BD AND THE WIDE WORLD: Last night was at an organizational meeting of the Sandpoint Farmers Market where the State Inspector, who is an outrageous creative thinker and gardener, spoke on changes in organic certification, etc. I spoke to her afterwards and it turns out that she
was consulted over the registration of Pfeiffer Field Spray as a soil amendment in Idaho. She gave an analogy to the person who inquired about BD preps that I will repeat as well as I can. "Suppose someone had demons and enlisted the Pope to cast them out, would the holy water he sprinkled need to be registered as a pesticide?" The analogy is so far from how we think about BD, yet somewhere there's some relevance, but if that's the only reference that person gets to BD, then he'll not have a chance of understanding WHO WE ARE. She said the soil amendment laws are there for truth in advertising related to the claims on the label. In the meeting she had held up a bag that had held a commercial fertilizer that was registered in Idaho. It had in small letters at the top "natural organic." She said that "organic" for Idaho registration meant "carbon based." She told us to always look at the ingredients which in the case of the bag she was holding was "sewage sludge," and was not acceptable for certified organic growers or any growers. She also went over the clopyralid residue on grass clippings that was in the compost that was made at Washington State University in Pullman, WA, and said to me in private that the parameters for Clopyralid usage on the packaging had fine print that said that the recommendations given were not adequate for sandy soil which is what we have in this area. She said, "No one reads the fine print." To not to have to register Pfeiffer Field Spray, the label that was sent with the application would need to define it so that it doesn't fit into the definition of a soil amendment in Title 22, Chapter 22, Soil and Plant Amendments in Idaho statutes. Otherwise, there's no way to amend the law to spare 501(c)(3) non-profits from the necessity to pay $100 an amendment to sell their preparations in Idaho. I am really wondering how I'm going to be able to live in this atmosphere. I just want to withdraw. I get so angry and then depressed. How do you go about communicating to the wide world about Biodynamics? I read writings like Jane's "Gathering Chi (was re: agrisynthesis...)" and Gil's "Frank Moody," and resonate, but can hardly grasp the full meaning myself. If I do speak out, I fear misunderstanding at best and conscious twisting of the meaning at worst. I'm afraid to add my BD point of view at meetings on composting because people would need paragraphs and paragraphs of introduction. The more I understand how the preps work myself, the more inclined I will be to speak up. I'm hoping that my intuition will give me the green light on this soon. At county weed advisory committee meeting, they talk so fast and throw acronyms around, they have so much to cover in two hours. Everything is mind. There is heart there underneath, but it is secondary. There's such an emphasis on legality. How to apply a chemical to Eurasian milfoil while the lake level is down so they don't have to follow aquatic guidelines, but do it so the half-life will be over before the water comes up. I think to myself, "What will this do to children swimming in that water this summer?" They look at my face and they hush up. They're afraid for me to know what they're doing. They're afraid I'll cause a big stink. They want to "do their job" without anyone noticing. I worry afterwards whether I should cause a stink or whether it's better to just have someone organic on the weed committee to listen, to keep bringing up the other point of view at meetings and to try to fulfill what they SAY they want organically with holistic planning on a small scale? SOIL ANALYSIS: In the Farmer's Market meeting, a certified organic friend who helps me with the "Why Organic?" booth, gave me a handout in response to a question I asked the Inspector about organic soil analysis. The title of the handout was something like this: "How to convert a chemical soil analysis to an organic soil analysis." Is this possible? I didn't get a chance to read it. It was from U Georgia Extension and its URL was www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/C853.htm, but I couldn't find it on their website. I'm afraid everyone here in North Idaho (including me) are neophytes in soil analysis. I even tried to read Albrecht Papers, but don't have the patience needed to go through all his graphs. I think I need a skyhook before I tackle Albrecht again and some time to read and reread it. I wish I could suggest someone who REALLY knows about organic soil analysis and how to amend deficiencies to give a seminar to the organic growers here. They always use someone from the U. of Idaho. SFI SOIL TESTING: I would like to vote for Elaine testing Pfeiffer Field Spray along with all the other preparations and I will contribute. I believe that our good intentions and our desire to heal the earth will make a difference, but it's a dark hour now. I heard on NPR this morning that Bush's appointees to the EPA have rewritten the initiatives concerning power plant emissions that will make the air dirtier. They were characterized as illegal, dangerous changes--bad policy.
