there simply is no argument for such a painstaking approach”.
Example: Trevor Harris encountered a dilemma during the last harvest: “I wanted to pick the perfect time to cut the barley and needed a number of dry days in a row. From the holistic perspective, I would have to start on September 12th because there would have been 3 fruit days in a row, but unfortunately we were hit with heavy rains so didn’t.” This highlights the importance of weather and its precedence over holistic influences at his farm. Biological diversity is stringent but by respecting the land and promoting healthier crops, biodynamics allows a farm to become more sustainable for decades. If the soil is nutrient rich, worms look pinker and fruit taste better, what matters the most = continuing to close our minds or adding a more common sense approach? Science analysis may not prove it
Biodynamic also has a holistic approach that considers the farm as a single organism where everything has an impact on the plants and living beings, including the global forces gravitating around us. Scientifically it has been proven that lunar rhythms influence the movement of masses such as oceans and seas because the pull of the moon is 2.17X greater than that of the sun. Could it also be possible that it affects plants since they are made up of water and sap? Biodynamic farmers take into account the agronomic and meteorological conditions but also consider cosmic rhythms when it comes to decision-making.
Waxing/waning moon phases The waxing phase is the new moon to full moon period which stimulates the aerial part of plants, giving them vitality and better fruit conservation. Full to new moon is the waning phase which is the most favourable time for activating chlorophyll organs such as leaves. Only if the working conditions are favourable and met will the farmer study the astral influences in order to refine his work.
but a farmer can by facts while the whisky geek can by flavours. For thousands of years, farmers have taken into account natural methods, the moon and its rhythms. So biodynamics is not a brand-new concept made up by Rudolf Steiner. He just theorised it. As the islanders from L’Isle-aux- Coudres expressed their convictions so well in Pour la suite du Monde (1962) : “In matters of nature, everything works with the moon which is food for the Earth”. 3
The fact remains: Humanity, from the very beginning, has always been helped by observing nature, considering astral forces and a common sense approach. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.
Constellations Rudolf Steiner, the pioneering father of biodynamics, believes when the moon passes in front of a constellation it could transfer some of that energy to the Earth and living organisms could benefit from the constellation’s characteristics.
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the whisky explorer magazine
WINTER 2024
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