The Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association purpose is to foster knowledge of the practices and principles of the biodynamic method of agriculture, horticulture, and forestry in the North American continent and to advance the applications of this method through educational activities such as research, lectures, conferences and through issuing and distributing literature on the biodynamic methods, the establishment of information, research and demonstration farming and gardening centers; developing and making available biodynamic compost preparations; and providing consultation and extension services to farmers, gardeners, and foresters.
The Institute for Biodynamic Research
The Institute for Biodynamic Research is the oldest private research institute on organic and biodynamic farming in Europe.
Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Inc.
The mission of the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics is to heal the earth through production of quality biodynamic preparations, and to advance education and research in biodynamic agriculture.
An additional great resource for this particular approach to Organic & Sustainable Gardening and Farming :
http://www.biodynamics.com/catalog/1/book_list
INTRODUCTION TO BIO-DYNAMIC CONCEPTS - BIO-DYNAMIC COMPOSTS, THE KEY TO EVERYTHING [in the biodynamic approach:
"What is compost? Composting is a way to give back to the earth what it gave us, and to recycle organic materials into "Humus, the Health and Wealth of the Earth", as the great soil specialist of last century, Andre Birre, put it -- This was the title of his seminal book.
BIODYNAMIC COMPOST: This is the most fundamental element when using bio-dynamic approaches, the sine-qua-non input, since if there is no bio-dynamic compost, no bio-dynamic agriculture is possible. The best source for it we know of in the United States is without doubt Jack McAndrew. His website is still in contruction but already has great information available, including a reprint from a 1952 article about the efforts of pioneer Dr Ehrenfried Pfeiffer.
Mr McAndrew is the only person you can buy any substantial amount of genuine biodynamic compost from in the Western United States. Mr McAndrew apprenticed with the best mentors of the past. Here is how his web site starts:
"I have been interested in sustainable agriculture, organic and functional foods, and biodynamic farming and gardening for over 65 years now. I had the best mentors in the field, such as Peter Dukich, Harris Porter, Erica Sabarth and Margrit Selke, who had themselves apprenticed in the art with Dr Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, who, in turn along people such as Viktor Schauberger, André Birre and André Voisin, had in one way or another worked directly with Rudolf Steiner during the formative years of bio-dynamic agriculture, from 1919 to Steiner's death in 1925.
As unfortunately Peter Dukich, Harris Porter, Erica Sabarth, and Marrit Selke are no more with us today, there is no one left for me to learn from anymore, except experience working with Earth, the Living Planet itself. But, on the other hand, I feel I am starting to really understand compost and the forces at play during composting.
My mentors died at respectable ages, though, an average age of 96.5, and that because of Harris Porter who left us at 83 only, otherwise, the average age of the other ones would be close to 102. It definitely appears that biodynamic agriculture is good for us ... a fact that was well illustrated in Chernobyl, where the only farm fields that did not die off near the epicenter of the nuclear catastrophe were the fields of the local bio-dynamic farm."
THE PREPARATION OF BIO-DYNAMIC COMPOSTS : "To give you an idea of the complexity of the preparation of biodynamic compost, which forms the base of the often incredible results you can get with it, here is an excerpt of a specialized document about it..."
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