Barefoot Biodynamics: How Cows, Compost, and Community Help Us Understand Rudolf Steiner's Agriculture Course

by Jeff Poppen, Sandor Ellix Katz (Foreword by)

Overview

With decades of knowledge and proven, common-sense methods from “The Barefoot Farmer,” this practical guide to biodynamic principles and practices will appeal to growers of every scale and experience level.

In Barefoot Biodynamics, organic grower Jeff Poppen—“The Barefoot Farmer”—combines tales from his personal history in rural Tennessee with the practical applications of biodynamic principles and the deep aspects of the biodynamic methods that continue to make his farm a success today.

Jeff’s friendly, direct, and humorous writing will appeal not only to the biodynamic-curious, but also to farmers and gardeners who have experimented with the biodynamic approach and are looking for a deeper understanding of the practice.

Rooted in the teachings of biodynamic pioneer Rudolf Steiner, Jeff’s unique insights and deep reflections on “guiding lines” of biodynamic growing are an invaluable resource. Those “guiding lines” include:

• producing a farm’s fertility using cover crops, compost, and other on-farm inputs
• enjoying the renewing power of farm festivals
• augmenting scientific knowledge with the power of observation and intuition
• avoiding chemical fertilizers
• understanding that carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen make up 95 percent of the physical structure of plants and are freely available in the air around us
• enhancing the availability of critical minerals such as silica and lime through good farming practices
• building humus-rich soil teeming with microbial life
• using homeopathic preparations to heal and enrich the soil

In addition, Jeff walks the reader through the eight lectures on farming given by Steiner in 1924, summarizing important points from each lecture and “translating” them from Steiner’s profound yet sometimes impenetrable vocabulary into plain language. In Barefoot Biodynamics, Jeff provides new insight into these enigmatic lectures, revealing an often overlooked yet cost-effective farming method rooted in common sense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645022480
Publisher:	Chelsea Green Publishing
Publication date:	04/18/2024
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	894,490
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jeff Poppen, a Midwestern farm boy, helped develop an organic farm and Tennessee homestead in the mid-1970s, and ten years later began applying biodynamic methods and making the preparations to do so. His livelihood comes primarily from vegetables and cattle grown on the 270-acre Long Hungry Creek Farm, where cows, compost, and community keep the land vibrant and productive. Jeff advocates for a more peaceful agriculture by mentoring young farmers and gardeners, along with a bit of lecturing, consulting, hosting events, and facilitating a few new farm enterprises. His style of old-time farming comes from paying close attention to what elder farmers thought, felt, and did, and by studying how farms were managed before agricultural chemicals were first manufactured on a large scale over one hundred years ago. Like his animals, he gets his food from the farm. 

Sandor Ellix Katz is a fermentation revivalist. A self-taught experimentalist who lives in rural Tennessee, his explorations in fermentation developed out of his overlapping interests in cooking, nutrition, and gardening. He is the author of four previous books: Wild Fermentation, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, The Art of Fermentation—which won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2013—and Fermentation as Metaphor. The hundreds of fermentation workshops he has taught around the world have helped catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts. The New York Times calls Sandor “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” For more information, check out his website: www.wildfermentation.com.

Editorial Reviews

I love Jeff Poppen’s barefoot humor, playful intelligence, and elegant intellectual prowess. His inspiring and uplifting writing reflects a deep, personal experience in farming and gardening, as well as an informative and articulate, yet simple, interpretation of Rudolf Steiner’s agriculture lectures. A must read for adventurous agriculturalists and gardeners who are willing to enthusiastically explore their inner landscapes and the natural and supernatural sciences. An agricultural love story, this book is fun!”—Luke Frey, Frey Vineyards

