Eating Meat or Not

I do believe we will eventually evolve out of the need to eat meat, I was once told by Hugh Courtney, who runs the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics that “biodynamic farmers will be the last people to stop eating meat,” because their lives are so intertwined with the cow. But, our soils are now so depleted of both nutrients and life forces that it is utterly impossible to rebuild them without animal manures, therefore it seems natural that a sector of our population will continue to eat meat, making an immediate conversion to widespread vegetarianism unlikely. (Building soil through only cover-cropping would take 15 -20 years).

Ostensibly, as people evolve, we will eat less and less meat, and more of that meat will be raised on small scale farms, where animals and vegetable crops are once again integrated, so that there are only enough animals raised needed to produce compost to raise the vegetables on that farm. In time, more and more people will decrease their meat consumption, and perhaps eat only eggs and raw milk, still maintaining a domestic animal population.

My own experience is that when we were farming full time for over 15 years, I expended a lot of energy, and ate a lot more meat. Now that I am in publishing full-time, I notice my body does not require as much meat, and I am eating a much lighter, raw food based diet. So, there are not only the environmental impacts to keep in mind, but we can also ask how what we eat affects our consciousness, and does it support what are we trying to create in the world? And also, in the realm of consciousness studies, there is much judgment towards our food choices, judgment against ourselves and others. Rudolf Steiner emphasized that is was important not to become fanatical when it came to diet. He said that he was a vegetarian, that indeed he needed to be in order to do his spiritual research, but was once reputed to order a steak in a restaurant to make this point. He gave many teachings on the results of dietary choices, but was clear that what one eats is an individual choice, depending on where that person was in their own evolution, and he said he could not prescribe a “diet” that is right for everyone. —Christy Korrow

The Bees

Interview with Biodynamic Beekeeper

This was an interview I did this spring for LILIPOH.

Honoring the Bien; For the Love of Honeybees

Author: Interview with Michael Thiele
Issue: Summer 2008: Honeybees as wise messengers - Issue #52, Vol. 13

Michael Thiele grew up on a farm in a tiny village in central Germany. He has been deeply influenced by the German biodynamic beekeeping movement and now teaches classes on natural and holistic beekeeping in the United States. He worked for seven years as the beekeeper at Green Gulch Farm, a Zen center just north of San Francisco. He takes care of the hives at The Melissa Garden, a honeybee sanctuary––including several “alternative” hives. Melissa Garden utilizes biodynamic methods and will seek Demeter certification. By extension, their beekeeper, Michael Thiele, is practicing biodynamic beekeeping methods according to the standards put forth by the international Demeter Association. Michael was interviewed over the phone by LILIPOH editor, Christy Korrow.

LILIPOH: Please introduce us to the concept of the bien. What does it mean, and how is it related to beekeeping?

M. Thiele: It’s interesting that, let’s say, maybe 150 years ago, before the introduction of modern beekeeping, beekeeping was not something special and not performed for any agro-industrial production. The crops, so-called crops, were not really the focus of beekeeping. It was just part of agriculture. Part of regular life. Culturally, the bees have always been important to humans. But it was not about the crop itself.

Then, at a very interesting time, when modern beekeeping emerged, meaning the Langstroth hives (square boxes), some people started raising their voice and said “wait a moment.” The tendency of the modern human mind is to approach the world through reduction and to look only at certain aspects of the bee hive. Due to this, the notion of the one-being was created ( Einwesen, in German) also called the Bien (bee in German is: Biene)

The concept of the bien reveals itself as an undividable entity. As something which is beyond the sum of its small and many parts. The modern equivalent to bien could be called super-organism. More like the biological term for this. A super-organism is something which goes beyond individual organisms, so this is what the beehive is. It’s something which goes far beyond its individual parts. So that is the basic understanding of bien.

LILIPOH: If we are to approach the hive with this in mind, then it affects the choices we make on how to prepare their home, where to place them, and in general how we treat our bees.

M. Thiele: Once you approach the honeybees with this kind of understanding, everything gets turned upside down, beginning with how we name the individual parts. For example, “worker bees.” Calling them this is so limiting to the female bees, and I always feel it doesn’t do them justice. These names we have for bees were derived from our own intention...Read the entire interview

New Top Bar Hive

Our daughter Gabbi stenciled our new hive body, and Chris built the shed ... it can hold two more hive bodies. The hive was designed by Gunther Hauk, a well-known biodynamic beekeeper who has recently established a honeybee sanctuary called Spikenard Farm.

Eagles in Washington

Eagles glide
On a regular basis
Just over my cabin

Maybe the residents
Of this sleepy little coastal town
Get used to them

But I never could
Think of them as just being
An ordinary fixture
Of the landscape

There was a pair today
In a tree
And then they were gone

Had things to do I suppose
But no particular time frame
In which to do it

I'm suppose to be recording music
For my next nature documentary
But I haven't been very productive

I feel a strong urge
To have something to show
For my time and reason
For being here

But all I want to do
Is sit on the bluff

And soar with the Eagles

Photo and poem by Chris Korrow