Nirvana Biodynamics

With its memory of the past And it’s potential for th e future To celebrate Spring I have made this sculpture for the vegetable garden. These seeds, when planted in humus rich soil will bring forth abundant food and sustainable lifestyle so long as you tread gently on our earth, seek to understand the earthly rhythms and your part in the cosmos.

The green manure crop of oats and peas, planted in May has now been returned to the earth. Rather than digging it in I prefer to cut it down. I use a brushcutter with a steel blade this gives a clean sharpe cut and leaves the grass long. By cutting it down the roots are retained in the soil and breakdown very quickly w hile the tops form mulch which protects the soil, holds in the m oisture all of which encourages the earthworms and micro organi sms. It is then treated with biodynamic barrel c ompost (also known as cow pat pit or ccp) This year I developed a home garden method of making th is so all biodynamic home gardeners can have their own supply. To use this I took 20grams of the barrel compost and stirred it (using the usual biodynamic method) in 5 litres of warm water for 20 minutes in the afternoon wh en the earth is breathing in. IN THE VEGIE GARDEN There are still good harvests of cabbage, turnips, carrots, celery, kale , broccoli, mustard greens, lettuce, mache, ...

For most of Adelaide Sprin g is deemed to start on the 1 st of Septe mber but here in the cool Adelaide Hills it does not really arrive till around the equinox. It is very noticeable from the winter solstice that the days are lengthening, the buds start swelling, chooks start their laying season after the moult, the geese and wild birds start nesting. All sig ns that Spring is approaching but not yet here. The soil is cold and the sound of ‘ squish’ comes to mind as the valley struggles to take i n anymore water. The plants are smiling as they know there will be enough moisture to get them comfortably through the coming Summer. Such waterlogging could be a problem but the berries are all planted on raised beds. The weeding needs to be delayed to the end of September e arly October so as not to damage the soil. With the tragic los s of li tt le He be back in May we have finally found a replac ement fox deterrent/poultry guard. .Late August saw the arriv al of our new ‘f...