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Your first BTL of 2017
Australia-wide, we’ve just endured possibly the hottest and most variable January weather in living memory, and somewhere it has been said, since records have been kept.
Despite this, wherever biodynamics is being practised, gardens are noticeably flourishing and productive, crops are still being grown successfully, and cows are still lactating. The BAA garden is no exception, and right through the summer there has been a succession of tasty vegetables for the staff to take home each week, and salads to have with lunch each workday.
Nevertheless such hot weather is extremely stressful for plants grown in the open, and the wilting of many each day is a very sad sight. Unfortunately, many of our favoured vegetables which we often try to grow through the scorching Australian summer are species well and truly out of their cool/temperate provenance. Examples are lettuce, endive, rocket, coriander, brassicas generally, including the kales, and potatoes, which originated in the cold high elevations of the South American Altiplano!
Growing such species without shade devices to shield them from excessive summer heat is mostly a recipe for disaster, although clever design can provide natural shade from taller adjacent plants.
However there are always the heat lovers to focus on: sweet corn, climbing beans, pumpkins and melons, tomatoes etc. These thrive in the heat if given enough water.
A tip for getting some of your more ‘delicate’ plants through extremely hot days is to spray them around mid-morning with diluted mulberry leaf tea and two drops of Dr Bach’s Rescue Remedy per spray load. Click the link below for the mulberry tea recipe and directions.
Mulberry Tea Recipe and Directions
Small to medium garden, 500 – 1000 square metres
Loosely fill a 10 litre bucket with torn fresh mulberry leaves. Pour over them and fill the bucket with boiling water. Stir occasionally to aid infusion while hot. Leave to cool and further infuse overnight. Drain off liquid and use diluted 1:15, spraying over plants early to mid-morning. Rates: 1 litre tea to 15 litres water; 1 cup (250ml)/4 litres. Coverage: 600ml/100square metres; 6 litres/1000 square metres – generally speaking, spray to wet the leaves thoroughly.
Unused tea can be stored for some weeks in airtight containers. Lidded glass jars or clear plastic containers are best because you can see if or when the tea ferments. The tea would then need to be discarded.
Larger areas – orchard, vineyard, market garden etc.
Pour 30 to 50 litres boiling water over 5kg or more of fresh, preferably torn, mulberry leaves in a 200 litre drum. Stir while hot to aid infusion. When cool, add remaining water to fill drum and leave to further infuse overnight. Dilute at 1:15 before spraying out at the rate of 6 litres/hectare.
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 Bees, bees, bees
The nectar and pollen just keep coming without pause in this Mid North Coast part of NSW. As a result we’ve had continuous colony build and honey harvesting for well over a year. The only rest for the bees is the occasional rainy day, but they have been few and far between, and the dry conditions seem to have stimulated greater and more prolonged flowering of the numerous tree species in and around Bellingen. Each of the four in our little beekeeping group run at least two hives, and Glenys and I run three.
The colonies are enormous at this stage – all are at least 3 stories (supers) high, and with a queen excluder on top of the second super, their capacity to breed without undue restriction is great. The bearding in the picture is typical of our hives this summer. It’s what the colony has to do to prevent the brood inside the nest from overheating on hot days. Luckily all our hives are shaded from high sun, but if this were not the case I think the combs in the top super would melt on the occasional 40+ degree day.
With such enormous numbers of bees per colony, working them is a big deal. We try to stay on top of things, such as the swarming impulse, by inspecting the brood chamber for queen cells every fortnight, but it has not been possible to maintain this at times, and swarms have escaped. Taking off honey regularly to prevent colonies building comb in lids and completely blocking every space with honey has been an ongoing labour of love. Removing honey and thus making room for them to store more is to a limited extent part of our swarm control. The two Flowhives owned by one of our group are quite amazing. Gwenda has turned the tap on them a number of times already, and the amount of honey issuing forth into her jars has been prodigious.
Unfortunately one queen was narrow enough to get through the queen excluder and laid eggs in the Flowhive comb. To Gwenda’s dismay she found out what had happened only when larvae started coming out mixed with the honey she was tapping. You can well imagine that a complex series of hive manipulations were necessary to sort out this problem. Beekeeping even on a small scale is quite challenging, especially when conditions for honey and brood production are optimal. Glenys, Alan, Gwenda and I are gradually becoming urban beekeeping veterans
John Hodgkinson
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Preferred dates for biodynamic sprays in Summer / Autumn 2017
Sequential spraying to encourage rain – buy a Drought Breaker Kit.
