Aaron Perry
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Lin Bautze is Project Manager for the “Living Farms” program at the Goetheanum’s Section for Agriculture. Previously, she was Scientific Coordinator at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, where she led scientific monitoring activities for the “Strategies for Organic and Low-input-farming to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change” (SOLMACC) project, which focused on optimized nutrient management, crop rotation, reduced tillage and agroforestry in Germany, Italy, and Sweden. She was also engaged in the negotiations at Bonn, Germany for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She holds a Master’s of Science in Global Change Management from the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development in Germany, a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental and Resource Management from the Brandenburgische Technische Universitat Cottbus, also in Germany, and studied Environmental Science at the University of Buea in Cameroon. Her publications include: “The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in Ensuring Food Security by 2030,” Mitigating the Impact of Agriculture on Air Quality and Climate Change: Solutions for Improved Nitrogen Management,” “Agriculture and Deforestation: The EU Common Agricultural Policy, Soy, and Forest Destruction,” “Participatory Forest Management in the Congo Basin: Ways for Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Development,” and “Organic Farming, Climate Change Mitigation and Beyond: reducing the Environmental Impacts of EU Agriculture.” She is also a yoga teacher and a music therapy educator.
Transcript
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Welcome to the YonEarth community podcast. I’m your host, Aaron William Perry. And today
we’re visiting with Lin Bautze from the Gritianum in Switzerland, Highland.
Hi everybody. It’s great to be with you today. Thanks for having me.
Absolutely. So Lin is scientific collaborator and project management at the section for
agriculture at the Gritianum. And the Gritianum is the global center for Rudolph Steiner’s work
and for the biodynamic movement. She has extensive experience in research and science related to
organic agriculture and climate stabilization strategies. She did her bachelor of science at
Brandon Bergeshow Technischer University Tate Kotbus in Germany and also did her masters
in science at the Ebersvalde University for Sustainable Development. She has published numerous
articles and research papers on these topics, including one called organic farming, climate
change mitigation and beyond, reducing the environmental impacts of the European Union agriculture.
And so a particular import and interest is that the Gritianum is hosting its annual
biodynamic conference in just a few weeks time. And we’re going to share some really exciting
ways that people from all over can engage and get involved with this wonderful event.
And I want to mention to that Lin before working at the Gritianum was doing work at the Research
Institute of Organic Agriculture as scientific coordinator for Solmac. And that’s the strategies
for organic and low input farming to mitigate and adapt to climate change, where she was doing
research particularly focused on agricultural projects in Germany, Italy and Sweden.
So Lin, it’s absolutely wonderful to have this opportunity to visit with you. And I’m so excited
to have you share with us the work you all are doing at the Gritianum and that you’re helping
lead in the global biodynamic movement. So welcome. Thank you very much. I’m happy to share.
Excellent. Well, I’d like to I’d like to kick it right off by asking you to tell us
what is the upcoming conference all about and why is it a particular importance right now in
these times? Yeah. So the upcoming conference will be a climate conference and the topic will be
breathing in the climate crisis. And we’re doing this in collaboration with the youth section
at the Gritianum. So we really want to involve the youth in it. And the ideas to really show that
climate change and finding solutions for climate change is not a one-dimensional problem,
but that we have to tackle it from various dimension. And in biodynamics, this is really a core
issue because you look at agriculture in a way where you include the social and the environment
perspective and the economic perspective, but you broaden this perspective also by the spiritual
dimension and to really include the spirituality as well. And that’s why we will look at these
different poor themes and show the how they are interconnected. And yeah, by this we would like
to provide holistic solutions for this problem we are facing. And actually the theme was
initiated before Corona, but I think breathing in the climate crisis becomes quite a
double-sided dimension at the moment as we are in this pandemic. And the idea is to be able to
breathe again and to really come out of the conference and have solutions for farmers but also
for us as youth young people so that we know how we can live in this world and continue to live
in this world. It’s so wonderful. I’m so excited and I’m really looking forward to participating and I
think the YonEarth community is going to help host one of the regional events. It will be
pretty small because of COVID obviously, but there are so many different ways people can engage.
Of course, a lot of this will be done online and through video and so on. So I just I want to
be really emphatic in inviting any of our audience who would like to dive deeper and learn more and
also build more community with folks like you Lin and your colleagues who are really helping
to provide these holistic solutions. And I think that’s such an important key in all of this.
