Season has come to a close, hopefully allowing for less hectic schedules and more time for sharing healthy and leisurely meals at home with family and friends. Wouldn’t it be special if some portion of your feasts came from your very own organic garden?

While May and June are not the most ideal months to plant a plethora of healthy harvests in our desert, it is a good time to start learning how to prepare your soil to maximize mineral nutrition. One of the best ways to do that is through bio-dynamic gardening, because the healthier our soil, the healthier our gardens and the healthier our food.

Bio-dynamic farming uses 100% self-made organic compost from reused and recycled foods within the same environment, along with pest and contamination-controlled practices to produce healthier, nutrient-dense foods and to greatly aid our planet.

Biodynamic agriculture is considered by many to be the most advanced and holistic form of organic farming and gardening on the planet. It was developed in the early 1920’s by Rudolf Steiner, trained scientist, respected philosopher and creator of the spiritual philosophy anthroposophy. As farmers at the time were concerned with the decline in healthy soils, plants and animals, they sought the advice of Steiner who spent most of his life researching the subtle forces within nature. From a series of lectures and conversations, the fundamental principles of biodynamic farming and gardening emerged as a unified approach to agriculture that relates the ecology of the farm organism to that of the entire cosmos.

Steiner was the first to bring awareness of the dangers of synthetic fertilizers, the perspective of the farm as a single, self-sustaining organism that thrives through biodiversity, integration of crops and livestock and the creation of a closed-loop system of fertility. The result was a comprehensive approach to soil, plant, animal and human health that recognizes the importance of the healthy interplay of cosmic and earthly influences. He developed a set of homeopathic preparations used by biodynamic farmers on soil, compost and plants that help build up the farm’s innate immune system and vital forces. In the 1980s, biodynamic farmers in the northeast used Steiner’s economic ideas to pioneer the concept of community supported agriculture (CSA), which has since been adopted by thousands of farms across North America.

Biodynamic farming or gardening’s purposeful goal is to create a diverse, balanced eco-system that generates healthy and fertile soils as much as possible from within the farm itself (or your home). It’s simple: healthy soils = healthier mineral nutrients = healthier foods = healthier humans. And healthier foods taste better! Compost preparations are made from fermented manure, minerals and herbs which aid, restore and harmonize the vital life forces of the farm and enhance the nutrition, quality and flavor of the food being raised or grown.

Biodynamics is a spiritual, ethical and ecological approach to agriculture, gardens, food production and nutrition. Happy and healthy feast, and perhaps, farming or gardening days ahead.

Candice Nicole is a health advocate and founder of HUmineral food derived mineral nutrients. She can be reached at [email protected] or (888) 765.0087. For more information visit www.HUmineral.com.

Sources: 1) Farmer Jack; One Gun Ranch, Malibu, CA; https://onegunranch.com/pages/one-gun-ranch 2) M. Nesteruk, Master Gardner