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Biodynamics and Permaculture
August 11, 2010
tags: biodynamic, permaculture
by biodynamicsbda
We’ve been getting some questions recently about the relationship
between biodynamics and permaculture and how they may overlap. Mark
Shepard, who will be talking about these synergies during one of our
National Conference workshops, gave us a brief overview…with caveats, of
course, that this is a complex topic not easily boiled down into a
soundbite!
The 2010 Biodynamic National Conference is less than two months away and
momentum is growing! Check out all the details on our conference page.
We hope to see you there!
"According to Rudolf Steiner, one of the stated goals for farmers
to create is an independent farm individuality — a self-reliant farm
organism. Steiner gave several exercises for people to undertake so that
they would be able to perceive invisible forces and begin to work with
them. He also stated that each farm entity had to discover and design
into the farm, the proper proportions of meadows and forests, thickets,
brush, streams, and ponds, and to discover the proper kinds and
quantities of livestock to have on the farm. When this goal is
accomplished, the farm will become a closed-loop, self-sustaining
individual entity. In my workshop we will go over all this with
footnotes, exercises, and references etc.
Permaculture (Permanent Agriculture/Permanent Culture) is a design
methodology whereby human beings consciously create their own
self-sustaining habitat that, (according to Bill Mollison, the
movement’s founder) is ecologically sound and economically profitable.
Permaculture relies heavily on observation of nature. Everywhere in the
universe there are observable patterns. The patterns of nature reveal
functions and invisible forces that are at work. Understanding the
invisible forces is done via the patterns that they leave in the
material world. These patterns can then be imitated in our farm and
garden design in order to manifest those forces and functions naturally
without expensive, external inputs.
My opinion is that all biodynamic farmers, if they stick with it
and really dive deep to understand Steiner’s Agriculture Lectures and
really (not just on paper, workshops, or blogs) strive to create a
self-sustaining farm individuality in reality on planet earth, they will
eventually find themselves farming in what can be called a Permaculture
system — an ecologically sound, economically profitable farm
individuality with the proper proportions of meadows and woods,
thickets, streams, forests, and livestock.
This little statement is hardly a definition either of Biodynamics
or Permaculture, but it indicates what we’ll be discussing in my
presentation."
[permaculture] Biodynamics and Permaculture « Biodynamics Blog,
Lawrence F. London, Jr., 08/11/2010