"I think biodynamic farming is the very best way to grow plants," says farmer Sachar Caspi as we stand in the midst of cabbages, onions and broccoli flowers. "It's not only healthy but it' also very economic. I don't use fertilizers or pesticides and I make my own compost."
Sachar learned about biodynamic gardening as part of his curriculum at the agricultural college. "I immediately connected to it, I always looked at biodynamic farming from the farming point of view, and I feel this is the correct way farming should be. It's not just about not using chemicals, it's a lot more than that. Biodynamic looks at the farm as a living whole, where each and every participant has an important role, even the insects. Biodynamics first takes care of the land, if the land is healthy so will the plant be."
Sachar comes from a long line of farmers, his father even his grandfather were farmers. He noticed that organic agriculture rightly wants to halt the devastation caused by humans; however, it has no cure for the ailing Earth.
Biodynamics is a science of life-forces, a recognition of the basic principles at work in nature, and an approach to agriculture which takes these principles into account to bring about balance and healing.
In a very real way, then, Biodynamics is an ongoing path of knowledge rather than an assemblage of methods and techniques.
Biodynamics is based on Rudolf Steiner's anthroposophy work. It's a new approach to science which integrates precise observation of natural phenomena, clear thinking, and knowledge of the spirit. It offers an account of the spiritual history of the Earth as a living being, and describes the evolution of the constitution of humanity and the kingdoms of nature.
"Biodynamics does not look at the plant, it looks at the environment, if the environment is sick so will the plants be. This means if I have a problem with my plants it shows the imbalance in the ground, and that is what needs the attention."
We gain our physical strength from the process of breaking down the food we eat. The more vital our food, the more it stimulates our own activity. Biodynamic farmers aim for quality, and not only quantity. While chemical agriculture has developed short-cuts to quantity by adding soluble minerals to the soil. The plants take these up via water, thus by-passing their natural ability to seek from the soil what is needed for health, vitality and growth. The result is a deadened soil and artificially stimulated growth and decreased life force energy in the plants.
Sachar grows food with a strong connection to a healthy, living soil. The soil itself is treated as a living organism, and it's believed that this vitality supports and affects the quality and health of the plants that grow in it. Therefore, Sachar puts fundamental efforts in to building up stable humus in his soil through composting.
"Plants are just like our body, we breath in millions of viruses and bacteria daily but we do not get sick, our body can fight them. Plants are the same if given them the right environment they can deal with and overcome their illnesses without human intervention."
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Photo by Amir Tidhar
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Plants are utterly open to and formed by influences from the depths of the Earth to the heights of the heavens. Therefore plants should be planted and harvested according the most suitable star constellation for the specific plant.
Sachar claims if plants are seeded correctly than they will benefit the most from the cosmic influences and develop the fastest and the best.
"The light of the sun, moon, planets and stars reaches the plants in regular rhythms," says Sherry Wildfeuer in
An Introduction to Biodynamic Agriculture. "Each contributes to the life, growth and form of the plant. By understanding the gesture and effect of each rhythm, ground preparation, sowing, cultivating and harvesting can be timed to the advantage of the crops raised. Observations of nature - in shade and full sun, in wet and dry areas, on different soils, will yield a more fluid grasp of the elements. So eventually one learns to read the language of nature. And then one can be creative, bringing new emphasis and balance through specific actions."
Sachar doesn't try to follow the anthroposophy work of Steiner, he only uses his principles as guidelines. "I first and foremost am a farmer, I look at plants from the agricultural point of view, than I translate it into biodynamic." He does not despise traditional farming instead he learns from it.
When he decided to growstrawberries first he asked advices from a very experienced traditional farmer, who's been growing strawberries for over 20 years. After learning about all the illnesses, their cause and the traditional treatments, he decided what methods to use on his land to keep his fruits healthy.
"As a biodynamic farmer I always evolve trying to invent newer and newer methods of growing, sometimes it's successful and sometimes it's not. It's a very dynamic way of farming."
In his Agriculture course, Rudolf Steiner posed the ideal of the self-contained farm - that there should be just the right number of animals to provide manure for fertility, and these animals should, in turn, be fed from the farm.
Sachar rescues chickens from slaughter that were kept for their eggs in tinny cages in industrial farms and nurtures them back to life. These chickens than are free to perch and walk around the farm and receive most of their nutrition from healthy greens, while naturally controlling worms and insects around the plants.
Sachar's started his business a year and half ago, hoping to attract his neighbors to buy healthy food for nearly supermarket prices. Since than he grew to deliver his greens from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and even opened his own small shop.
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Photo by Amir Tidhar
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