Biodynamics Now! Investigative Farming and Restorative Nutrition Podcast

What if you created a system of agriculture that solved many of today's problems around nutrition and farming and it was being destroyed by the very same degenerated food system it was seeking to replace?

Community supported agriculture is a social movement that arose in the US in the late 1980s because people recognized a need to produce healthy, clean, safe, ecologically sound and spiritually energized - foods while caring appropriately for  the environment. It was clear then as it is today that agriculture within the pressures of the  current economic system is subject to so many degrading economic forces that it is incapable of producing foods that provided the nutrients necessary for proper human health and development. While there are larger issues at stake when children (and adults)  are developing with only a fraction of the nutrition required to reach their full potential,  we can see these nutritional short comings in increasing rates of cancers, allergies and intestinal problems. In addition,  the environmental impact of extractive agriculture is seen everywhere. 

The ecological movement and the biodynamic movement in particular sought to find models of farming that would allow small and medium sized farmers to produce the highest quality foods with traditional "unbusinesslike" methods of farming  without the fear of bankruptcy. In other words a successful socio-economic mode. around food and farming. In the beginning, CSAs were without question organic and, usually, biodynamic, contributing substantially to the health of their members through minimizing toxicity and maximizing nutrition of the foods provided.

CSA was a simple but profound model in which cooperation between a farmer and the people who would eat what he produced assured clean, nutritious foods for the consumers, a guaranteed, if small, income for the artisan farmer, appropriate husbandry of soil, plants and livestock, as well as the peripheral benefits of providing  access to the land for the children of member families, habitat that promoted and supported biodiversity as well as , in the early years, providing an example that farming without chemicals could actually work. In other words, CSA provided much more than 'a bag of produce every week for the growing season.

Steven McFadden has pointed out that CSA farms in the USA are so popular that they have grown from 2 in 1988 to 8500 in 2013. Unfortunately, not many of the CSAs in the 2013 figure even try to address the values that made CSA so important to the future of local food and  farming in the beginning. 

One of the great short comings of the CSA nationally was the failure for its leaders to provide at least a minimal definition of CSA, instead promoting the open minded foolishness that "the wonderful thing about CSA is there is no definition." Really? Nothing as simple as 'A group of consumers coming around a farmer and a piece of land to tend to the land in every way appropriate while producing the highest quality food for the community and a dependable living wage for the farmer"? 

A whole raft of 'produce delivery' schemes have arisen, all of them using the term "CSA" to market under, which, apparently, was defined as 'a box or bag of produce once a week." There's a farm outside of Baltimore that sells 800 CSA shares off from 2 acres of land and, then, if you can believe it, wholesales shares to a retailer in Rockville who, with no farm and nor farmer, has posed as a "CSA" in for many years. (This really became distasteful two years ago when the source farm dropped 'organic' from its description (because the produce was coming from a general commercial produce auction) but the reseller in Rockville continued to offer that same commercial produce as "organic" "CSA" shares.) 

Even more insidious are the aggregators, the ones that have pulled many farms together to compete against the many family farms that until recently have been making a reliable living with traditional CSAs. A major reason that the CSA arrangement is necessary for keeping  small organic farms viable is that small farms cannot produce enough 'product' to qualify as suppliers for commercial retail organic food stores. They are too small to enter the marketplace (never mind how the wholesale returns for doing so would most likely degrade their ability or willingness to properly care for their land). Now we have 'co-operatives' of dozens of organic farms that were assembled by corporate organic specialists for the noble task of  providing the wholesale markets with local food but instead have turned onto the CSA marketplace since their return price-per-pound is much higher if the get "CSA retail" rather than wholesale.  So, keep in mind that these cooperatives have access to markets but have chosen to compete with small farmers in a system that was initially designed to support small local biological farming. To me, this has all the ethics of upper class bullies stealing the lunch money of younger students simply because they are able to do it. Worse in this case, because these co-ops are profitable, the very sustainable ag organizations that should be pulling them out of inappropriate competition with small farmers aid and abet them in their efforts. 

