Stirring

Rural Garden: Yesterday I spent an hour stirring BD 500, the biodynamic preparation invented/devised/channeled by Rudolf Steiner.

BD 500 is at the heart of biodynamic farming. It is made from the manure of a healthy cow, stuffed into a cow horn and buried in good quality top soil. Since it is problematic for me as a home gardener to make my own biodynamic preps I purchase them from the Joshephine Porter Institute.

BD 500 is more of a force than a substance. It is supposed to energize the soil. Most of the preparations are stirred in a bucket for twenty minutes. But BD 500 requires a full hour of stirring. I put the small packet of material into a five gallon bucket, take a long wooden spoon, turn on the radio and get at it. You stir one direction creating a vortex, then reverse it and stir the other way. An hour is a long time to stir. Linda gave me a ten minute break.

For $85 a year I get spring and fall sets of preparations. Some goes in the compost pile, some goes on the soil in your garden beds, and some goes on the plants themselves. Your can spray but I use a whisk broom and sort of slop it on.

The set of preps is supposed to cover an acre. 

Does it work? I can't prove it. I'm doing too many different things. Copious amounts of seaweed, huge helpings of cow manure compost, Steve Solomon's complete organic fertilizer, good quality seed and biodynamics. It doesn't hurt, that's for sure.