And to me it’s encouraging. We’re seeing more and more integration between economics and
environmental and social and even the spiritual dimensions. And it’s interesting because in a lot
of the the scientific work and realm over the last several decades, there’s been a lot of
exclusion of the spiritual. And I’m curious for you as a scientist in Europe, how does that work
when you’re interacting with different colleagues working on policy and obviously not everyone’s
going to share the same spiritual beliefs, right? Yeah, I mean, I think not everybody’s sharing
the same beliefs, but one thing that that is good is that many scientists work at the same time
at this topic as well. And by this, the scientific proof is given. And I mean, recently just one
of the studies came out that, for example, organic and biodynamic farming is producing much more
carbon in the soil because of the root growth of the plants. And these numbers help us on the one
hand to to argue in this way of farming and say, okay, it’s not just spirituality. And even if you
don’t believe in the spiritual way for yourself, the numbers are scientifically proven to help
tackle an important issue that we face globally. And I think then everybody can decide if he or she
wants to join the spirit of the dimension or not. And I think that’s the freedom of choice, but
my dear. Absolutely. And it’s been my experience helping to host and offer biodynamic stir
ceremonies with soil activating preparations for communities all around the country that biodynamics
provides a really unique and potent venue and context for people with a variety of spiritual
and religious backgrounds to come together in the very grounded connected practices working with
the water and the preparations and the soil and the plants and the animals. And so it seems to
me to provide a unique nexus. And I haven’t found anything else that can do that in quite such a
powerful way. Yeah. And I mean, you can really feel it as well. If you visit a biodynamic farm,
it’s a different atmosphere. And you don’t need to be a very spiritual person to experience. But
when you come at the farm, you feel maybe at home or if you eat the food of a biodynamic farm,
it has a different taste and it warms you in a different way. So everybody can experience this
experience in a personal way. And that’s the beauty about biodynamics farming that
gives an entry point for each person where they’re spending in life.
Yeah. So beautiful. I have friends farming at sustainable settings in
Carbondale, Colorado, up in the mountains, which is near Aspen, which of course has some very
high-end fine dining in some of the most celebrated chefs in the world, really. And they
prefer sourcing produce and other food products from the biodynamic farm because of the taste
profile. It’s very interesting that they’re noticing a real difference. Yeah. And sometimes you
even see it in the vegetables. For example, you can also see it by just looking at the vegetables,
how the structures are different in biodynamics, biodynamic produced food.
And yeah, you’re absolutely right. I mean, one of the other things that is really nice in
biodynamic farming is that it really gives the opportunity for people to meet. And often
biodynamic farms are very social places. And I mean, at the moment, of course, this is also a
little bit restricted in comparison to before Corona. But still, it’s often places where people come
together and exchange and to get to know one another and to get to know farming as well. So often
also educational centers and for other farmers to learn new techniques, for example.
Yeah, absolutely beautiful. Well, I also, I’m really excited to talk a bit about
the living farms work that you guys are doing. And I had the opportunity to view one of your videos
recently to prepare for our discussion today. And it seems that you guys are really taking
advantage of the video and global communication technology to help invite people into experience
something that you otherwise would only experience by visiting in person. And I was hoping you could
tell us a bit more about what’s happening with the living farms project. Yeah. So you got the idea
pretty right from the living farms project. So the idea is to really show what biodynamic places
offer in this global challenges that we face. And of course, this global challenges does not just
include climate change, but also biodiversity laws and reduce soil fertility, nutrient run
of water beautification. So all of this problem that, let’s say, with a conventional agricultural
system evolves and spread even further. And yeah, we realized that biodynamic farming
offers a lot of possibilities to reduce these challenges and to really overcome these challenges.
And when I worked for the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland as well,
one of the main questions I asked myself on the research was we know so much at the moment.
We know basically which farming techniques are sustainable. And we know how good food system
would look like. But what it’s really lacking is adaptation of the farmers. So what are the
struggles that farmers face to take over these measurements and to say I would like to change to
a sustainable agriculture system. And I don’t know how this in the US actually, but for Europe,
it’s at least that it’s not a financial reason because often the farmers that farm organic or
biodynamic are actually better off financially. It can’t be an environment reason because the
environment is better off with these farming systems. So there must be a social reason for this.
And I found that one of the main licking links is that many research projects or even educational
projects don’t show farmers. So you have this, the sketch that farmers don’t, farmers are not
shown in explaining their thoughts and explaining how they implemented certain practices and why
what their strategies are to overcome challenges or how they test different things. And that’s quite
interesting, I think, that we developed into a system that where the voices of farmers are
sometimes not very heard enough. And with the Living Farms project, we wanted to change that in a
way. We wanted to show their solutions and we wanted to let farmers really speak and let them
show us how they change the system and what their steps are. And yeah, that’s basically the
idea to motivate other farmers to join the movement or to improve their own systems in a way
by just looking at farmers and their farms. And to see what great work they are doing on the farms.
Yeah, it’s so wonderful. And yeah, the social aspect of this deep question of change
and how to best realize substantial rapid change at scale around the world is so interesting. And
is, I think, a significant part of the theory of change, if you will, that we work with at the
Winers community. And I was really impressed by the recent film Kiss the Ground in their feature,
an exposé of farmers who are thinking about the potential for that change. And these are farmers
at scale and Brad Basket regions like the Midwest of the United States. And we had Phineon Makepiece
on the podcast, who was one of the producers of that film. And it was really, really well done.
