A team of biologists stumbled across an estimated 60 million fish nests while collecting data on the floor of the Weddell Sea last February. The researchers published their findings this week in the journal Current Biology. The colony probably covers roughly 93 square miles, the scientists found — about the size of the island of Malta. (Friday January 14th, 2022 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)

Our monthly spirits round-up includes two biodynamic whiskies making waves in the distilling world, and how to make a classic Espresso Martini with ‘zero waste’ vodka. (Saturday January 8th, 2022 — decanter.com)

More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, the $10 billion Webb will scan the cosmos for light streaming from the first stars and galaxies formed 13.7 billion years ago. (Saturday January 8th, 2022 — Huffpost)

This is a story about searchers: One man, Juan Quezada, a woodcutter who walked the hills with his eyes fixed on the ground looking for pottery shards, then perfected a method of making pots of his own. And another man, Spencer MacCallum, who came across some of those early pots in a New Mexico junk shop and traced them to the source, setting in motion events that would transform hundreds of lives, including his own. (Friday January 7th, 2022 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)

“We’ve had 5,000 years of farmers trying out different strategies for dealing with heat, drought and water scarcity,” said Gary Nabhan, an ethnobotanist and agrarian activist who focuses on plants and cultures of the Southwest. Collectively, he added, “we need to begin to translate that.” (Tuesday January 4th, 2022 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)

Committed to creating a green THC experience, Stone Road owns and operates a biodynamic farm on the top of a hill in Nevada City, California. Their plants grow in living soil and they are never treated with synthetic products. Instead, the Stone Road team uses ladybugs, predator mites, and a medley of beneficial fungi for pest control and irrigates with water from a 460 foot deep artesian well. ...... Querciabella has been committed to biodynamic viticulture for over a decade. With 183 acres of prime Chianti Classico vineyards – located in the municipalities of Greve, Panzano, Radda and Gaiole – in addition to 79 acres in Maremma on Tuscany’s unspoiled Etruscan coast (Tuesday January 4th, 2022 — Forbes)

...natural wine is often produced using biodynamic or organic farming practices, which produces a wine that is often better for your body, and better for the earth.” (Wednesday December 29th, 2021 — Fine Dining Lovers)

VICTORIAN-based Alcheringa Biodynamic Farms are setting themselves apart by taking an organic approach to farming and using no chemicals within their dairy cattle and pasture systems. (Friday December 24th, 2021 — The Land - Australia)

Over 1,700 species of the parasitic plant grow around the globe (Tuesday December 21st, 2021 — Smithsonian Magazine - Washington DC USA)

“Biodynamics is a form of organic farming (with) a huge focus on soil fertility,” Melissa explains. “It recognizes that there is a relationship with the lunar cycle, so the sun, the moon and the planets. The moon has a gravitational effect on Earth, just as it affects our tides. “It also has an effect on nature and even us as humans…farmers have a responsibility to grow nutritious food and produce that is then going to nurture the community that they live amongst.” (Monday December 6th, 2021 — Mirage News)

Currently marketed as a luxury fabric, Fine Mycelium is carbon-neutral and can be grown to order (Monday December 6th, 2021 — Smithsonian Magazine - Washington DC USA)

The visual language originates from my formative education at a Rudolf Steiner school, where I learned the technique of veil painting, which uses heavily diluted paint applied in rhythmical overlapping layers. In Steiner's pedagogy, it is believed that this way of painting creates an atmosphere in which color fields can permeate beyond the support surface. I utilize this technique as a way to create an ethereal effect…I would visually place my work somewhere between geometric abstraction and the Light and Space movement of California. I'm interested in phenomenology-to sense something that is not present, or at least that which seems undefinable, a space out of reach beyond our perception" (Friday December 3rd, 2021 — MarketScreener)

Hedgerows were historically planted as barriers between fields, but in a human-dominated world, they are critical havens, corridors and connectors for wildlife. (Thursday November 25th, 2021 — BBC online)

...a large body of research has revealed that honey is chock-full of plant chemicals that influence honey bee health. Components in honey can help bees live longer, boost their tolerance of harsh conditions such as intense cold and heighten their ability to fight off infections and heal wounds. The findings hint at ways to help bees, which have been hit hard in recent years by parasites, pesticide exposure and habitat loss. (Wednesday November 24th, 2021 — BBC online)

“In an organic system like ours, the under-vine area is the area which is most difficult to manage. With horses, we can get much better access to it, and can do a much better job than with a mechanical means using a tractor, without the compaction.” (Sunday November 7th, 2021 — Stuff.co.nz)

The findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, suggest that the so-called Camel Site actually dates to between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago. As Arab News reports, this timeline would likely make the sculptures the world’s oldest surviving large-scale, three-dimensional animal reliefs. (Saturday October 16th, 2021 — Smithsonian.com -)

In an era where early academic pressures are being put onto younger and younger learners, the Waldorf School of Baltimore is seeing the pendulum swing back towards a more developmentally appropriate entry into education. In fact, their Waldorf Kindergarten program has become so popular that this year, as the school celebrates its fiftieth birthday, they found need to open a second class and an opportunity was born: to create an outdoor classroom called Chestnut Woods to house their first ever Forest Kindergarten. (Tuesday October 5th, 2021 — Baltimore Fishbowl)

It started in Austria with the “first wave” changing to biodynamic. Styrian growers like Sepp Muster, Werlitsch, Tscheppe, etc. started natural winemaking and the biggest change, was fermentation of whites on the skins. This was in the early 2000s. We, at our estate, started in 2003 with skin fermentation, changed to biodynamic 2 years later and started getting our experience in natural winemaking in 2006 with the move to biodynamic. (Thursday September 30th, 2021 — Forbes)

Going beyond organic: Château Palmer has been a pioneer of biodynamics, alongside other top estates like Climens and Pontet-Canet. (Thursday September 30th, 2021 — decanter.com)

The Fish and Wildlife Service proposal Wednesday to take 23 animals and plants off the endangered species list — because none can be found in the wild — exposes what scientists say is an accelerating rate of extinction worldwide. A million plants and animals are in danger of disappearing, many within decades. The newly extinct species are the casualties of climate change and habitat destruction, dying out sooner than any new protections can save them. (Wednesday September 29th, 2021 — Washington Post - Washington DC USA)