Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs boomed during the Covid pandemic as city dwellers and suburbanites across the country found themselves avoiding grocery stores and restaurants and spending a lot more time cooking at home, as well as looking for ways to support struggling small businesses, including local farms. (Tuesday May 7th, 2024 — Dwell - )

Located on an 80-acre plot of farmland, the Ithaca Waldorf School takes a non-traditional approach to a student’s education. Students undergo a hands-on learning process that utilizes the farm to teach students both academic and practical skills. (Monday May 6th, 2024 — The Cornell Daily Sun - Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA)

With just a few differences, organic and biodynamic farming practices are both rooted in a philosophy that involves promoting the use of natural techniques to keep the soil and crops healthy without the use of pesticides or fertilizers. (Sunday May 5th, 2024 — Washington Examiner)

RSF provided a $3 million loan to Cambridge, Mass.-based Sunwealth for a portfolio of solar installations in California, Maine and New Jersey. (Friday April 26th, 2024 — ImpactAlpha)

The Biodynamic Federation Demeter International, representing the biodynamic farming movement worldwide as part of the organic sector, welcomes the outcome of plenary vote of the European Parliament on the plant reproductive material proposal as it has the potential to foster organic plant breeding and agrobiodiversity, ensuring the resilience and sustainability of our farming systems. (Thursday April 25th, 2024 — Bio Eco Actual)

Textile manufacturer Ventile has issued further developments as part of its ongoing joint venture with the Egyptian Biodynamic Association [EBDA] as it implements measures to support organic and regenerative farming and improve soil health for cotton. (Wednesday April 24th, 2024 — GlobalData)

Many influences sweep across the lighting fixtures, furnishings, planters, and beanbags in Bennet Schlesinger’s exhibition, “In Tune With Itself,” ... “The Waldorf education changed my life because Rudolf Steiner’s ethos is embedded in everything about the school,” Schlesinger tells Interior Design. “He wasn’t really stuck, or too influenced by the status-quo.” Three major lessons he still carries with him from those days are, “letting things be askew, allowing the hand to come in, and not fixing everything.” (Tuesday April 23rd, 2024 — Interior Design Magazine)

Biodynamic farming involves ecological and holistic growing practices based on the philosophy of “anthroposophy.” Farmers are encouraged to view their farm as a living organism where cultivated species are interconnected and support the overall health of the system. One of the principles of biodynamic farming is diverse crop rotation, which is the practice of planting different crops on a particular plot of land in different seasons. (Monday April 22nd, 2024 — Business Upturn - India)

Beyond organic certification, some winemakers choose to embrace biodynamic practices, which focus on creating a self-sustaining, biodiverse ecosystem. Biodynamic winegrowers take organic farming as a baseline and add practices such as composting and applying homeopathic treatments rather than chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Biodynamic winemaking also prohibits the use of certain additives, including commercial yeast. (Monday April 22nd, 2024 — Wine Spectator)

Harnessing the power of wind could both reduce emissions from cargo ships and extend the life of these vessels (Monday April 22nd, 2024 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)

A new set of commands were sent on Thursday to relocate some code around a failed memory chip in the Flight Data System (FDS) computer ... Voyager 1, launched more than 46 years ago, is 24.3 billion km away from earth; it takes light and comm. signals 22.5 hours to travel this distance. (Monday April 22nd, 2024 — Daily Kos)

The brand, beloved by celebrities from Julia Roberts to Rihanna, is celebrating its centennial. The B Corp-certified company says it harnesses the power of naturally sourced ingredients through global biodynamic farming partnerships, which aim to bring awareness to maintaining healthy, biodiverse soil across the globe that can continue to grow the food and ingredients we need to thrive, according to the brand. Weleda uses 100% electricity from renewable sources is used at Weleda production facilities in Switzerland, Germany and France while 98% of all generated waste is recycled and 60% of its’ packaging is made of glass. (Monday April 22nd, 2024 — Happi.com)

Biological farming, sometimes referred to as biodynamic farming, is gaining traction among those seeking a more sustainable and natural approach to food production. Horticulturist Marina Jordaan explains the core concepts and benefits of this practice. (Saturday April 20th, 2024 — Food For Mzansi - South Africa)

Searching for answers Master gardener Delmar McComb turned to a book, Thomkins and Bird’s Secrets of the Soil that completely shifted his thinking. He learned about a method developed one hundred years ago in Germany by Dr. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the modern biodynamic movement. Turns out even then, industrial farming was on the rise and organic methods were being replaced in the name of science, efficiency, and technology. (Wednesday April 17th, 2024 — Good Times Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, California USA)

Kenya, where the landscape can turn from green to reddish and back in an hour’s drive, has long been a middle ground: a place where some tribes use camels and more use cows ... That has seemingly transformed Samburu County — an area the size of New Jersey that is home to the Samburu tribe — into an experiment on how livestock fare, and how humans respond, in a warming climate. (Wednesday April 17th, 2024 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Steiner’s eight lectures known as “The Agriculture Course,” given from June 7 to 16, 1924 in Koberwitrz, Silesia (now part of Poland). In these lectures, Steiner, who is also the founder of Waldorf Education, Anthroposophical Medicine and other such things, gave instructions for the development of what would later be called Biodynamic Agriculture. (Saturday April 13th, 2024 — East End Beacon - Long Island, New York USA)

The baby pygmy marmosets, which are just 3cm (1.2in) tall came as a surprise to staff at Telford Exotic Zoo, because they were not sure if the mother was pregnant. Director Scott Adams said they have a "hands off" policy with the monkeys, which are at risk of extinction in the wild. He said staff were "jumping for joy" when the babies were seen clinging to their mother's back. (Thursday April 11th, 2024 — BBC online - UK)

In your exploration of fine wine, when did you realize that so many of the world’s top wines are quietly organic or biodynamic? (Tuesday April 9th, 2024 — Worth Magazine)

From dinosaur fossils in Brazil to the soaring monasteries of Meteora, these 18 new geological sites highlight a particular region's natural, cultural and intangible heritage. (Tuesday April 9th, 2024 — BBC online - UK)

Archaeological evidence suggests ancient human societies in South America revered foxes to such an extent that they were buried next to them. Scientists were surprised to find a fox buried in a human grave dating back 1,500 years in Patagonia, Argentina. They think the most likely explanation is that the fox was a highly valued companion or pet. (Tuesday April 9th, 2024 — BBC online - UK)