Another really sad thing has happened. If you want to enter the CSA marketplace for no more reason than to make money, you can call yourself a CSA, source your produce from anywhere, and use any of the web-based CSA advertising platforms - - that the CSA movement either developed or the brilliant intentions of the original CSA movement inspired others to create- -to advertise your fake CSA without fear of restriction.

Jean-Paul has told me in private conversation that the original CSA movement need not fear these commercialized intruders in the CSA movement because 'we will beat them on price and, more importantly, we will beat them on flavor.' Jean-Paul is right but Jean-Paul's farm has deep pockets and can suffer a season or two of reduced income. Most of the small farms in the original CSA movement have never been able to look more than a season ahead, unfortunately. 

It is true, two of the biggest commercial aggregators in the DC area have folded. Unfortunately, so have a number of small CSAs that have been established for years. On the national level, great CSAs like Angelic Organics are selling to the whole sale market for the first time ever, their CSA share sales reduced some 30% by so-called competition

Which reminds me: it certainly can be said that there weren't lots of farmers markets back in 1988 when CSA started and now they are everywhere on almost every day. That's true but, at least in this area, few of the market stands are organic and even fewer offer as many benefits, short and long term, as CSA offers for dollars spent on food. For those who cannot be motivated by principle, only by dollars-and-cents, most CSA's provide a season of organic produce and appropriate land management for much less than the same food, perhaps not organic, perhaps not grown in a deeply sustainable fashion, will cost at farmers markets.

Here's a pretty standard definition of CSA (from the now defunct Wilson College CSA center):

CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between local farmers and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover the production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a weekly share of the harvest during the local growing season. The arrangement guarantees the farmer financial support and enables many small- to moderate-scale organic and/or bio-intensive family farms to remain in business. Ultimately, CSA programs create "agriculture-supported communities" where members receive a wide variety of foods harvested at their peak of freshness, ripeness, flavor, vitamin and mineral content. 

The goals of Community Supported Agriculture support a sustainable agriculture system which . . .provides farmers with direct outlets for farm products and ensures fair compensation.

• encourages proper land stewardship by supporting farmers in transition toward low or no chemical inputs and utilization of energy saving technologies.

•  strengthens local economies by keeping food dollars in local communities.

•  directly links farmers with the community- allowing people to have a personal connection with their food and the land on which it was produced.

• makes nutritious, affordable, wholesome foods accessible and widely available to community members.

•  creates an atmosphere for learning about non-conventional agricultural, animal husbandry, and alternative energy systems not only to the farmers and their apprentices, but also to members of the community, to educators from many fields of study, and to students of all ages.

One fact also to consider, organic food produced within local communities is not the same as organic food transported over long distances. When members obtain food from local farmers, environmental costs associated with the transport, processing and distribution of organic food and the consumption of fossil fuels are significantly reduced. Considering that the organic food available to members was produced locally rather than transported over long distances, the cost to the environment is significantly less.

Today's program, "The Future of CSA," addresses many of these issues.

Our guest this evening is author and social visionary Richard K. Moore.

Richard is an American expat who escaped from a successful Silicon Valley career to Wexford Ireland where he spends his time communicating to the world through several blogs and websites about how We the People can organize into a truly democratic and sustainable new society in the face of the hyper-capitalism that is destroying our health and well-being on every level.

I first became aware of Richard's work  through his article Escaping the Matrix, which appeared  in Steward Brand's The Whole Earth Review back in 1999. Using the metaphor of "the red pill" from the movie The Matrix, Richard opened my eyes to the deceit that passes as 'the official truth' in the mainstream media and our daily lives. 1999 was a much simpler time. SInce 911 it's not uncommon for even popular tv shows to accept that we cannot trust our government. In 1999, even after the revalations of the Pentagon Papers or The People's History books, though, it wasn't quite as common. Richard simply and clearly exposed how corporations use taxpayers dollars and the military powers of our government to forward imperialistic programs around the globe for the benefit of their own bottom lines. It doesn't matter to corporate planners how many trillions of dollars are spent to support access to oil or other commodities if the expenses are shouldered by the taxpayers and don't cost them anything at all, probably not even taxes on their own income.

