Garden Route Therapy

This weekend I traveled in a carpool a few hours from the city to a biodynamic farm, the Saugeen River Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) in Durham. En-route I enjoyed my first boiled duck egg which was prepared before we left by our driver and presented in a basket along the way. I already felt I was in good company to be starting a new phase of my learning.

When we arrived at the farm, we headed to an old barn where our instruction would take place for the morning. I tipped a large plastic bucket upside down and found myself a place to sit. The space was fitted with a small chalkboard but there were no lights except for the sun sneaking in-between the wooden planks. I marvelled at the unique group that had gathered on this Saturday morning. This included seasoned farmers experienced with the biodynamic approach, people who had recently purchased a property to intentionally farm, members of the Six Nations, urban community gardeners, adult educators and practitioners from the health field. This was exactly what I had been looking for all along in a learning environment. A different world from the college programs in horticulture I had recently researched, only to be scared off by the mandatory pest and turf management courses they all included. I sensed that a “management” approach to horticulture would be counter-intuitive to any type of healing process.

I have joined the Biodynamic Farming & Gardening program, offered by the Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto, half-way through the year. Between now and December I will be joining the once-a-month meetings to cover a number of set topics linked to Steiner’s lectures in agriculture. The course instructor is Cory Eichman, a biodynamic farmer with over 15 years experience. He suggested the introductory text, Culture & Horticulture: A Philosophy of Gardening by Wolf D. Strol to get started. In a section comparing biodynamic methods to organic methods Strol defines biodynamics as “a human service to the earth and its creatures, not just a method for increasing production or providing healthy food” (44). Both are ecologically oriented but “fighting bugs and disease-prevention are not a major concern for biodynamics” (Strol 44). Strol concludes that “biodynamics can be summed up as: Putting one’s energies into supporting the good, rather than fighting the bad” (44).

The title for this week’s program was Weeds as Teachers and the Kingdom of Nature Spirits. It was perhaps a challenging place to start considering my lack of awareness regarding the “spirit of nature”, a focus in this approach. The discussion opened up on elemental beings or nature spirits. These beings are not sense perceptible but of the soul nature, they are everywhere in nature and have special relationships with the animals. These beings differ depending upon the elemental conditions in their realm of activity (where earth and water meet, where water meets air, where air and light interact and when light and warmth meet). These beings are viewed as being responsible for different developments in the plant depending on their realm (root growth, shaping the leaves, bringing colour and scent to the flowers and ripening seeds and fruit). They do not always have free-will related to their activity. Cory explained that if we want to have a relationship with these beings we must be aware of ourselves and our intentions with our gardening/farming practices. In the article “A Biodynamic Look at Nature Spirits“, written for the Guelph Organic Conference, Cory goes on to say that, “one of the best ways to work in a positive way with the Nature Spirits is to develop a farm or garden that has many different environments that will inspire them.”

After a magnificent pot-luck lunch, filled with many homegrown delights, we had the opportunity to participate in a group art project to reflect on the work and process of the elemental beings. To prepare for this, Cory had us spend some time with a plant before lunch and asked us to reflect on the elements around the plant (earth, water, air and fire) and the interaction of these elements. Back in the barn, we now stood around long tables that had been set up with old kitchen fridges for painting on. We each had a sheet of paper to work at and to begin, were told to take a breath in and with this feeling to paint the roots of a plant. A few minutes later, with our masterpieces started, we were told to move to the paper on our right. This time we breathed in, exhaled and then added a leaf to the paper now in-front of us. This process of moving and breathing continued until we had added flowers and then seeds. It was a really neat experience of having to let go after contributing our part to the painting and also to see the unique results at the end! Cory related this to the elemental beings and the lack of control they may feel, while also reflecting on their important role in the transformation process. I think this activity would work well to also discuss community gardening and how the space is realized by the different contributions of many people even though it is not always clear what the final outcome will be.

Later in the afternoon we moved on to the topic of weeds. Cory provided a new way to look at weeds and defined them as “the soils’ insurance policy”. We discussed how weeds are trying to keep the soil covered and to bring about a balance from some unbalanced condition. The majority of weeds apparently react to low humus, making soil quality critical. We focused on the work of E. Pfeiffer, a student of Steiner, from his small book called Weeds & What They Tell. Pfeiffer divides weeds into three categories: acid lovers, crust breakers and cultivation weeds (weeds that come-in if you leave an area, with good soil conditions, bare for too long). It was also mentioned that weeds can often be used as medical herbs to counter imbalances in ourselves.

Part of the reason that the topic of nature spirits and weeds was brought together is because both groups go unrecognized for their contribution to gardening and farming and are often misunderstood.