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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Alan Chadwick and his Biodynamic French Intensive System of Gardening
  • Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 19:46:57 -0500

Thanks very much for sharing this, Greg. I am on Craig Siska's list and
have received many valuable updates, have also bought the two books on
Chadwick that are currently avail. I can say that Chadwick was instrumental
in setting me on my primary path in life, i.e. everything I do revolves
around homesteading, permaculture and natural gardening and farming. I felt
his influence in the early 1970's shortly after I learned what "organic
gardening" meant. I hope we can promote your work and that of everyone
involved with the Alan Chadwick Project in this list, every way possible.

<>
>From your fabulous website:
http://www.alan-chadwick.org/

"In August of 2012, Skip
Kimura<http://www.alan-chadwick.org/html%20pages/personal_memories/kimura_memories/1_kimura_index.html>told
us, "Some of Alan’s students who went on to work in biodynamics — I
don’t know how they feel now — but at the time they felt like they needed
to repudiate Alan in order to be real biodynamic people, which I sort of
thought was silly."

"Silly or not, Skip is right, there has been a schism between Alan Chadwick
followers and adherents of anthroposophical biodynamics for years. *Andrew
Lorand, Ph.D.* <http://www.alan-chadwick.org/html%20pages/forum.html#lorand>,
here address this problem, and offers a cogent argument as to why such an
attitude is unnecessary."
--- this is right on target. You can thank Alan Balliett and his strange
clique for most of this. I am one of many who were "removed" from his
BD-Now mailing list for stating that the list
needed to be managed better and offered useful suggestions for making that
happen, message archives (highly valued and used by most subscribers
especially the old guard BD people) preserved (Alan called the archives "my
little pain in the ass"), paranoia dispelled and changes made to accomodate
the most important posters over the decades many of who were "removed" or
left of their own accord. I understand the spirit of Biodynamics but not
their methods. There are still many who adhere to Chadwick's understanding
and application of Biodynamics principles and those are the people who will
carry the movement well into the future.
There are actually more of them than there are those who have eroded the
movement through narrow mindedness and selfishness, did I say ego too? The
Biodynamics movement will survive in spite of itself. I must say it is the
strangest thing I have ever encountered and is of great value to humanity.
A similar thing can be said about the Permaculture movement; it will
survive in spite of the "profits first" poseurs.

The Pfeiffer Foundation left an indelible impression on me in the 1970's
and that is the image of Biodynamics I will retain, not the one represented
by BD-Now or Demeter. The Biodynamic Association is a first class
organization. I contributed my bit by helping the BDA make the decision to
loan their collection of Journals to the Soil and Health Library for
scanning and mounting online. This did indeed happen. The S&H Library has
since been sold and is maintained by someone in Oz.

Chadwick, ACRES USA, Bargyla Rateaver, Jeavons and Biodynamics were my
primary influences as I launched myself into a lifetime of natural
agriculture, permaculture and homesteading, i.e. back to the land Whole
Earth style to the max. Now I would add Eliot Coleman and much of the
Permaculture literature to the list.
<>

Please keep us posted about your Chadwick work.

Lawrence London


On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Greg Haynes <editor@alan-chadwick.org>wrote:

> To: All with an interest in Alan Chadwick and his Gardening Methods.
>
> In the last few years there has been a renewed interest in Alan Chadwick,
> his
> history, his methods, and his mission in the world. A group of Alan's early
> apprentices have been working together to present our memories of this
> great
> man so that others who never met him can form an idea of what he stood for.
> The website we have created can be found at:
>
> <a href="http://www.alan-chadwick.org";>Alan Chadwick</a>
>
> There are sections on Alan's biography, techniques, reviews of books about
> his
> life, reviews of material on the internet that relates to his work,
> photographs of Alan and his apprentices and his gardens, quotes, recorded
> lectures, and much more.
>
> If you have any material that relates to Alan Chadwick, we would love to
> get
> copies (we don't collect original material). Thanks for your interest.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Greg Haynes
> email: editor@alan-chadwick.org
> http://www.alan-chadwick.org
>
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--
Lawrence F. London
lfljvenaura@gmail.com
http://www.avantgeared.com
https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
Skype: lawrence.f.london




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