Richard has expanded on this essay and the resulting book, Escaping the Matrix,  is available at his website. There's a link at the show note at bdnow.org

What's unique about Richard's writing is that he doesn't dwell on exposing the lies we live in. He's more interested in helping to create a more perfect social structure and a society that is both democratic and Earth friendly.

We only touch the surface of Richard's work in this interview. Richard is more than happy to submit himself to further discussions on the BD Now! podcast. Please leave any questions you have for him at bdnow.org and we'll incorporate them in later interviews (but I wouldn't be surprised if he answered questions through the blog in the meantime) Richard is also interested in doing a 'live' program. If you are interested in taking part in such a program in the future, please let me know through the bdnow.org site.

I just want to remind you that show notes for this podcast are at bdnow.org. If you have any questions that arise from this interview with Richard K Moore, please use the 'reply' section of the show notes to leave a question. I  make an effort to answer every question. If I can't answer you question, I'll ask Richard  to address it. 

Also, if you feel these programs for a Better World are worthwhile, please take the the time to leave a positive comment about the bdnow podcast at iTunes or at the show notes at bdnow.org. Leaving positive comments at the bdnow page on iTunes itself is the best way to assure the longevity of this podcast.

This podcast is free but I feel that each episode contains a lot of valuable information. There are definite expenses involved in producing this podcast. We don't receive any outside funding, so it would be great if the progressive community would work with us in offsetting these expenses.

The most painless way to do this is by making your Amazon book purchases through the bdnow.org website. This is done by clicking on any of the books that you would like to purchase that are pictured at the various show notes. If you click from bdnow.org into amazon.com, anything you purchase during that visit to Amazon will accrue a small commission to bdnow.org. Once you leave Amazon, the link that produces a commission for bdnow drops off. So whenever you are going to purchase from Amazon and want to allow this podcast a small commission (at no cost to you), please go back to bdnow.org and link through to Amazon again.  Thank you!

The secret to avoiding calcium-related osteoporosis and atherosclerosis

While millions of people take calcium and Vitamin D supplements thinking they're helping their bones, the truth is, without the addition of Vitamin K2, such a health regimen could prove dangerous. Without Vitamin K2, the body cannot direct calcium to the bones where it's needed; instead, the calcium resides in soft tissue (like the arteries)—leading to a combination of osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, or the dreaded "calcium paradox." This is the first book to reveal how universal a Vitamin K2 deficiency is, and the risk (in the form of cancer and diabetes, among other ailments) the absence of Vitamin K2 poses.

Written by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, a popular health expert on Canadian television and radio, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox sounds a warning about the popularity of the calcium and Vitamin D craze, while illustrating the enormous health benefits of Vitamin K2 in making the body less susceptible to dental cavities, heart disease, prostate cancer, liver cancer, diabetes, wrinkles, obesity, varicose veins, and other ailments.

The book demystifies this obscure supernutrient—a fat soluble vitamin that humans once thrived on, ignored by scientists for almost seventy years

An essential book for anyone interested in bone health, or maintaining their overall health, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox is the guide to taking the right combination of supplements—and adding Vitamin K2 to a daily regimen.

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life

Are you taking calcium or vitamin D? This news could save your life. Millions of people take calcium and vitamin D supplements for bone health, but recent research shows that this can actually increase the risk of heart attack and stroke as the added calcium builds up in arteries.

Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life is the revealing new book that explains the secret to keeping bones strong and arteries clear with vitamin K2, a little-known super-nutrient that humans once thrived on and that has been ignored by scientists for almost 70 years.

Written by Dr. Kate Rhéaume-Bleue, a popular health expert on Canadian television and radio, Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox sounds a warning about the popularity of the calcium and vitamin D craze while illustrating the enormous health benefits of vitamin K2 in making the body less susceptible to osteoporosis, heart disease, prostate cancer, liver cancer, diabetes, wrinkles, obesity, varicose veins, and other ailments.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1: The Calcium Paradox 1

