Oxygen the Activator by Hugh Lovel In agriculture we’re in trouble when the soil doesn’t get enough oxygen. Even with crops like rice oxygen must diffuse into the water and the soil even while the field is soaked. However, oxygen deficiency usually goes unrecognized. What are its signs? How can we look at oxygen’s functions…
Category: Farming
Compost Explained
Composting Explained© By Hugh Lovel On a recent trip to Japan where I visited several organic farms as well as a golf course I noted that no matter how good their other practices none were composting well enough. All omitted clay from their compost mixtures. The same is commonly true on organic farms…
Homemade Fertilizers
Home Made Fertiliser: Part Two Author: Hugh Lovel Category: Biodynamics, Farming, Soil Humified Compost and Compost Extract Misunderstandings about compost abound. Many imagine that composts are simply broken down organic matter that is ready to be taken up by plants. All too often composters seek to simply digest a mix of wood wastes, plant matter, manures and…
Growing and Breeding Superior Corn and Maize
Corn Breeding: Another Perspective Hugh Lovel Originally published in BIODYNAMICS 233, January/February, 2001 I found Walter Goldstein’s article on corn breeding (in BIODYNAMICS 232) at Michael Fields Institute to be a model of vision, dedication and precision. This is a field of endeavor that for much too long has gone in the direction of removing seed saving from farmers’ hands,…
High Brix in Vegetables
High Brix in Veggies Getting brix high in veggies is usually a challenge due to low silicon and high nitrates. This can be where biodynamics comes to the rescue with oak bark and equisetum. Add these to EM and you reverse nitrification in the soil and improve photosynthesis. We tend to think we have to feed…
True Excellence in Growing Food
True Excellence in Growing Food By Hugh Lovel Obtaining true excellence relates to the way nitrogen works within each farm. This can be complex and sophisticated or crude and rude. Nitrogen is the essence of protein chemistry, which is what gives us the character and flavour of what we grow. Each farm has its…
Boron’s Role in Silica Uptake
Dear Andrew, To the best of my knowledge, chemists and ag scientists doing research on the mechanism of boron’s working in plants has been few. It has been widely observed, discussed and research that boron is necessary for the uptake of calcium. I myself spent 30 years figuring out how boron worked, and I…
Boron’s role in sap uptake
I realize Marschner doesn’t make the role of boron very clear. I refer to Marschner’s second edition on silicon, pages 417 – 426. Marschner classifies silicon as ‘beneficial’ rather than essential. Boron he considers essential, pages 379 – 396. Although he acknowledges their close similarity, he doesn’t make the connection I do. And Marschner is,…
Homemade Phosphorus Fertilizer
Verily, bones should never be wasted, and phosphorous fertiliser production as part of a self-sufficient operation may require burning them. Gardeners may find they can process left over bones through their wood heaters. In general, burned bones may come from almost any source, and some will burn more easily than others. Burnt bones can be…
Definition of Biodynamics
WHAT IS BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE? BIODYNAMIC AXGRICULTURE: Bio (life) dynamic (processes); Biodynamic agriculture involves working with life processes. This does not mean physical substance or chemistry are ignored. The biodynamic approach to agriculture emphasizes life processes which have potent organisational (syntropic) effects to engage minerals and chemical reactions. The use of what are called ‘biodynamic…
Quantum Agriculture 