Gardeners who like the idea of growing vegetables flavoured with the goodness of the rich earth, seasoned with a little ancient mysticism, and governed by the moon may find a great deal of enjoyment from biodynamic farming.

The very first step in learning how to grow biodynamic vegetable is, of course, to learn what biodynamic agriculture is and biodynamic gardening tip in the first place. It’s truly a splendid adventure and its beginnings go all the way back to the land of ancient Babylon.

Biodynamic agriculture relies on the belief that a farm is actually one, giant, self-sustaining organism that contains the ingredients to ensure its own health and prosperity.

In other words, the soil is fed by the plants and animals occupying the farm. The soil feeds the plants, which, in turn, feed the animals, which feed the soil, and so on and on. The sun, the rain, and any ground water all work together to induce chemical processes that keep the nutrient cycle flowing.

The cycles of the moon contribute, too. Plants grown for what they produce above ground are planted when the moon is waxing, or growing larger. Plants valued for what happens under ground, such as potatoes, turnips, and carrots, thrive when planted when the moon is getting smaller, during its waning cycle.

Biodynamic agriculture conceives of the farm as an organism, a self-contained entity with its own individuality. "Emphasis is placed on the integration of crops and livestock, recycling of nutrients, maintenance of soil, and the health and well being of crops and animals; the farmer too is part of the whole". Cover crops, green manures and crop rotations are used extensively.

	NEW! Complete Biodynamic Vegetable & Herb Garden Collection. A complete collection of biodynamic goodness to start your own vegetable and herb garden, ideal for the small scale gardener. $25.99
	Biodynamic Kitchen Herb Garden Collection. Here is a choice mixture of some tasty kitchen herbs that can be grown biodynamically for extra taste and flavour. All of these are grown in the traditional Biodynamic way. $9.99
	Biodynamic Nantaise Carrots, Pelleted. A sweet crunchy small cored carrot considered to be on of the finest by Swiss growers. $3.25
	Biodynamic Erste Ernte Spinach. A firm leaved, crunchy, crisp spiniach that holds great flavour. $3.25
	Biodynamic Bush Bean, Weinlanderin. A Heirloom Swiss bean with unequaled fresh bean aroma and distinct flavor. Ideal for freezing, drying or eating fresh! $3.25
	Biodynamic Beet, Rote Kugel. An extra sweet and tender swiss beet, stores well for months. $3.25
	Biodynamic Radish, Sora A delightful high quality radish, grows large without going spongy. $3.25
	Biodynamic Pea, Blauschokker. A sweet and tasty pea, will add interest to your biodynamic garden. $3.25
	Biodynamic Cabbage, Wadenswiler Sauerkraut Perfect white cabbage for making sauerkraut. $3.25
	Biodynamic Spinach, Giant Winter. Highly flavored, cold tolerant spinach sown in late summer or fall for early spring crop. $3.25
	Biodynamic Corn, Golden Bantam. Classic corn flavor. Standard for open pollinated. $3.25
	Biodynamic Lettuce, Miners. This succulent lettuce helped guard the miners in the gold rush from getting scurvy, rich and nutritious lettuce! $3.25
	Biodynamic Herb, Cumin. The cumin has effective and very strong stimulant properties; it is also a potent anti-spasmodic herb, as well as having carminative effects. The carminative powers of the cumin was highly regarded by the older herbalists, they preferred it over the fennel or caraway herbs. Herbalist of the present time however, prefer other herbs for human use as the cumin has a very disagreeable flavor, it is used as a carminative herb only in veterinary practice these days. $3.25
	Biodynamic Valerian. Valerian is a medicinal herb that is taken to relieve restlessness and anxiety and to treat insomnia. Valerian is a traditional herbal sleep remedy that has been studied with a variety of methodologic designs using multiple dosages and preparations. Research has focused on subjective evaluations of sleep patterns, particularly sleep latency, and study populations have primarily consisted of self-described poor sleepers. $3.25

Biodynamic agriculture has focused on open pollination of seeds (permitting farmers to grow their own seed) and the development of locally adapted varieties. The seed stock is not controlled by large, multinational seed companies

Compost preparations 

Compost preparations, used for preparing compost, employ herbs which are frequently used in medicinal remedies:

• 502: Yarrow blossoms (Achillea millefolium) are stuffed into urinary bladders from Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), placed in the sun during summer, buried in earth during winter and retrieved in the spring.
• 503: Chamomile blossoms (Matricaria recutita) are stuffed into small intestines from cattle buried in humus-rich earth in the autumn and retrieved in the spring.
• 504: Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) plants in full bloom are stuffed together underground surrounded on all sides by peat for a year.
• 505: Oakbark (Quercus robur) is chopped in small pieces, placed inside the skull of a domesticated animal, surrounded by peat and buried in earth in a place where lots of rain water runs past.
• 506: Dandelion flowers (Taraxacum officinale) is stuffed into the peritoneum of cattle and buried in earth during winter and retrieved in the spring.
• 507: Valerian flowers (Valeriana officinalis) are extracted into water.
• 508: Horsetail (Equisetum)

Six medicinal herbs – yarrow, chamomile, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion, valerian, and horsetail – are instrumental to the production of biodynamic compost.

Yarrow blossoms must be stuffed into the urinary bladder of a red deer. The bladder must be left in the sun all summer, buried during the winter, and dug back up in the spring before it is allowed to be a part of the concoction sprinkled over the compost heap.

Chamomile flowers stuffed into the intestines of a cow are handled similarly although on a different seasonal schedule.

The other herbs are used in specific ways and schedules, too. Once all the ingredients have ”aged” appropriately, they are combined with water and either stirred into a brewing compost heap or they are sprinkled along the top of it.

To enhance the mineral quality of the soil, fresh cow manure mixed with ground quartz needs to be stuffed into cow horns, which are then buried at carefully prescribed intervals along the ground at the right phase of the moon.

The horns are left buried for several seasons, depending upon the exact mixture with which the horn is stuffed. Once dug up after fermentation in the soil, the contents of the horn are mixed with water, whirled in different directions every other minute for an hour, and then sprayed throughout the garden.

Field preparations

Field preparations, for stimulating humus formation:

• 500: (horn-manure) a humus mixture prepared by filling the horn of a cow with cow manure and burying it in the ground (40–60 cm below the surface) in the autumn. It is left to decompose during the winter and recovered for use the following spring.
• 501: Crushed powdered quartz prepared by stuffing it into a horn of a cow and buried into the ground in spring and taken out in autumn. It can be mixed with 500 but usually prepared on its own (mixture of 1 tablespoon of quartz powder to 250 liters of water) The mixture is sprayed under very low pressure over the crop during the wet season, in an attempt to prevent fungal diseases. It should be sprayed on an overcast day or early in the morning to prevent burning of the leaves.

Both 500 and 501 are used on fields by stirring about one teaspoon of the contents of a horn in 40–60 liters of water for an hour and whirling it in different directions every second minute. Although some biodynamic beliefs refer to buried quartz "fermenting", a 2004 review commented that it is unclear what this actually means, as rock does not ferment