The Grower's Basket

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to get out on our tractor at Lowe Vineyards and spray 10 hectares of vines with what is called “Biodynamic Soil Activator”. Unfamiliar as to what this was before coming to Australia, I was curious to explore its benefits.   In my previous post I talked about the principal behind biodynamics and explained the preparations . So to simplify this for you, all of the preparations are made as individual ingredients that contribute to a compost pile or a compost concentrate, then sprayed in the vineyard either as a foliar spray or soil spray.  The “Biodynamic Soil Activator” is a form of compost concentrate including prep 500-508, and we purchase this through a company called Biodynamics 2024 . We purchase this because currently we do not make our own preparations on site, but are at the beginning stages of managing our own preps and creating our own compost at Lowe Wines .  So…how does this all happen? Well, here is a breakdown to help you

“ Biodynamics is a mindset, not a religion or a recipe . ” Monty Waldin Rudolph Steiner Since I began working in a biodynamic environment, many people have asked me… What the hell is biodynamics ? I will tell you right now, it’s not just cow shit, and cosmos. Biodyanmics involves the concept of organic farming , with more of a holistic and homeopathic approach involving: practicality, spirituality, and cosmic influences. Back in the 1920’s an Austrian philosopher named Rudolph Steiner gave a series of lectures geared towards a new approach to agriculture in response to the decrease in overall health of crops and livestock. This eventually became the foundation of Biodynamic Agriculture as we know it. So, we take a look at the vineyard and its soil as a single system and utilize what can grow on our site by integrating   plants and minerals into Biodynamic Preparations, which are then sprayed either as an atmospheric spray, foliar spray, or soil spra