Biodynamic Field Day in Review

I spent the day reviewing video I shot at Biodynamic Field Day, an educational event sponsored by Washington State University. I can't wait to do the editing and share some of the clips. I have to do some troubleshooting at the Apple Store and have a Final Cut Pro training session, again. I captured a few stunning images and some usable footage of the great information and thoughts that were shared through out the day.


Here are some reflections on the the day inspired by watching the video:

Barry Lia demonstrated how to stir the biodynamic preparations into vats of water to make solutions using a ritualistic stirring practice. You mix the preparation by stirring a vat of water using a long stick. You stir in one direction until you create a vortex in the water that reaches to the bottom of the vat and you keep stirring and keep stirring and keep stirring for several minutes. Then, you "break the water" by moving the stick perpendicular to the flow of the water. It's quite lovely to observe and hear and is a physical workout. What captivated me was the sound associated with the stirring and the fact that so many of the students wanted to try it. You can hear/see an example of this stirring on the contacts page of my website (here); I'll post another clip of it when I edit the four hours of footage I shot. Don't even try to see the video unless you have a high-speed Internet connection and even then, you have to be patient...but it is worth it, I think.  

The digging of the horns was an exotic new experience for all of us in the crowd. I wonder about how the first person thought to fill cow horns with manure, bury them, dig them up months later, harvest the manure from the horns, recognize the it is in a transformed state, then, make a solution from it and apply it to dirt or crops.  (There is a picture of the digging of the horns in the slideshow of Biodynamic Field day in the right column of this blog.) 

I'm passionate about the aesthetic experience and beauty of farm scenes and realize that I'm as interested in a purely visual ethnography as I am in the ethnography of farming lifestyles. Documenting changes in farm life over time through pictures. Yep. There is so much change. Farms scenes change over minute and long periods of time, from moment-to-moment as the light changes, from day-to-day as crops grow, from season-to-season as crops grow from seed to maturity and decay, as rivers rise and flood the land and recede, year-to-year as crops are rotated and from generation to generation as farm lands change hands. And that's all we see in our lifetimes. What we don't see are the inter-generational changes except in stories and photographs, drawings and paintings.

Intellectual integrity of farmers - assume no lack of education, intellectual maturity, creative talent and fortitude among farmers. They are orchestra conductors conducting a piece of improvisational music that lasts for years.

Spirituality in farming - people working together is a beautiful thing no matter what the circumstance, nature, beautiful of course but when collective work and nature join forces, human passion and work are directed to the preservation of life and and you see a collective outpouring of love and care for  dirt, plants, animals and earth now and forever into the future, that work and the aesthetic experience of living and observing it, can and does for some, be spiritual. It was this sprirtual aspect of biodynamic farming that several of the "students" came to learn about and experience. Biodynamic Field Day did not disappoint in this regard.  Come back another day for video that will show you what I mean.