Why you need to read this book, whether or not you take calcium supplements 4

Osteoporosis: Calcium deficiency 5

Atherosclerosis: Calcium excess 8

Why vitamin D won't save us from the Calcium Paradox 10

How vitamin K2 comes to the rescue 12

The calcium cycle of life 18

We all need more: Vitamin K2 deficiency is widespread 19

Chapter 2: The Undiscovery and Rediscovery of Vitamin K2 23

A brief history of vitamin K: A tale of two nutrients 24

The mysterious activator X 27

Finally understanding vitamin K2 after 70 years: What it is and isn't 39

Vitamin K1: Greens and clotting 41

Vitamin K1 deficiency is rare and obvious 43

Vitamin K2: Animal fat and calcium metabolism 44

Vitamin K2 deficiency is common and invisible 45

Vitamin K2: A new essential nutrient 47

Chapter 3 – How Much Vitamin K2 Do We Need, and How Do We Get It? 49

The lack of vitamin K2 in our diet: What went wrong? 50

The grass-fed vitamin 53

The pastured egg hunt 56

Ghee and butter oil from grass-fed cows 61

Yet another reason to avoid trans fat 63

Two types of vitamin K2 65

Natto, the slimy superfood 69

Recommended vitamin K2 intake 74

Vitamin K2 from supplements 76

Vitamin K2: Friend or foe of blood-thinning medications? 80

Chapter 4: Vitamin K2: The Ultimate Antiaging Vitamin 85

The triage theory of aging 86

Vitamin K2 for heart health 89

Rethinking cholesterol 90

Atherosclerosis: Plaque accumulation 92

What really causes heart disease? 95

Vitamin K2 trumps K1 for heart health 96

You can reverse heart disease 97

How much is enough? 100

Even more evidence for vitamin K2 and heart health 100

Vitamin D deficiency: Another risk factor for cardiovascular disease 102

Vitamin K2: Building better bones 102

The renovation of you 103

Calcium alone is not enough 104

Vitamin K2: The missing link for bone health 106

Testing for your vitamin K2 levels 109

Vitamin K2 for Alzheimer's disease 110

Vitamin K2 for wrinkle prevention 114

The way we were 115

Vitamin K2 for healthy veins 117

Aging well with vitamin K2 119

Chapter 5: Even More Health Benefits of Vitamin K2 121

Vitamin K2 for diabetes 122

Vitamin K2 for arthritis 126

K2 for brain and neurologic health 127

Vitamin K2 for cancer prevention 129

Vitamin K2 for kidney disease 137

Vitamin K2 for fertility 138

Vitamin K2 for normal facial development 140

Vitamin K2 for easier labor 147

Vitamin K2 for strong bones 150

Vitamin K2 for dental health 151

Anatomy of a tooth 152

Chapter 6: Measuring Your Vitamin K2 Levels 161

Undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC) tests 163

Bone density scanning 168

Tracking your plaque 172

Chapter 7: Vitamins K2, A and D: Better Together 181

A, D and K2: A balancing act 182

Understanding vitamin A 185

Understanding vitamin D 204

Are vitamins A and D hormones? 219

What about vitamin E? 221

Chapter 8: Toward a New Definition of Nutritious 225

Defining a healthy diet 229

A whole grain of truth 230

Calcium and magnesium 233

Endnotes 237

Index 267

ALL IN THIS TEA

Crusading American tea importer David Lee Hoffman supports China's endangered organic farmers by searching out fine, chemical-free teas for sale to the American quality tea market, a market of Mr Hoffman's creation.

Mr. Hoffman, who has been called the Indiana Jones of tea, may be the ultimate do-it-yourselfer. But the county has issues with the 30 or so structures he has built over the years.

"My love of the planet is greater than my fear of the law" David Lee Hoffman

He's been called "The Indiana Jones of Tea" by nothing less than The New York Times, more accurately, though, he's the best candidate I've seen for the title of "The Worlds Most Interesting Man." 

Here's just a few of his qualifications for that title:

As a young man, invented a unique sonic cleaning system for cleaning valueable ancient textiles, artifacts and fine art that is used to this day by major museums

Spent over 10 years as a consciencous objecter wandering over 100 countries

He was amongst the first Americans to visit the remote Tibetan kingdom of Dolpo.

