Yesterday everyone went up the hill and planted more trees. There is always more. Native and polynesian introduced species, with a glyricidia and narra NFT nurse crop were installed in good weather and good spirits. There were fun games played as everyone kept busy. It is such rewarding work to do, and at the end of the day makes me feel good to see the accomplishment that many hands make.
At around 4 pm we stirred the 500. Some cleaned the windows on the barn while we took turns stirring the biodynamic prep for the farm. For an hour, we stir it to create a vortex in the water, and then once it gets going create chaos in the barrel by switching directions. About 3 times a minute the direction of the stir changes direction. Then the prep is loaded in the pto driven pump mounted on the back of “Zeus,” our John Deere 5420 tractor. One load covers about 12-14 acres.
Today, two people stayed down in the nursery and cleaned plants that are going to another nursery in Hana. The rest of the crew went up to the planting to finish mulching and interplanting with NFTs. Ryan had a good week putting the Mule back together, replacing a hydraulic hose on the Kubota L5450, changing the blades on the chipper, replacing a high pressure power steering hose on the Dodge 3500, and fixing Jade’s car. What a tremendous week to be alive and to be doing good work on our blessed Earth.
Archive for the 'biodynamic' Category
Planting 500
We started the day off to Michael’s first breakfast consisting of baked eggs with bean dip, salsa, avocado, savory oatmeal, papaya, banana, mate, and turmeric tea. It was a good way for the crew to start their day in the garden. They spread compost, weeded the paths, and pulled out the old broccoli patch, planted string beans and soybeans. In the greenhouse, they started some cucumbers, eggplant, cilantro and tomatoes. According to the biodynamic calendar it is a “fruit” day. Rich borrowed one of the guys to pour the footers for the storage container as well. In the afternoon, Rich and Ryan were able to pour the footer for the pad under the solar batteries with two mixes in the cement mixer. We did get a little rain today which is always nice. All in all it was a good day on the farm. Aloha.
501 and chickens
This morning we all gathered at 5 am, before sunrise, to prepare our 501 biodynamic prep. 501 is made from quartz silica packed into a cow’s horn and buried during the summer months. After its unearthed, we stir it in water for an hour, like the 500 a few weeks ago, and spray it throughout the farm. 501 is a great anti-fungal and helps enhance flowering and fruit set, but it can also promote seeding so it’s important to avoid spraying crops like lettuce.
After breakfast, we then went to collect some more chickens, to add to our eleven hens already at the farm. Most were pretty easy to catch; the hard work was breaking down their enclosures and packing them up to bring over here.
500
Yesterday evening we were lucky enough to work with one of the main preps for biodynamic agriculture: 500. 500 is made by filling a cow horn with manure and burying it for 6 months from autumn to spring. Once the manure has composted, you remove the material and stir it in water for an hour before shaking it onto the soil with leaves during early evening. 500 a homeopathic remedy for the land.
We all also noticed that our hands were surprisingly soft after stirring the 500. Some have said that the preps help heal people, in addition to the soil.
All photos © 2010 Dan Bloch
Biodynamic Agriculture
Last night we shared dinner with Jason Harris, also known as Buffaloboy, of the Josephine Porter Institute. Biodynamics is a philosophy introduced by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, before organic was a word associated with food or farming. You can read more about the philosophy and techinques here and here. Since we’re a biodynamic farm (the only biodynamic bamboo farm we know of), Jason wanted to come see how we incorporate biodynamic techniques into our work.
He also graciosuly told us his own story of how he became involved in biodynamics, starting with his own Cree upbringing, learning traditional healing with his grandfather, and moving on to studying with Hugh Courtney at JPI. Jason explained that he’d like to turn all of Maui into a biodynamic ecosystem within a year – a lofty goal, but one that we think he could accomplish.
