Once considered a radical fringe movement, biodynamic agriculture has gained worldwide acceptance and the C-Dar Biodynamic Society in the Paradise Valley is again offering a series of free talks every Monday to people eager to learn about the alternative method of soil management.
"When I went to school in the 50s, only very strange people would be involved in biodynamics," said C-Dar Biodynamic Society CEO Ferdinand Vondruska. "Now huge farms in Australia with 10,000 hectares - where they spray by plane - the preparations are involved. There are 40,000 biodynamic farmers in India alone."
Founded in Europe in the 20s, biodynamics is a holistic approach to agriculture, gardening and forest care that involves applying specific herbal remedies, or preparations, to soil for the renewal and maintenance of soil fertility and the production of high quality, nutritious organic food.
"When the First World War was raging, of course, enormous damage was done to the soil and forests and to the cities, and then came all the fertilized production," Vondruska said.
Vondruska grew up in Switzerland where he was exposed to the biodynamic movement early in life through his schooling in the Waldorf education system.
"I've been in Waldorf and biodynamics since I was a kid. I'm 68," he said. "When I was 27, I really became totally convinced this [biodynamics] is, as far as I knew at that time, the only way to really heal the soil."
In 1970, Vondruska established Vancouver's first Waldorf school in the Horseshoe Bay area "for my daughter" and went on to open the C-Dar centre in the Paradise Valley in 1985. It now attracts 3,500 visitors a year.
"You have not as high an output in biodynamics as in chemical, but in biodynamics you can do it forever," he said. "They have done it now for 70 to 80 years on the same land and you have good production. The chemical farms have collapsed in the meantime, so that's what I teach in the south."
Vondruska teaches mainly in Mexico but also throughout Central and South America in such countries as Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala and Honduras.
"In the south where the soil is so destroyed, I teach at universities," he said, "and they know that they have come to the end of their tether, there is something new has to be done."
The talks take place free of charge on Mondays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at C-Dar Lodge in Paradise Valley (fifth entrance to the left after the gravel road). They will cover the use of preparations for combating radiation from Japan's nuclear accident and other topics such as the latest earthquakes, climatic changes, chemical fertilizers and their consequences, GMOs, the petrification of garden soils and the loss of soil fertility, compost making, the biodynamic gardening methods, and the biodynamic preparations in general.
A seven-day intensive Bio-Dynamic Spring Course for participants who wish to learn more in-depth about the biodynamic preparations and principles will run from April 25 to May 1.
Those interested are welcome to attend the opening day and decide whether to stay and participate in the entire course.
To register, or for more information on the talks and upcoming course, call (604) 898-9101 or visit www.cdarbiodynamic.org.
