This week the plan is to continue to weed in the Herb Garden and clear space for perennials to poke up through the ground and greet the day. We also are going to make a fermented juice/concentrate that will provide nutrients for our plants and explore biodynamics and other methods of plant care which facilitate connection to the Earth, our gardens, and work with the natural rhythms and cycles.
Garden Work & Research
04/13/21: Sun in Aries, Moon in Taurus
Today we weeded a lot more. Since we are close to being done with weeding in the Calendula bed, the next thing to tackle would be to figure out how we want to prep the bed and reseed the calendula. Calendula can be sown directly into the garden bed after the last frost of the year which, in Olympia, is around the beginning of May. This means we have a couple weeks to prep the bed and acquire seeds. My thoughts are to level the ground, then leave it for a week so that what is going to germinate does, then take a torch to what is there, cover it with plastic, and when seeding calendula, do our best not to disturb too much of the soil deeper in the bed where other weeds are lying ready to take over again. Then it will just be a matter of continuing to weed vigorously as the season progresses to give our flowers the best chance.
Thinking about planting new seeds brings into clearer focus my interest in biodynamics and how it can be used to bring us into balance with the rhythm of plants and the turn of the wheel. Biodynamics is a farming method based on the work and philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher who attempted to bridge spirituality and science. He was the first to hold the view of a farm as a single, self-sustaining organism that thrives through biodiversity, the integration of crops and livestock and the creation of a closed-loop system. Biodynamics incorporates methods similar to those used in organic farming, however, it also integrates esoteric and mystical practices. He developed a set of homeopathic preparations used by biodynamic farmers on soil, compost and plants that he claims help to build up the farm’s innate immune system and vital forces.
Steiner prescribed a number of different very specific homeopathic recipes that are designed to build the vitality of an agricultural system. They are split into two groups, the field preparations, numbers 500 and 501, and the compost preparations, numbers 502 to 508. The field preparations claim to build humus in the soil. Both involve filling a cow horn, one with dung, the other with powdered quartz crystals, then burying them in the ground for a number of months, the first buried during the winter season and dug up in spring, the second buried in spring and dug up in autumn, then preparing a mixture that is sprayed on the fields. The compost preparations involve a number of medicinal herbs, namely yarrow, chamomile, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion, Valerian and horsetail. These herbs are cultivated and then most of them stuffed inside the entrails or skull of an animal, buried, then resurfaced and added to a compost pile. Each herb brings with it certain nutrients and is said to add specific things to the compost and the system as a whole.
04/15/21: Sun in Aries, Moon in Gemini
Today we finally finished weeding the calendula bed! The plan now is to move ahead with the rest of the garden weeding, as well as prep the calendula bed and reseed. There is an already established calendula plant that somehow escaped and ended up in the center bed of the garden which I will attempt to transplant into the newly weeded bed.
Caleb Poppe this week introduced us to Fermented Plant Juice, a nutrient rich recipe devised by a Korean farmer, Han-Kyu Cho. The idea is that by fermenting plant matter, and leeching out the sugars, lactic acids, and other nutrients into solution, we can reintroduce that which was removed from the soil. By using plants known for their early and vigorous growth, gathered from around your own field margins, we are creating a solution made by our local micro-biota, specially suited to our soils. This is similar in philosophy to biodynamics in that it works to support the ecosystem of the farm as much as possible without external inputs. Biodynamics is a complex and very involved system which I feel might be slightly inaccessible for people, this method seems to allow for greater accessibility since it relies only on plants which are already present in your environment and not much more. The philosophies behind both methods are very similar, looking at a farm as an ecosystem in which all pieces work together and support each other, the job of the farmer being one of support and keen listening. Biodynamics differs in that it follows the moon and the astrological calendar which JADAM is not necessarily concerned with.
Materia Medica:
This week I focused on Angelica, Angelica archangelica, a woody perennial usually found in well watered mountain ravines, riverbanks, damp meadows and coastal areas, it is also cultivated. Culpeper attributes the herb to the Sun specifically in the sign of Leo. This points to its hot nature in the body, which helps to stimulate circulation. In medical astrology Leo rules over the heart, Leo is also governed by the Sun. The Sun is hot and fiery, and in astrology represents the vital life force of a person, their conscious will. Angelica has an extensive history of use, especially the Chinese species as a womens herb under the name Dong Quai. It is useful in treating delayed menstruation due to excess cold or nervous tension because of its heating properties. It is also good for arthritis and other joint problems where lack of circulation is present. Angelica would be best harvested on a Sunday afternoon, since Sunday is ruled by the Sun and the afternoon is when energy flows downwards in plants, Angelica being a root medicine.
