Biodynamic glossary

The Agriculture Course (GA 327) is the series of lectures Rudolf Steiner gave at Koberwitz in 1924: eight lectures that form the founding text of biodynamic agriculture.

Anthroposophy is the spiritual science founded by Rudolf Steiner. It is the philosophical foundation of biodynamic agriculture.

How and when the biodynamic preparations go onto soil, plants and compost: time of day, season, quantities and equipment.

Maria Thun’s barrel compost is a prepared cow manure compost with basalt rock dust, eggshells and the compost preparations, used to guide decomposition in the soil and in surface composting.

The oldest branch of organic farming, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1924: the farm as a living organism, with its own cycles and the biodynamic preparations.

After Rudolf Steiner, pioneers such as Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Maria Thun and Peter Proctor shaped biodynamic practice, and authors such as Wistinghausen, Masson and Stappung documented it.

The heart of biodynamic farming: nine preparations, numbered 500 to 508, applied to soil, compost and plants in very small, highly diluted amounts.

How scientific is biodynamics? An honest look at the evidence, the DOK long-term trial and the charge of esotericism, between proven benefits of the system and disputed assumptions.

The second compost preparation: flowers of true chamomile, matured in cattle intestine and buried over winter.

Six biodynamic preparations, numbered 502 to 507, that are worked into compost and manure and steer decomposition.

The cow horn is the sheath in which horn manure and horn silica mature in the soil. Horns from cows that have calved several times are used; horns from bulls and steers are unsuitable.

The fifth compost preparation: dandelion flowers, sewn into cattle mesentery and buried over winter.

The trademark for biodynamic produce and the oldest organic farming association, named after the Greek goddess of agriculture.

Demeter certification confirms that a farm works biodynamically. It requires a conversion period of several years and an annual inspection, and builds on EU organic certification.

The hour of rhythmic stirring in water, alternating vortex and chaos, that prepares horn manure and horn silica for spraying.

The guiding image of biodynamic agriculture: the farm understood as one living organism that produces what it needs from within itself.

The biodynamic preparations that are stirred in water and sprayed over soil or plants: horn manure 500, horn silica 501 and horsetail 508.

Crop rotation, green manure and mechanical weed control are the arable basics of a biodynamic farm beyond the preparations, laid down in the Demeter standards.

The most important soil preparation in biodynamics: cow manure, transformed in a cow horn over winter, stirred and sprayed onto the soil in the evening.

The light preparation of biodynamics: finely ground quartz, transformed in a cow horn over summer and sprayed onto the plants in the morning.

A special case among the preparations: field horsetail, boiled as a tea or decoction and sprayed preventively against fungal pressure.

Horsetail tea (also called horsetail decoction) is a boiled extract of field horsetail (508). Its high silica content is used to keep fungal pressure on soil and plants in check preventively.

The question comes up regularly, mostly because of the anthroposophical roots and the unusual preparations. The factual answer is no, but the question has understandable reasons.

Manure is the central farmyard fertiliser of a biodynamic farm. Cow, horse, goat and chicken manure each have their own properties; stable manure, solid manure and slurry are the basic forms of storage.

Nettle liquid manure is a fermented water extract of stinging nettle. Fresh, it is used against aphids; fermented and diluted, it is a strengthening plant extract rich in nitrogen and iron.

The fourth compost preparation: crumbled oak bark, matured in the skull of a domestic animal under running rain and snow water.

EU organic, Bioland, Naturland and Demeter at a glance: EU organic is the legal minimum, the associations go further, and Demeter is the only one with compulsory work with the preparations.

Quartz (rock crystal) is the mineral starting material of horn silica (501). Finely ground, it offers a large surface that interacts with light, the basis of the biodynamic light preparation.

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) founded anthroposophy. With the Agriculture Course of 1924 he started biodynamic agriculture and laid the foundation it still rests on.

The third compost preparation and the only one without an animal casing: the whole flowering nettle, surrounded by peat, a full year in the soil.

Biodynamic preparations are stored cool, frost-free and surrounded by peat or coconut fibre, which keeps them moist and stable. Horn silica, by contrast, is kept dry and in the light.

The sixth and only liquid compost preparation: fermented juice of valerian flowers, sprayed over the prepared compost.

The first compost preparation: yarrow flowers, matured in a red deer bladder, hung in the sun over summer and buried over winter.