Rave reviews for our wildly successful and enjoyable 6th Annual MELA Conference on Triple Bottom Line. So much of value & inspiration from our speakers and roundtables, hopefully appearing on our website soon, but for now, a little focus on biodynamics.
Our keynote speaker, Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun (a self-defined "Recovering Politician"), spoke with moving & memorable depth about her path to creating Ambassador Organics. Her company provides fair-trade, organic, biodynamic coffee, tea and spices. This last may be unfamiliar to many, though for me (who has been seeing a homeopathic MD for decades), it is a term that resonates. What does "biodynamic" mean and why is it relevant?
Biodynamics is a system for organic farming that not only takes the soil into account but treats the system holistically. Wikipedia has a useful description of this method that was initiated in the early 20th century by the amazing Renaissance man, Rudolf Steiner. One remarkable community that has been practicing these methods with astonishing results since the 1960s is Findhorn in Scotland. On land that was originally rocky with meager soil, they now grow veggies the size of Hummers! Although I doubt anybody in that Eco Community would drive one.
Some similar methods have been employed in the Guatemalan mountain community of Papal where (as the new Earthways link for AFOPADI's sustainable agriculture & reforesting project) I witnessed this gorgeous cabbage patch at 10,000 ft. in October 2007.
During my previous trip to AFOPADI, I received a much-coveted book in Spanish, published in Nicaragua, that documents how the lunar calendar affects agriculture & animal husbandry...guess my husband can rest content if this is what I consider sexy. He'll know where to find me on a full moon: picking ripe fruit in the orchard. On that note: for years, a friend's husband has been devoted to his family-run organic apple orchard. Ela Orchard in Rochester, Wisconsin is renowned at the Madison Farmer's Market. Over twenty years ago, I still remember heading there to visit and being asked to help pick dandelions at a specific time of the day for use in the compost...a Steiner technique. Not for the literally-minded.
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