Valerian preparation 507

What is the valerian preparation (507)?

The valerian preparation (507) is the sixth and last of the compost preparations and the only liquid one: a fermented extract of the flowers of common valerian (Valeriana officinalis). Highly diluted, it is sprayed over the finished, prepared compost or manure. In the biodynamic understanding it stimulates the manure to behave "in the right way" towards phosphorus substance and, according to a widespread tradition, lays a "sheath of warmth" over the manure pile.

In the ensemble of six preparations, valerian comes last: while the five solid preparations (502 to 506) are placed inside, valerian is spread over the surface at the end, the "warming" cloak of the series.

Valerian as a plant

Common valerian is a perennial that flowers in June in floodplains, at damp woodland edges, along ditches and on spring-fed slopes. From the broad, red-green rosette of leaves a hollow, grooved, angular flower stem quickly shoots up to two metres and forms a cluster of white to violet-white tubular flowers with a sweet, sticky, characteristically scented nectar that attracts many insects. It prefers semi-shade and damp, calcareous ground, spreads by rhizomes and seed, and often moves its site after a few years.

Biodynamically, valerian is regarded as a "warmth plant": the warmth gathered in the flower head and the well-known calming root extract are both read as the expression of a warmth process connected with phosphorus (in adenosine triphosphate, phosphorus is involved in taking up and releasing energy). This entry is about the plant's role in the preparation, not about health claims for people.

Steiner's description in the Agriculture Course

In the fifth lecture of the Agriculture Course, Steiner added valerian as the sixth remedy: "If one then makes the further effort, before using the manure prepared in this way, of pressing out the flowers of Valeriana officinalis, valerian, and diluting what is pressed out very strongly … then, by giving this diluted juice of the valerian flower to the manure in a very fine way, one can call forth in it especially what stimulates it to behave in the right way towards what is called phosphorus substance." Only with these "six ingredients" (yarrow, chamomile, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion and valerian) can "a quite excellent manure" be made from liquid manure, farmyard manure or compost.

Making it step by step

Harvesting the flowers. Collect the freshly opened flower heads in the morning; leave some standing at each site for the insects. Larger quantities must not stay long in the collecting container because they heat up quickly.

Obtaining the juice. Chop or grind the flowers finely and press them to obtain the pure flower juice, for example with a mincer, a juicer attachment or a fruit press. Alternatively, spray the flowers with a little rain or well water, leave them overnight and press them the next day. The pressed residue, soaked for a day and pressed again, gives a usable second quality.

Letting it ferment. Strain the green to coffee-brown juice, fill it into bottles or glass flasks and close them with a rubber cap or fermentation lock: gases must be able to escape, but no air may get in. Keeping air out encourages the desired fermentation. Only after about six weeks is the vessel closed tightly (corking it straight away could burst it with fermentation gases). The ripe juice should be brownish-red (like coffee) and smell strong, harmonious, fruity and slightly sour, not rotten or like liquid manure.

Care. If a layer of film yeast forms on top and a putrefying sediment below, pour the contents without the sediment through a fine sieve into a fresh vessel and close it tightly. Vessels that have turned putrid are not destroyed but added to a birch pit, compost, manure passage or slurry pit; the preparation remains effective. Wistinghausen notes that putrefaction can often be avoided (from experience not checked statistically) by avoiding leaf days and preferring flower days when picking and processing (see root, leaf, flower and fruit days).

Storage

Store the valerian preparation in closed glass vessels in a dark room, cool, dry and frost-free. It gains in maturity with storage and can be used for several years as long as it keeps its scent. Unlike the solid compost preparations, which are stored in peat, valerian stays in the dark bottle (see storing the preparations).

Quantities

For a farm of 20 to 30 ha, about 2 to 3 kg of fresh valerian flowers are enough, which give about one litre of juice when pressed. A finished portion measures 2 to 3 cm³, a little more than the solid compost preparations. One set of the six preparations contains 1 cm³ of each of the five solid ones plus 2 cm³ of valerian.

Effect in the compost

According to Steiner, the diluted valerian juice stimulates the manure to behave correctly towards phosphorus substance. In the biodynamic tradition, 507 is regarded as the "warmth preparation": sprayed over the manure pile, it gives it a protective sheath of warmth and promotes soil life, including earthworms; it is also credited with a frost-protecting effect, for example during fruit blossom. These functional assignments (phosphorus, warmth) are a biodynamic view, not a chemical analysis of effects.

Use

Valerian is used to complete the work with the preparations: highly diluted (with warm water), stirred briefly and sprayed over the prepared compost, manure pile or slurry, for example with a watering can, a twig broom or a knapsack sprayer. It completes the five solid preparations into the full series. Beyond manure care, diluted valerian is sometimes also sprayed directly in spring and during fruit blossom as an impulse of warmth and frost protection.

In context

Steiner's reasoning (the connection to phosphorus) and the interpretation as warmth come from the spiritual-scientific world view and biodynamic tradition respectively and are presented here as original concepts, not as scientifically established effects. Medicinal effects of valerian for people are not the subject of this entry. For Demeter farms, using the compost preparations is compulsory (see Demeter certification).