In the early 1960s, Hoffman befriended the Dalai Lama while living in Dharamshala, India. Several Tibetan monks have contributed to the construction and creation of Hoffman's eastern-inspired sustainable research center in Lagunitas, California, which he calls "The Last Resort".[1]

Met and became a friend of  His Holiness, the Dali Lama while living in Dharamshala, India

Started the first quality tea companies in America and pretty much started the modern Tea Movement in the US, single handed finding quality artisinal organic teas in remote areas of China (well before China loosened up), importating them in the US and then conducting 'tea tastings' across the country promoting knowledge of team among Americans and awakening many of today's tea gurus to the wonders of quality tea

He became known in China as the “the American Pu-erh Tea King"

Sold his tea company and started growing heirloom grains and doing artisinal baking. 

Started a new tea company for which he hunts for teas, imports and sell wholesale and direct over the internet

 He is the subject of filmmaker Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht’s 2007 documentary All In This Tea

 As an architect he designed and continues to build THE LAST RESORT, an environmental model of sustainable and harmonious living that attempts to assimilate both natural methods from the past with modern know-how to create a living system that effectively demonstrates possibilities of thriving in a non-polluting healthy environment. Its mission is to discover and perfect practical low-cost sustainable methods for waste management, water re-use, and food security.

 Was trained by acrobats from Circques Sole on how to safely install tiles on the highest roof 

  Several Tibetan monks  contributed to the construction and creation of "The Last Resort"

  Probably the the most interesting: Marin County wants over $200,000 from David Lee Hoffman right now to pay for 40 years of failing to get permits for his projects - - or licensing for his tea businesses

Mark Shepard is an agriforester and permaculturist He founded and manages Forest Agriculture Enterprises and runs New Forest Farm an 106-acre commercial scale perrennial agricultural ecosystem that was converted  to a self suffecient food forest from a row-crop annual grain farm.

Trained in mechanical enigineering and ecology, Mark has combined these two passions to develop equpment and processes for the cultivation, harvesting and processing of forest-derived agricultural products for human foods and biofuel. Mark is a certified permacultlure designer  who took his training directly from permaculture founder Bill Mollison .  As a student of Mollison, Mark brings a robust masculinty into his permaculture work, working with the larger patterns of the land rather than focusing on the rather dainty features that are often put  forward  by American permies.

Mark teaches agroforestry and permacluture around the world. He lives with his family in Richland County Wisconsin Mark is the author of Restoration Agriculture, Real World Permaculture for Farmers which was published by ACRES USA this past year. It's a remarkable work of agricultural writing, one that I hope everyone will make the time to read in the near future.  You can pick up a copy from Amazon through the show notes at www.bdnow.org

I want to thanks Anders Skarlin bdnow and Steve Diver of bdnow and agri-synthesis.com for submitting questions for Mark that made this conversation more valuable for everyone. 

As usual, if you'd like to hear more of these podcasts, please take the time to leave a positive comment at bdnow.org or at the bdnow podcast page at itunes which you can link to through the show notes at bdnow.org

Around the globe most people get their calories from annual agriculture - plants that grow fast for one season, produce lots of seeds, then die. Every single human society that has relied on annual crops for staple foods has collapsed. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and many other needs - in your own backyard, farm or ranch. This book, based on real-world practices, presents an alternative to the agriculture system of eradication and offers exciting hope for our future.

Peg Shafer and Jean Giblette are two of the most important Asian Medicianal herb growers and teacher in North America

Peg Schafer is the author of the  wonderful Chelsea Green book The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm: A Cultivator's Guide to Small-Scale Organic Herb Production Including chapters on cultivation as well as herb quality, conservation, and medicinal use. Pegs website .chinesemedicinalherbfarm.com is full of resource links for herbalists and horticulturists. (in fact there a link to  a complete course in medicinal herb production taught by Peg and Jean through the University of New Mexico and it's free!)

Jean Giblette is a medicinal plant grower, an Asian medicinal plant conservationist, a teacher, an investigator in Chinese medicinal plant production research, and contributor to Mending the Web of Life: Chinese Medicine and Species Conservation. She can be reached at www.highfallsgardens.net.

The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm

It has become increasingly important-especially as the market for herbal medicine continues to grow-that we transition to local and domestic medicinal cultivation. Increasingly there are concerns in regards to not only the quality but the purity of imported herbs, and wild herbs picked for medicinal purposes are ever more endangered than in past years both at home and abroad.

