Biodynamic Gardening Report 45—March 27 to April 2, 2015 

Farmer Ralph Johnson and I reflect on the appearance of the composted cow manure we observed him burying in his field six months before on the Autumnal Equinox. We also discuss the ridiculousness of a “food writer” for Grist.org—an “environmental” website promoting “green” lifestyle choices—minimizing the threats of carcinogenic glyphosate. In our opinion, “food” produced with highly toxic chemicals and increasingly scarce resources that results in a near-lifeless monoculture—that is nothing we want to support. Inform yourself of the provenance of your food (and weed killer) to protect your health, your family, and the farmworkers who cultivate and harvest the veg and fruits that we all consume. Nathanael Johnson: you should do more homework before you blow off this threat: methinks the journalist doth protest too much always in favor of GMO$. 

**Support National Farmworker Awareness Week all year round! Watch Food Chains, a great documentary about tomato pickers advocating and activating for a living wage via the Fair Food Program. 

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 44—March 20-26, 2015  

Happy Vernal Equinox! The days now have enough sunshine for the successful planting of summer veg such as beans and basil. We met out at Jrjohnson Biodynamic Farms to record this episode because that’s where farmer Ralph keeps the tools to grind up the quartz crystals for the cow horn biodynamic preparation that he does at his field each year at the precise moment of the equinox. Had to grind up enough quartz in the pole pounder to fill up the cow horn we’re going to bury at the Spice house soon after the equinox. Do I feel like a witch? No, but it definitely seems unusual to assemble these natural preparations that promise improvements in the health and efficiency of our wanna-be-permaculture yard. We’ll see what happens: stay tuned! 

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 43—March 13-19, 2015

And now for something slightly different, farmer Ralph Johnson visits the coastal Spice House in San Luis Obispo County to give us some feedback on our wanna-be biodynamic garden including recommended compost amendments, crop rotation advice, and advisable complementary (or not) plantings. For example, peas and beans really don't like to grow near each other so the mindful gardener will have a plan for current and future rotations to keep plants happy and healthy. 

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 42—March 6-12, 2015 

In addition to the weekly forecast for gardening by the moon, this week's report includes discussion of biodynamic pest controls that may sound unusual but absolutely achieve results in protecting the garden, field, greenhouse, and vineyard from voracious creatures. "Peppering" the perimeter of one's field with the ashes of a sacrificial gopher works well to keep gophers away from tender plant roots while "smudging" greenhouse plants with smoke retards ants and aphids. Free and effective pest controls? Yes, please.

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 41—February 27-March 5, 2015

After we discuss the report for the coming week and consider the Waldorf school program (Rudolf Steiner inspired), farmer Ralph tells us about his unusual experience this past week as he prepared a large pile of compost-soil to receive the special biodynamic preparations he picked up at EcoFarm. After inserting the cured nettle, oak bark, dandelion, chamomile, yarrow, horsetail, and valerian into the pile, he realized the pile could use some moisture. As soon as he entertained this thought about adding moisture to the pile, it began to rain for 10 minutes. Per weather radar, the cloud was right over his field and nowhere else: pretty weird given we're in the midst of a severe drought. Trippy but true. Does this herald the opening of a vortex that will lead to soil healing? Stay tuned for the growing season to find out.

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 40—February 20-26, 2015 

We’ve got a bone to pick with old Francis Bacon, who is our stand-in for the type of empirical scientist brain that has serious difficulty embracing the unknowable forces at work in the practice of biodynamic agriculture. Just because the scientist can’t figure it out—”junk DNA,” anyone?—doesn’t mean that it’s not happening. It’s not mystical: it’s just cosmic. Even though some of these special preps sound weird, farmer Ralph plans to make test piles of compost with and without the preps so he can track the results. Metrics, baby.

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 39—Feb. 13-19, 2015

After we get the latest report for the coming week from farmer Ralph Johnson of Jrjohnson Biodynamic Farms, we highlight some favorite episodes from the first 10 months of this podcast. Personal favorite episodes for Central Coast Foodie include #5 where we first discuss the cow horn, #12 biodynamic wine tasting tips, #19 Autumnal Equinox recap from the Preparation 500 & 501, #22 where we learned about this farmer's progress from using industrial ag chemicals to biodynamics, #31 toasting the BGR at Morro Rock, and #36 which features our interview with Elizabeth Candelario of Demeter about getting Ralph's farm certified.

>> Visit CCFoodie.Podbean.com/mobile and add our weekly BGR to your smartphone home screen. 

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Biodynamic Gardening Report 38—Feb. 6-12, 2015Recorded at the Thursday night farmers market in San Luis Obispo, this episode of the Biodynamic Gardening Report includes info about optimum days for planting root crops as well as how to discourage aphid-farming ants in the greenhouse. Because we both feel very concerned about the uncontrolled experiment of GMO$ unleashed on the United States population, our podcast will help shed light on this murky biotechnology. From extremely powerful herbicidal sprays to battle ever-evolving super weeds to the ecosystemic deadening of vast fields of monoculture, GMO$ are a terrible idea for our health and our environment.Read More

Biodynamic Gardening Report 37—Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2015When the conditions are right with the full moon happening while the moon travels through an auspicious planting sign like Cancer, biodynamic gardeners can move beyond the confines of the recommended planting types for a particular week and plant just about anything in the garden. It's about mindfulness, not rigidity. Be especially mindful of weirdness as we collectively experience Mercury in Retrograde.Read More

Biodynamic Gardening Report 36—Jan. 23-29, 2015

Farmer Ralph Johnson and I sported MEDIA badges at this year’s EcoFarm, an ecological farming conference at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove. On the last day of this outstanding conference and networking event, we recorded a short interview with Elizabeth Candelario, Co-Director of the Demeter USA biodynamic certification program and President of Stellar Certification Services. Ralph discussed with her how Jrjohnson Biodynamic Farms can become certified biodynamic through Demeter. At EcoFarm, Ralph secured all the preparations required to get his farm certified biodynamic, which he plans to do by next year’s conference.

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