#88 News Leaf_News Leaf - Biodynamic Agriculture Australia

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Soil Biology and Vitality Nitrogen, which is inert in the atmosphere, is basically restless and elusive. It is most content when sharing its beauty, cleverness and sensitivity with itself. Nitrogen fixing microbes require abundant energy to seduce it away from this narcissism and engage it with hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and sulphur to form proteins and links with minerals. But unless nitrogen is in use, or stored in clay/humus complexes, it goes to waste by volatilizing or leaching. Waste nitrogen suppresses nitrogen fixation, and growers who think they must use nitrogen will find that using it requires more use. Feeding crude nitrogen to the soil foodweb along with humic acids or clay/humus complexes is the safest way to tie it up as amino acids An example of clovers under particularly abundant conditions 24 News Leaf #88 ~ Biodynamic Agriculture Australia Ltd
and minimize its effect on crop complexity, flavour and vitality. From there high production growers should watch closely, leaf testing every three or four weeks, to phase these nitrogen inputs out. The goal is to encourage thriving fixation and protozoal digestion so there is always an abundance of freshly digested amino acids to build the farm’s terroir. Since this is a complex and delicate process, we need to know how to enhance it. Boundaries Life builds up on boundaries and surfaces, both in the plant and in the soil. The greater the habitat, the greater the diversity – which ramps up the synergy where ten plus ten becomes a hundred or more. Sulphur containing amino acids play a key role in this boundary process even though they are not especially plentiful. Sulphur also has an intimate relationship with the transition metals essential for enzymes and hormones, which makes it the premier catalyst of life chemistry. As the ignition key to growth sulphur deficiency holds back all other biological processes. This led Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925), a biochemist way ahead of his time, to group sulphur with hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen as essential for life. Biochemical Sequence Beyond sulphur, the minerals plants need from soils have a certain hierarchy of importance. One thing must work before anything that depends on it can. The earlier deficiencies occur in this sequence the more everything else is affected. For example, silicon provides the capillary action that allows plants to draw water and nutrients from the soil. All biological transport vessels – to say nothing of cell walls and connective tissues – are rich in silicon. Silicon is most stable when it forms four chemical bonds. However, boron, which loves to react with silicon, can only form three bonds. This leaves silicon unsatisfied and seeking a fourth electron partnership. It only takes a small amount of boron to make silicon thirsty for water and electrolytes—which means boron is the key to sap pressure. Without it silicon cannot take up water and nutrients from the soil. Of course, both boron and silicon are essential for plants to take up other nutrients such as calcium and amino acids. Without adequate boron and silicon, the protein chemistry and enzyme activity of the plant – particularly chlorophyll and photosynthesis – will suffer. Furthermore, phosphorous is essential for all energy transfers in both soil and plants, from soaking up energy via chlorophyll, to microbes breaking down soil carbon for energy. Because phosphorus transfers energy, it energizes the complex processes in soil and plant chemistry. It is essential for utilizing iron, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum and traces of lesser significance. Even though en- Biodynamic Agriculture Australia Ltd ~ News Leaf #88 25
Page 1 and 2: News Leaf Biodynamic Agriculture Au
Page 3 and 4: News Leaf is the official journal o
Page 5 and 6: Regulars 4 Welcome to Spring 5 Lett
Page 7 and 8: Letter from the Chair Dear Members,
Page 9 and 10: Seasonal Notes South Australia and
Page 11 and 12: Gardening in the Light of Findhorn
Page 13 and 14: Nutrition By Richard Thornton - Smi
Page 15 and 16: • Keeping Quality - Degradation t
Page 17 and 18: Steiner said that as we are develop
Page 19 and 20: alancing the soil/pasture through t
Page 21 and 22: When to apply the preparations then
Page 23 and 24: True Excellence in Growing Food By
Page 25: comes from endophytes and symbiotes
Page 29 and 30: formulas include phosphorous and it
Page 31 and 32: The same is true of a farm or even
Page 33 and 34: • Sprouts, which we can grow in o
Page 35 and 36: sprouts regularly is most beneficia
Page 37 and 38: the fruit trees they plant would mo
Page 39 and 40: Cate McQuillen are the show’s co-
Page 42 and 43: Many Thanks, Cheryl Kemp Following
Page 44 and 45: Preparations Report By Alan Johnsto
Page 46 and 47: 10gm of winter horn clay and fermen
Page 48 and 49: friends are very welcome to join us
Page 50 and 51: weed teas and iron filings and pepp
Page 52 and 53: Application for Subscription - Memb
Page 54 and 55: BIODYNAMIC EQUIPMENT STIRRING MACHI
Page 56 and 57: Biodynamic Preparations & Products
Page 58 and 59: www sites… We have a new range of
Page 60: Grace Seeds are quickened in the ea

#88 News Leaf_News Leaf - Biodynamic Agriculture Australia

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