I want to share a deeper understanding of my work at White Rose Farm, developed over the last sixteen years. I always wanted a farm. My father and his mother also had this deep longing. He chose this farm in 1965, bought it and built a house planning to retire here. My mother would not leave her hometown, so the farm was rented. When she died, I inherited a quarter interest in it. Two years later in 2004, I bought the farm and started a new chapter in my life—as a farmer.

Within a year, I met Hugh Lovel, an international biodynamic consultant, at a workshop. Impressed that I could learn from him, I bought and read his book, A Biodynamic Farm. I then read most of the books he referenced. The next year, I invited him to my farm. Subsequently, I took a year's training course in biodynamics at the Pfeiffer Center in New York. I studied biodynamics intensively.

The approach, initiated by Rudolf Steiner in a series of lectures in Poland in 1924, requires a radical shift in consciousness. Steiner created a grand image: plants were affected by the whole cosmos, not just the soil. T o understand why a needle on a compass points north, he said, you imagine that magnetic North Pole. Now imagine that life flows from invisible, spiritual realms, into form and then back into spirit: what we see as a plant is a manifestation of a deeper idea made visible. He encouraged farmers to develop their farms as individual living organisms—creating lively space for healthy plants, animals, farmers and their communities.

Recently, I read a series of lectures by Enzo Nastati, a world-class biodynamic farmer based in Italy. Nastati explains that plants grow in a complex energy field created by the Earth, Sun, Moon, planets and the constellations of the Zodiac. Biodynamic farmers spray special preparations to activate and strengthen that field—BD 500 helps the plants connect with the earth; BD 501 helps the plants lift toward the heavens. Seven additional preparations help the plants connect with the planets. When a farm becomes a living organism, the plants can feel the influence of the constellations of the Zodiac.

Nastati explains that when one uses chemicals on one's soil, the connection to the heavens is severed. Then the plants must seek nutrients only from the Earth. When the organic matter in the soil drops to less than two percent, the plants are no longer influenced by the Moon. The land and the environment become degraded, as does the produce that comes from it. The process is similar in humans: as we get healthier, we get more complex, more lively, and more sensitive to the world inside and around us.

Steiner shared an even deeper awareness that points to the heart of biodynamics. He said that the most important event in world history was what he called the “Mystery of Golgotha.” Most Christians know it as “when Christ died on the cross.” Steiner said that when the blood of Christ Jesus fell to the Earth, the energy field of the Earth was transformed. Other spiritual leaders have said that the Christ spirit went to the center of the earth and is now actually rising from the Earth.

Biodynamic practice supports that rising energy. We are the midwives who, through our conscious practice, bring this new energy into form. Nastati is working to restore the vitality of land and of seeds, work made necessary by modern agricultural practice, hybridization and genetic modification.

His skill is more advanced than mine, and he and Steiner can sense dynamics that are beyond my knowing. Nevertheless, here on the farm, I feel the power of love rising in the land. I want to support its power as it flows through me, through this land and through those who visit. I celebrate the miracle of life and rejoice (re-joy-ce) that I can participate in restoring love as the basis of life on this planet. To life! To life! L'chaim. l'chaim, l'chaim, to life!