Grundtvig Learning
Partnership Project
»Adult
education strategies in making best compost and treating of manure practices in
order to highlight better food quality and reduction of the nutrition losses
with regards of social, initiative and entrepreneurship key competencies«
Denmark Project No.: 2013-1-SI1-GRU06-05514
4
Duration: 1. August 2013
to 31. July 2015
Minutes of the 5th Meeting in Hertha /
Denmark, 29th - 31st August 2014
-
Germany: Forschungsring für
Biologisch-Dynamische Wirtschaftsweise e.V.
- Denmark:
Foreningen for Biodynamisk Jordbrug
- Croatia: Centar Dr. Rudolfa Steinera
- Slovenia: Društvo za biološko-dinamično gospodarjenje Podravje.
Date: 29th August 2014
Present: Uli Johannes König, Meike Oltmanns, Matthias König, Alan Morau, Elmar Gunkel, Caroline Schürer, Erik Frydenlund, Birthe Holt, Niels Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Mauko Purgaj, Radovan Šuman, Karl Vogrinčič, Patricija Šenekar, Vesna Čuček.
Location: Hertha, Landsbyvænget 14, 8464 Galten, www,hertha.dk
Duration: 19.00 – 21.00
Summary
All the participants of all the partners introduced
themselves, their experiences in connection with Biodynamic farming and
compost. Erik asked all the participants to tell the group his/her question in
relation with the topic of the project, on which he/she want to get an answer
to.
Day 2
Date: 30th 2014
Date: 30th 2014
Present: Uli Johannes König, Meike Oltmanns, Matthias König, Alan Morau, Elmar Gunkel, Caroline Schürer, Erik Frydenlund, Birthe Holt, Niels Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Mauko Purgaj, Radovan Šuman, Karl Vogrinčič, Patricija Šenekar, Vesna Čuček.
Location: Hertha, Landsbyvænget 14, 8464 Galten, www,hertha.dk
Duration: 8.30 – 20.30
Topic: Working with the biodynamic preparations, Soil
quality, plant quality and food quality, Laboratory - Biocrystallization
method, Laboratory - Rising pictures, Visiting organic harvest market open to
the public, Presentation of soil structure and cultivation, green manure,
Biodynamic agriculture in Denmark.
Summary
Working with the
biodynamic preparations
Workshop began with an exercise for the whole
group. We had to give each other un uncooked egg with the spoon and take care
that it doesn't fall down. We managed to do this without problems, with a lot
of attention. Erik asked us at the end what we have learned from this exercise.
- Every
step is important.
- The
egg is alive it didn't fall down and we didn't kill it.
- We
have to take care for each step.
- If
the egg would fall down it would not be alive any more.
- We give
to each step a lot of attention.
- We
were doing it with awareness.
- If
one step goes wrong it is lost.
- The
same things are important by the work with the biodynamic preparations.
- Sunlight
- Temperature
- Moisture
- Awareness
So many things can go wrong by preparations,
especially if your attention is not there.
Erik showed different boxes for the preparations. Take a look at the photos. The double wall is very important (at least 10 cm). It should be filled with at least 8cm of completely dried peat. The preparations should not be together in the box. They have to be divided by peat.
Erik showed different boxes for the preparations. Take a look at the photos. The double wall is very important (at least 10 cm). It should be filled with at least 8cm of completely dried peat. The preparations should not be together in the box. They have to be divided by peat.
If you put in the wall peat that is not dried,
the wood will get moist and dry after some time and there would be holes in the
walls. Therefore we should put attention on drying the peat on the sun.
The preparations should be stored in a special
room without electric lines and electric rays. It should be dark and cold.
You can make such a place also in the ground
with concrete; the ground is then an isolator.
It is also important that you have a box for
the amount that you need. There are some
good advices about the measures of possible boxes in the book “A Biodynamic
manual” by Pierre Masson.
The pot should be made of glazed clay, or
glass. For bigger pots there should be holes in the bottom of the pots (6
holes).
If you take 500 out of horns, there is a lot of
activity therefore you can put horns at the bottom of the box for storage, so
that water can go down. The balance between moisture and air is very important.
You have to be very careful in the first 3
months after you put 500 in the storage place – in the box.
If you have a bigger quantity it is easier to
storage it, like for instance it is easier to storage larger amount of carrots
than 1 carrot.
It is also important that 500 is connected,
therefore Birthe carefully press the preparation in the pot.
It is very important that you know what is
happening in the pot (use your smell, feelings, connection). If it is getting
dry you spray it with water.
