Biodynamic Farmers Connect To Earth's Rhythms

When vintner Randall Grahm chose the softly sloping hillside and time to plant his new pinot noir vines, he weighed all the things farmers usually consider: drainage, soil quality and weather. Then he considered less orthodox factors: the cosmic and seasonal rhythms at play and how they might be harnessed to help the clippings take root. Grahm, who owns Bonny Doon winery on the Northern California coast, is one of a growing number of farmers in the United States employing a holistic farming philosophy sometimes called "organic-plus." Biodynamic farming views land as a self-contained living organism, encouraging respect for the soil's integrity and eschewing not just chemicals but anything that comes from outside the farm. It developed in Austria in the 1920s in reaction to the growing use of synthetic fertilizers. Fertility in Grahm's vineyard comes from cover crops that return nutrients to the soil and manure from goats roaming the landscape. But biodynamic farming also includes elements that might make even die-hard organic devotees recoil — consulting a calendar on the phases of the moon and the alignment of planets, and using soil preparations made with manure that's been stored in cow horns, buried for a season, then mixed with water and sprayed on the land...more

Who knew my Uncle Archie Perkins was a biodynamic rancher? We never branded cattle or cut a horse unless the sign was below the knees, and we never weaned calves when the sign was in the heart. There was also something about the phase of the moon and diggin' post holes, but I've done a pretty good job of clouding my memory on that chore.