“As I read Jeff Poppen’s Barefoot Biodynamics, I could hear his laugh and picture his grin as he talked about the changes in language that have occurred in the past hundred years since Rudolf Steiner gave his lectures on agriculture. Jeff is the perfect person to make this ‘translation’ of Steiner’s concepts easy to understand. Chapters on ‘Secrets of Manuring,’ ‘A Self-Sufficient Farm,’ and ‘Farm Festivals’ reveal how Jeff has adapted biodynamic management to fit the specifics of growing healthy food in Tennessee. By paying attention to soil conditions from the start and documenting the responses to the same ‘disturbances’ over time, Jeff could respond ever-more rapidly with appropriate management using processes suggested by Steiner. This book is an enjoyable read that subtly helps us discover Rudolf Steiner’s wisdom and apply his ideas, just as Jeff did, to the specifics of the land where we farm or garden."—Elaine Ingham, founder, Soil Foodweb, Inc.; founder and head of science and research, Soil Food Web School

“Jeff Poppen has an incredible grasp of how the cycles of nature can work together to produce the abundance that nature means for us to enjoy.”—Will Harris, White Oak Pastures

“Jeff Poppen is a master of self-sufficiency and community building. Without a doubt, he grows the most delicious food I have ever tasted. In this new book, he decodes the work of Rudolf Steiner and takes away a bit of the mystery behind biodynamic agriculture, so you too can grow incredibly delicious and nutritious food."—Sean Brock, James Beard Award–winning chef and author

“Barefoot Biodynamics highlights the contrast between natural ecosystem processes and today’s prominent model of trying to ‘manipulate’ nature. This is exemplified by many of Jeff Poppen’s reflections on the wisdom of Rudolf Steiner, including ‘. . . a farm is healthy only inasmuch as it provides its own fertilizer,’ and ‘. . . we cannot replace by artificial means the fertility the earth itself is able to achieve by natural humus formation.’ An excellent read for all who want to understand the keys to growing nutrient-dense food."—Gabe Brown, author of Dirt to Soil; co-founder, Understanding Ag

“What a refreshing delight it is to read Jeff Poppen’s Barefoot Biodynamics. It is a heartfelt and matter-of-fact account of the journey of a human being, a farm, and a community during times of dramatic change in agriculture and the world at large. Especially impressive is the final chapter, in which Rudolf Steiner’s complex, and sometimes puzzling, Agriculture Course lectures and discussions are put into plain language alongside personal reflections by the author. This chapter alone is worth the purchase of the book. Simultaneously brilliant and humble: Well done, Jeff Poppen!”—Mark Shepard, author of Restoration Agriculture and Water for Any Farm

“In Barefoot Biodynamics, Jeff Poppen illuminates the message of Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course, not just by distilling Steiner’s words, but through himself being a result of the course. We normally think of the Agriculture Course as weaving together the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms in practical and esoteric ways, but Jeff’s writing radiates his immersion in Steiner’s lectures, and his book is an outpouring of Steiner’s message from start to finish. He is a farmer humbly living the lectures, in the wonder of them, the awe. Jeff pays homage to the farm organism, the tillage, the cover crops, the festivals, the cattle, the food, the bounty, and yes, the heartaches, the failures, the struggles.”—John Peterson, founder, Angelic Organics; subject of the documentary The Real Dirt on Farmer John

“Brilliant and fantastic! Barefoot Biodynamics is delightful, fun reading that fills us with light and joy, while also imparting deep insight and wisdom into gardening, farming, and the natural world. Jeff Poppen makes the challenging subject of biodynamics so accessible and easy to understand. I recommend this book to all first-time biodynamics practitioners and also to more experienced biodynamic farmers. There truly is something for everyone in this book!”—Kristina Villa, co-executive director, The Farmers Land Trust

“With Barefoot Biodynamics, Jeff Poppen brings biodynamic agriculture to the service of all. With enthusiasm and great humor, Jeff translates Rudolf Steiner’s esoteric recommendations into useful agricultural approaches. Excellent insights into the how and why of biodynamic preparations, with much of his traditional old-time farmer sensibility. Thank you, Jeff!”—Bryan O’Hara, author of No-Till Intensive Vegetable Culture

From the Publisher