After the 500 is taken out of the horns it is
Ok with worms.
The compost preparations should not be dried.
They should be moist.
Uli told us that it is important to take a look
at horns as you dig them out. If the horns are wet he lives them for some days
outside, with the preparation 500 in the horns. After that he takes the
preparation out.
Birthe told us, that she shakes the chamomile
for preparation every day. The paper box has holes on the bottom. She advises
silk for drying the herbs for preparations, because silk doesn’t takes moisture
in. Take a look at the photo.
If you use good cow manure and take care for
the conditions, the 500 is good when you take it out. It goes out of the horns
easily.
Jasminka told us they have problem with straw
pieces in the cow manure. Birthe told us, that cows should be fed only with
grass hay and NOT with clover hay, nor any other hay.
Erik doesn’t dry the manure before taking the preparation 500 out of the horns.
Erik doesn’t dry the manure before taking the preparation 500 out of the horns.
It is important how you dry the dandelion. You
have to dry them quickly, not directly under the sun; the best is hot air under
an opened window.
Storage of flowers for preparation is very
important.
Dandelion properly dried has a special sound if
you shake the flowers in the glass – the right one you can hear on a short
film, made on the workshop. Birthe suggests that you fill the glass only to the
half, so that you can shake the flowers.
Erik digs the preparation out in spring.
Birthe advises to beginners to buy the
preparations for first years, so that they can see the results immediately. In
this way you and your family can enjoy the best food from your own garden. When
you get the results, you can start to make preparations on your own.
Birthe puts the nettle in a pipe. She plucked
the leaves from the bottom to the top of the plant.
If you press juice out of the valerian, it is
darker and heavier, but also OK.
The other possibility is that you take only the
white part of the flowers of valerian and put them in the water. Shake them every day. You use your nose and
eyes to analyze and detect when this preparation is ready. The energy in this type of valerian is
better, according to Birthe’s opinion.
Soil quality, plant
quality and food quality, Laboratory - Biocrystallization method
Lecture of Jens Otto Andersen
The plant is a very complete organism. Healthy soil gives healthy plants which can give health to people. The key question is the relation between soil quality and food quality. In hydroponic agriculture there is no soil, it is a completely industrial production (the nutrients are solved in the water).
Lecture of Jens Otto Andersen
The plant is a very complete organism. Healthy soil gives healthy plants which can give health to people. The key question is the relation between soil quality and food quality. In hydroponic agriculture there is no soil, it is a completely industrial production (the nutrients are solved in the water).
1. Concept: soil aggregate stability, crumbs, humus,
crumbs particles, colloidal structure. Very important are long term trials,
Fibl doc trials (Fibl dosier).
2. Concept:
Plant
If we go away from the analytical approach, we can’t divide plant and the roots, because the plant is completely in symbiosis with microorganisms which are around the roots. This is the holistic approach. Therefore the quality of the plant depends of vast surrounding.
If we go away from the analytical approach, we can’t divide plant and the roots, because the plant is completely in symbiosis with microorganisms which are around the roots. This is the holistic approach. Therefore the quality of the plant depends of vast surrounding.
He told us about plant resilience which shows the
ability of the organism for keeping the balance. (Resilience: the
ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity, the
capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.)
He also introduced an experiment with diabetic people,
where old varieties of plants didn’t have any negative impact on diabetes.
If you are vegetarian you should take care to buy
organic food. If we aren’t buying organic food our health is endangered.
He also emphasized that we – consumers and also some
scientists have a completely naïve view of the food quality.
If there is a heavy tractor on the soil with high
humus it doesn’t damage the structure of soil.
He introduced us the results of cucumber experiment. This is an excellent example of resilience
stress test. He bought 3 cucumbers, one from conventional agriculture (bought
in a big chain store), one from organic farm and one from BD farm. He cut them
into 2 cm wide peace and put them in household folia, he left them for 20 days
on 20°C. Take a look at the picture, he showed to us.
There was a huge difference between them after 20 days. The cucumber which is at the top of the photo is from conventional agriculture, the one in the middle is from organic agriculture, and the one at the bottom is from BD agriculture. The cucumber from Biodynamic agriculture was still fresh green and stick together as you see on the other photo. This is an excellent example of resilience stress test.
He also showed us photos of different samples of fruit
juice – picture done by biocrystallization method. On the photo with two
pictures of two samples, the left one is from an organic not filtrated juice
from the bottle, the right one is from a juice prepared – made of concentrate.