Peg Schafer, longtime grower and teacher, guides readers with information on propagating, cultivating, and harvesting Chinese herbs, and presents fascinating new scientific data that reveal the age-old wisdom of nature and the traditional systems of Chinese medicine. Through 79 detailed herb profiles--all tested and trialed on Schafer's certified organic farm-Schafer offers easy-to-follow information, suitable for both growers and practitioners, for growing efficacious wild-simulated herbs. Also included is important information on species conservation, crop integration, and how to avoid the introduction of invasive species. Sidebars on traditional medicinal uses for each herb and delicious recipes are also featured throughout.

Vegetable and CSA farmers will find this book of great interest for adding value-added crops to their repertoire, and beginner growers looking to incorporate medicinals into their gardens will find this an invaluable guide to understanding where herbal medicine comes from, and will make eating-your-medicine more accessible than ever.

Peg Shafer and Jean Giblette are two of the most important Asian Medicianal herb growers and teacher in North America

Peg Schafer is the author of the  wonderful Chelsea Green book The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm: A Cultivator's Guide to Small-Scale Organic Herb Production Including chapters on cultivation as well as herb quality, conservation, and medicinal use. Pegs website .chinesemedicinalherbfarm.com is full of resource links for herbalists and horticulturists. (in fact there a link to  a complete course in medicinal herb production taught by Peg and Jean through the University of New Mexico and it's free!)

Jean Giblette is a medicinal plant grower, an Asian medicinal plant conservationist, a teacher, an investigator in Chinese medicinal plant production research, and contributor to Mending the Web of Life: Chinese Medicine and Species Conservation. She can be reached at www.highfallsgardens.net.

The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm

It has become increasingly important-especially as the market for herbal medicine continues to grow-that we transition to local and domestic medicinal cultivation. Increasingly there are concerns in regards to not only the quality but the purity of imported herbs, and wild herbs picked for medicinal purposes are ever more endangered than in past years both at home and abroad.

Peg Schafer, longtime grower and teacher, guides readers with information on propagating, cultivating, and harvesting Chinese herbs, and presents fascinating new scientific data that reveal the age-old wisdom of nature and the traditional systems of Chinese medicine. Through 79 detailed herb profiles--all tested and trialed on Schafer's certified organic farm-Schafer offers easy-to-follow information, suitable for both growers and practitioners, for growing efficacious wild-simulated herbs. Also included is important information on species conservation, crop integration, and how to avoid the introduction of invasive species. Sidebars on traditional medicinal uses for each herb and delicious recipes are also featured throughout.

Vegetable and CSA farmers will find this book of great interest for adding value-added crops to their repertoire, and beginner growers looking to incorporate medicinals into their gardens will find this an invaluable guide to understanding where herbal medicine comes from, and will make eating-your-medicine more accessible than ever.

Paul Jaminet, Ph.D., was an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Paul’s experience overcoming a chronic illness led the Jaminets to develop the views of aging and disease presented in Perfect Health Diet.

Suffering from chronic illness and unable to get satisfactory results from doctors, husband and wife scientists Paul and Shou-Ching Jaminet took an intensely personal interest in health and nutrition. They embarked on five years of rigorous research. What they found changed their lives— and the lives of thousands of their readers.

In Perfect Health Diet, the Jaminets explain in layman’s terms how anyone can regain health and lose weight by optimizing nutrition, detoxifying the diet, and supporting healthy immune function. They show how toxic, nutrient-poor diets sabotage health, and how on a healthy diet, diseases often spontaneously resolve.

Perfect Health Diet tells you exactly how to optimize health and make weight loss effortless with a clear, balanced, and scientifically proven plan to change the way you eat—and feel—forever!

Alan Chadwick was a brilliant master gardener, a visionary, and an extraordinary source of inspiration for many horticulture students and professional gardeners, past and present. Through those who worked with him, and the constant stream of luminaries, writers, practitioners, and students who visited his magical gardens, Chadwick influenced an entire generation of American gardeners, whether directly or indirectly. In his fertile, productive gardens, Chadwick proved that by following his methods, yields of four to six times the U.S. commercial average for fruits, vegetables, and grains could be achieved, using one-eighth of the water, a quarter of the fertilizer, and one-hundredth of the energy per pound of food produced.