In case of a prolonged dry spell try a sequential spray when the Moon is in a water sign and preferably near Full Moon.
Sequential spray dates for Summer / Autumn 2017
- February 9th -11th
- March 8th - 10th , 14th - 20th
- April 4th - 6th , 14th - 16th
Moon opposition Saturn dates for spraying out biodynamic preparations (Eastern Australian Standard Time)
- 7th February at 8.53am
- 6th March at 5.48pm
- 3rd April at 12.42am
Moon Descending periods – an alternative soil spraying time, when the Moon’s influences are working below the earth in the soil:
- February 1st - 8th, 22nd - 28th
- March 1st - 7th, 21st - 31st
- April 17th - 30th
Moon Ascending period – an alternative time to spray out the atmospheric preparations when the Moons influence is more above the soil:
- February 8th - 22nd
- March 7th - 21st
- April 3rd - 17th
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Sprayer for sale
Goldacres spray unit, professionally adapted by Agrimac in Ballarat to use the BD spray nozzles. It tows behind a ride-on mower and is powered by the mower’s battery.
This sprayer has had little use and has been used only for BD preparations and seaweed brew.
Price: $700 ono
Located at Lenswood, South Australia
Jo Curkpatrick
E: joc245@bigpond.com
T: 0419 882 608
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Flow forms for sale
Set of three fibreglass Vortex flow forms mounted on galvanised frame, for portability
1600mm long 1300mm high 950mm wide
Includes 190 slightly used cow horns
Located Blue Mountains NSW
Email: dsalkeld88@gmail.com
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Research question: Seed germination
After 5+ years of hearing mutterings and rumours I have started to focus and listen more carefully and ask a few questions. I am now confident the issue requires more eyes, ears and observations. If my concerns are more widely confirmed I suggest we will need to develop an appropriate response.
What I am picking up is that even experienced/passionate biodynamic and organic growers are reporting greater challenges with seed germination and plant development. Seeds are not germinating like they should, if at all.
My request is that anyone experiencing, noticing or hearing of germination problems contact me with whatever details they can provide. If my observations and concerns are more widely confirmed I will look at what might be an appropriate next step to study the phenomenon in more detail.
To start the process please send me:
- Plant variety
- Date or season sown (spring 2016)
- Location
- Soil type and any history of that land
- Observed outcome
- Your own explanation to yourself for such an outcome
- Contact details
- Any other comment
Please send to: hamishmackay@biodynamics2024.com.au
If this question interests you, see p40 of the Agriculture Course (Gardner edition). I had hoped, and expected, that what Steiner was referring to might be some time off - beyond my lifetime anyway - thus giving us time to adapt/evolve.
I am now concerned it might be much sooner and without the luxury of time. I do think we have some farmers who have the spiritual scientific knowledge and experiential wisdom they could apply to the challenge. I am also hoping to draw on some First Nation skills also.
I look forward, with some trepidation, to your responses and thank you in advance.
Hamish Mackay
11 January, 2017
0412 862 8123
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 Biodynamic nutrition and gardening courses
Run by the Biodynamics in Community Group in Warranwood Vic
Sessions in 2017:
16th February – 30th March
27th April – 22nd June
20th July – 7th September
Click here to go to their website
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Subsidised access to Women’s Leadership Events available
Women & Leadership Australia are currently offering 20 Biodynamic Agriculture Australia members the opportunity to attend the 2017 Australian Women’s Leadership Symposium for $400 off the standard rate.
The Symposium provides women a critically important platform to explore leadership, life and career development. They will take place in all capital cities across Australia later this year.
To take advantage of the discount:
1.Simply go tohttp://www.wla-symposium.com.au/2017events.html
2.Select which city you would like to attend
3.Click ‘Tickets Available Here’
4.Enter your First Name, Last Name and Email Address, then click ‘Next’
5.Enter your Company, Title, Work Phone and type in ‘Biodynamic Agriculture Australia’ when answering the question ‘How did you find out about this event?’, then click ‘Next’
6.Click ‘Finished Adding People’
7.Enter Discount CodeASC2017and click ‘Apply’ to get the $400 discount off the standard rate
8.Complete your Payment Method, tick ‘I agree to the Terms and Conditions’, click ‘Finish’ and your confirmation will then be emailed to you.
Only twenty Symposium seats are available at this rate. For further information about the Symposium, simply go to http://www.wla-symposium.com.au/.
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