He told us that the processing method - for instance filtration can destroy all
the quality gained with organic production.
There was a huge difference between them after 20 days. The cucumber which is at the top of the photo is from conventional agriculture, the one in the middle is from organic agriculture, and the one at the bottom is from BD agriculture. The cucumber from Biodynamic agriculture was still fresh green and stick together as you see on the other photo. This is an excellent example of resilience stress test.
So the processing method is very vital for the quality
of food. With filtration the quality is worse than without filtration – these
can be seen with the help of the biocrystallization method. With this method
even the application of 501 preparations can be detected.
He also presented us a trial on a clinic for children
with lactose intolerance. Children who
ate row organic produced milk didn’t have any problems NO allergy! Children who
drank conventional produced milk reacted with allergy. It is because milk which
is sterilized and homogenized isn’t milk any more.
The processing is very important, but the storage is
also important for the food quality. The industry is inventing so many new technologies
…. C-vitamin is canned sunlight, but it is broken at 90 degrees C.
At the university in Karlsruhe they have had a trial
with rats, feeding them with juice made from concentrate an ordinary juice. The
rats which were fed with juice from concentrate had significantly much more
tumors than the other group fed with ordinary pasteurized unfiltered juice.
Biocrystallization method is now recognized as a
scientific one. With this method they have proved how is farming method
reflecting in the pictures. They want now to connect this directly with other
experiments to show the impact of farming method on health.
In Denmark there is a great rising consumer attention
to food quality. He told us they are now preparing a book with this information
for consumers.
He advised us to visit the http://www.fqhresearch.org/
to get more information, vital for the
consumers.
We visited the laboratory and they showed us pictures
made by Biocrystallization method.
Presentation of soil structure and cultivation,
green manure, Birthe Holt
In the green house they have only small tomatoes, because they have more flavor. On all the fields the consumers can pick the vegetables where there is a red flag. They have 150 consumers paying 200 Danish crones /month. In the greenhouse they don’t turn the soil, she sows oats, phacelia, buckwheat, (take a look at the film of project’s archive)). 500 is used when they sow. You can easily see the effect of preparation 501 on plants, because they are turning to sun. In the spring when they cut the green manure, she adds the compost and covers the ground with a black cover.
In the green house they have only small tomatoes, because they have more flavor. On all the fields the consumers can pick the vegetables where there is a red flag. They have 150 consumers paying 200 Danish crones /month. In the greenhouse they don’t turn the soil, she sows oats, phacelia, buckwheat, (take a look at the film of project’s archive)). 500 is used when they sow. You can easily see the effect of preparation 501 on plants, because they are turning to sun. In the spring when they cut the green manure, she adds the compost and covers the ground with a black cover.
For the cultivation they use Honda F560 which lifts
the ground and doesn’t ruin the structure of the soil.
With the ripper they cultivate the soil, which should
be dried not too wet at the time of cultivation. They sow green manure, a
mixture (cereals, phacelia, buckwheat, legumes, some vegetables - the seeds you
don’t need), than they use 500. After 3 weeks they use 501. They let the plants
to flower and then they mulch them – this is then food for the worms which
bring air into the soil. Half of the fields are under green manure, half of
them are used for vegetables.
If you feed the plants too much leafs are looking
down. They should look up to the sun.
You should observe the plants’ expression, if the
leafs are not looking up to the sun, you should ask yourself what is wrong? If
you use 501 you can see the effect mostly even after only one day. (Take a look
at the photo.)
At the place you dig a hole for the horns for 500
there should be no plants. It is good if there is a slope at this place. The
horns have to be covered with a soil that is full of life but ripe, so that
there is no earthworms.
Birthe told us, that they cover the place where the
horns are, with a roof.
Uli J.K. expressed his opinion, that an iron roof is
really unreasonable, because it is a total isolator for the cosmic energy. He
thinks that a roof is not necessary.
Soil quality, plant quality and food quality -
Rising pictures (Capillary dynamolysis pictures)
Bent Pyskov has showed us the laboratory.
Bent Pyskov has showed us the laboratory.
He explained the process of making rising pictures. He
puts the juice of a plant into the hole and special paper to. On the first
picture he marks the line, up to which the juice comes. He puts than 0, 25 % of the silver nitrate, it is so
low to stay below cosmic influence. He takes the picture out and dries it. Then
he adds iron sulfate 0, 25 % and let the picture rise for 3 hours. At the end
he puts the pictures to light and the process is finished. The first photo
shows control pictures.
