Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming (Vol.2)

Bio-Dynamic Gardening and Farming (Vol.2)

Ehrenfried Pfeiffer lays out the essential practices for successfully operating a biodynamic farm, including the principles behind each technique and practice. He backs up these methods with scientific research and data, as well as his own experience as a farmer and researcher, describing what works and what doesn’t. Pfeiffer covers soil qualities, making compost, crop rotation, best planting practices, using biodynamic preparations and sprays, and much more—all with the goal of growing the highest-quality foods by using sustainable methods and working with nature and caring for the earth.

Table of contents

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I. FIELD AND LABORATORY TRIALS AND RESULTS

II. MINERAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOILS AND PLANTS

III. PLANTS ABSORB ORGANIC SUBSTANCES FROM SOIL

IV. THE BIOLOGICAL BALANCE

V. HEALTHY AND DISEASED PASTURES

VI. BALANCED NUTRITION OF SOILS AND PLANTS

VII. SOIL BUILDING VERSUS NUTRIENT SOLUTION

VIII. SOILS AND ACTIVATORS AND THE NITROGEN PROBLEM

IX. AVAILABILITY OF NITROGEN PHOSPHATE AND POTASH IN SOILS DUE TO APPLICATION OF MICROORGANISMS

X. SEVEN YEARS OF SOIL SURVEY ON A BIO-DYNAMIC FARM

XI. MICROLIFE AND MICROCHEMISTRY IN SOILS

XII. AVAILABLE, WATER-SOLUBLE OR STORAGE: Humus Decides The Issue

XIII. FERMENTATION VERSUS PUTREFACTION AND DECAY

XIV. COMPARATIVE SOIL TESTS 1951-1961 OF A BIO-DYNAMIC FARM

About the Author

Dr. Ehrenfried E. Pfeiffer (1899–1961) was born in Munich. He worked closely with Rudolf Steiner to test and document many of the effects of biodynamic practices. Pfeiffer visited the U.S. several times during the 1930s, and was awarded a doctorate for his groundbreaking theory of Sensitive Crystallization Processes as a blood test for detecting cancer. In 1940, he immigrated to the U.S., where he pioneered biodynamic agriculture and helped establish the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association. He died in Spring Valley, New York.