To Chadwick, gardening was in part a spiritual endeavor: an element in the quest for the inner sense of man, a means of shedding light on a vision of creation and nature. He was fascinated by the mystery of nature and the power of its cycles; he saw nature essentially as a giver and forgiver, and he battled constantly to defend it against man's predilection for dominating it. Chadwick saw the garden as our true home and as the ultimate teacher of human culture, and he strove to make his gardens as beautiful, functional, and sustainable as possible. (from www.seedsofchange.com/cutting_edge/alan_chadwick.aspx)

But Alan Chadwick was far more than an accomplished horticulturist. He taught, prodded, cajoled, and berated his many students until they became competent, authentic, and creative human beings; or at least that was his goal for them, as he would settle for nothing less. As Allen Kalpin, a long-time Chadwick apprentice, once said, "He was a gardener of souls." 

Biodynamic viticulture consultant Alan York, a student of Chadwick's, said this about him, ""Alan Chadwick's gift, I believe, was not so much as a gardener as a storyteller. His storytelling was so skillful that he could create magic with words. This magic allowed those who worked with him to experience things that were still in the future, such as the building of a garden. Weaving his spell, Chadwick created vivid pictures that empowered us to visualize just what a garden could be. He always told us that it is the garden that makes the gardener, and not the other way around. It should be a place of reflection, he would say, where we can once again know that feeling of Paradise and recreate a modern Garden of Eden."

"For those who were fortunate enough to know him," concludes York, "his legacy will always live on because he captured our imaginations and gave us practical skills to turn our dreams into the reality of our lives."

We came to Rob Dunn and his astounding book through Dr Al Kapuler’s (See BDNow! Podcast episode 3) enthusiastic recommendations. Dr Dunn makes it pretty clear that our bodies are ‘who we are’ and our minds are ‘who we think we are.’ While our minds have evolved to live in the 21st century, our bodies are pretty much stuck at the point they were in evolution before the neolithic, before civilization. Our mind’s recent requirement for ‘cleanliness’ is denying our old fashion bodies of many of the synergies we co-evolved with. Dr. Kapuler was very impressed by how Dr Dunn explains that our ancestors’ experiences with saber-toothed tigers still colors our psyche and explains much of our current foreign policy. Dr Dunn’s explanations on how a host of modern ailments, such as Chrone’s disease and many allergies, are probably due to the absence of parasites in our bowels. More to the point, he encourages us to “re-Wild” our insides for better health and performance here in the sterilized and monocropped 21st century.
from the publisher:
A biologist shows the influence of wild species on our well-being and the world and how nature still clings to us—and always will.

We evolved in a wilderness of parasites, mutualists, and pathogens, but we no longer see ourselves as being part of nature and the broader community of life. In the name of progress and clean living, we scrub much of nature off our bodies and try to remove whole kinds of life—parasites, bacteria, mutualists, and predators—to allow ourselves to live free of wild danger. Nature, in this new world, is the landscape outside, a kind of living painting that is pleasant to contemplate but nice to have escaped.

The truth, though, according to biologist Rob Dunn, is that while “clean living” has benefited us in some ways, it has also made us sicker in others. We are trapped in bodies that evolved to deal with the dependable presence of hundreds of other species. As Dunn reveals, our modern disconnect from the web of life has resulted in unprecedented effects that immunologists, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and other scientists are only beginning to understand. Diabetes, autism, allergies, many anxiety disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even tooth, jaw, and vision problems are increasingly plaguing bodies that have been removed from the ecological context in which they existed for millennia.

In this eye-opening, thoroughly researched, and well-reasoned book, Dunn considers the crossroads at which we find ourselves. Through the stories of visionaries, Dunn argues that we can create a richer nature, one in which we choose to surround ourselves with species that benefit us, not just those that, despite us, survive.

Rob Dunn is an assistant professor in the department of zoology at the North Carolina State University, as well as an up-and-coming science popularizer. His work appears in Natural History, Scientific American, BBC Wildlife, and Seed magazines. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.