This method requires the right proportion of water and
juice, this proportion he finds out himself.
We observed rising pictures of the juice from beetroot
from: Demeter farm of Karl Henning
Mikkelsen, Demeter farm Hertha, organic agriculture and conventional
agriculture. The columns of pictures from each are seen on the photo. In the
lines there are pictures of 1 day old juice, 2 day, 4 day 6 day old juice. As
we could see the second sample from Hertha shows the most harmony. The
conventional sample shows chaos.
Then we observed the rising pictures of the milk
samples. The most harmony could be seen at the sample from Hertha, the cows are
milked only once a day.
Biodynamic
agriculture in Denmark
Niels Jensen introduced us
the history of biodynamic in Denmark. The first organization was founded in
1936 by a businessman and 19 farmers, 12 of them were owners of big farm
estates. In the period from 1940 – 1960, there were only some stores where you
could by BD food, the consumers were mostly the members of vegetarian society.
The situation changed after 1968, many consumers - young people were interested
how to cultivate the land without polluting the environment. In 1980 organic
farming started, those farmers learn from the BD farmers about the alternative
way of agriculture, but they didn’t want the spiritual part. The BD farmers
discussed much the new organic movement and how much connected they should be
with it. In praxis a lot of Demeter food was sold as organic food. After 1990 the situation changed and BD opened
to the world. They have opened an office and they have very skilled
people. Also the organic farmers come
with questions and wish their opinion. New farmers who are nowadays joining the
BD association are mostly organic farmers. In the last 10 years they have
experienced a new and positive interest of what they do, also from the
consumers who are interested in the aspect of quality of Demeter food.
Now there are 35 biodynamic
farmers in Denmark who cultivate 2.300 ha of land. They are highly respected
from consumers. Biodynamic agriculture is therefore in good shape and develops
although it is a difficult job to survive economically amongst Danish most
efficient agriculture producers.
Day
3
Date: 30th 2014
Date: 30th 2014
Present: Uli Johannes König, Ulrike König, Mike Oltmanns, Matthias König,Alan Morau,Elmar Gunkel, Caroline Schürer, Erik Frydenlund, Birthe Holt, Niels Jensen, Sandra Percač, Jasminka Iličić, Ivan Kosak, Drago Purgaj, Sonja Mauko Purgaj, Radovan Šuman, Karl Vogrinčič, Patricija Šenekar, Vesna Čuček.
Topic: Soil quality, Visiting
farm of Karl Henning
Mikkelsen, Nordlundvej 105, 7330 Brande and vegetable production at Farstrupvej 4, Morud.
Location: Nordlundvej 105, 7330 Brande and Farstrupvej 4, Morud.
Duration: 9.00 – 15.00
Summary:
Karl
Henning Mikkelsen, he has 4-5 ha potatoes, 2-4 ha vegetables, 20 heads
of cattle.
He bought the farm in 1994. In 1998 he began with
organic agriculture He went to Germany and saw results from biodynamic farming
therefore he decided for BD agriculture.
For him it was so impressive that the sunflower oil from BD agriculture
was bright and golden in comparison with the other one from conventional
agriculture.
For him it was very important to meet and learn from
Alex Podolinsky.
On the farm the soil is very sandy. Therefore he
plugs, sows the seeds and after that he puts the compost around the vegetables
– in 2 days the roots develops.
For the pastures this machine on the photo is very
important for spreading cow pads. It is very important for the soil and the
output is doubled.
With the mulcher he cuts the grass and leaves it on
the pasture. He sows clover with grain. When the grain is harvested the clover
can grow for two more years.
Most of the work he does himself. He has some new and
some old machines. With this machine on the photo the star rollers open the
soil and bring the air to the soil.
Organic farmers sow usually a mixture of clover with
some herbs and spring barley. They sow this mixture in spring. After barley
clover is already there…. In spring clover takes light and weeds don’t grow so
much. He cuts grass twice a year.
Some big farmers ask him how is it possible that he
doesn’t have to irrigate this soil because it is so sandy. The answer is in the
compost preparations and the use of compost.
He explained us how he prepares the compost hip. He
puts the material (straw with cow manure) from the shadow places on pastures on
hips and covers the hips with foil.
He opened the hip for us.
Take a look at white roots.
Look at leafs of beet on the photo below. They show a
lot, they shine, looking to the sun.
On the field with onions there were no weeds till the
end of July but in August the weeds exploded. This field with onion was 3 times
cultivated with a cultivator with goose foot.
Written by: Vesna Čuček
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
