures on agriculture and this is where Biodynamics was born.

Rudolf Steiner

A biodynamic farm is an organic farm, but it goes above and beyond the simple practice of producing food without chemicals.  All of the most important practices of a well managed sustainable organic farm such as composting, crop rotation & cover cropping are carried out on the biodynamic farm.  On top of that, the biodynamic farm is viewed as a ‘whole farm organism’, and a series of preparations are used to nourish the farm and the soil health.  Biodynamic farming also uses cosmic rhythms when dealing with the day to day activities on the farm.

The biodynamic farm focuses on the health of the farm and the soil, not simply on the short term gains of a high yielding plant.  Through proper composting techniques and with the use of the preparations, the biodynamic farm as a whole becomes healthier and fully functional as a whole farm ecosystem.  Once the biodynamic farm is fully functional, one can achieve a greater yield on a healthier plant, which will result in better quality food.

I'm sure this definition will expand and be honed down as I my stay progresses, but that sums it up more or less.

Why I'm doing it

Simply put, I want to commit to a profession that will reflect my convictions. For the past two years I've taken a greater interest in where my food comes from, how it's produced, what kind of damage industrial farming does to our environment and what sort of future these trends are taking us towards. When you read the stats, it's bleak. It's pretty clear things need to change in a serious way. For me, getting into farming is just one way I can contribute in a meaningful way to continuing the change towards healthier, sustainable, environmentally friendly produced food.