And I’m just, I’m so excited that with your work, you’ve got a global scope. And I’m curious
with the Living Farms project. Can you give us an idea of where some of these participating
farms are located? How many so far, you know, are you in this network and are featured in these
videos that are being created? Yeah. So we started with a pilot in Switzerland at the Gutianum,
actually, at the Garden of the Gutianum, because at the Gutianum, we also, there’s also gardening.
What do you say there to Gardener? Like, yeah, we started on the ground, basically.
And then we portrayed one community farm in Germany,
which is based off six families that farm together in a very interesting way.
Then we have portrayed two farms in Kenya. So one farm, which is a school, actually,
where they have a school garden, and they really educate the biodynamic farmers also in Kenya,
and one farm where they have 5,000 smallholder farmers to produce together macadamia nuts. So they have
like, each of the farmers has about one hectare of land, and they produce this under one label.
And then we visited this year, but the movies are not out yet.
So they will be released on the conference, one more reason to be part of the conference, maybe.
So we have visited one farm in Lithuania, which was very interesting. So that’s a grain farmer,
basically, but he’s also having highland cattle, and one farm for wine production. So there was
in Italy, and one farm in Finland, where they are doing a CSA, so community support of agriculture.
Yeah, that’s so far. And if the traveling res at the moment in Europe, the traveling restrictions
are quite heavy, so I couldn’t visit all the farms that I wanted to visit, but as soon as the
regulations will soften a bit, we will produce further movies.
Beautiful. And I’m excited, because I’m thinking of a few farms here in Colorado, and elsewhere
in the United States that might be excited to share a video this way as well. So I’m happy to
help make some connections if that’s helpful. Yeah, it’s nice.
Yeah. The, the macadamia farm, is that so are all those different? You got 5,000 small
holders? Are they all practicing biodynamics? Not all of them, so they started from the beginning
with organic farming, and now they’re shifting towards biodynamics. So in January, it was about
100 farmers that practice now ready biodynamics, and they are also getting a limit of certification.
I think last year, so we’re in January, last year. And yeah, the idea would be to
motivate most of the farmers for biodynamics, but they’re really doing this in a very participatory
way. So they just provide the education, and the farmers then can decide individually if they
would like to shift towards biodynamics, or if they would like to stay with organic. And that’s
quite interesting, because most of the farmers I talked with, they really shifted to biodynamics
out of a very, like, very huge curiosity. It was very interesting to see, because they really
wanted to, like, with a preparation, they found it so interesting to start this, this way of farming,
and they said, oh, I want to try it, but it really works. And then they were so convinced that they
told the other farmer neighbors that it really works for the macadamianats. And, and so in this way,
it’s a very interesting aspect that they entered the biodynamics out of curiosity, and just like
to get to know something new, but I think was a great way of testing something.
You know, it makes me smile. I’ve heard several stories of even conventional farmers
grazing the results of biodynamics. And often, you know, it involves tears of joy, and just the
the emotional impact of observing that there can be such dramatic changes and effects in the
vitality and the biodiversity and the quality of a given farm or even ecosystem. And it’s a beautiful
thing to know that this can spread all around the world, really. And it can be applied everywhere,
that’s also, that’s also nice thing, that they really try to adapt it also to the region,
and really to find for the preparations the materials that they can use locally as well. And I think
that’s a huge, yeah, empowerment in a way for the people to get to know a concept which can be
applied everywhere according to your local conditions. And you can really adapt it to your own
system that you have on your farm. This is so interesting. So with the case of the
macadamia farmers in Kenya, are they making the preparations with their own, you know, cattle and
herbs, or are they bringing preparations? And like, how does that kind of work in terms of the nuts
and bolts, if you are? Yeah, so the two farm, like the two places we visit, do it in different ways.
The one is like really doing it according to the, let’s say, original instructions of
Buddha Steinman. So he’s like doing it very precise and he has like little, for example, for the
oak bark preparations, he cultivated like little oak barks in his farm. But then there’s also
the other way of the people that they try to find, let’s say, a tree that is similar in the
characteristics of the oak. And that they try to get the spirit of the oak and realize which tree
would be, would be similar in their region. And then they adapt the preparations accordingly.
Yeah. So I think you can go both ways. Let’s also question of the own personality and character as
well. Yeah. It’s so beautiful. And it’s interesting to me that it sort of indicates some of the
complexity that emerges when we’re dealing with living systems. And I’m curious about the
Demeter certification, right? And as we’re seeing more and more biodynamic products coming into
the market, it’s great, right? Because that’s one of the ways we as consumers can support the movement
by buying those food and beverage products and clothing products. So how is that being handled in
terms of, you know, Demeter, you know, verifying and ensuring certain practices are happening,
but also allowing for those local adaptations and variations.
I have to admit, I’m not such an expert in the certification process, but as far as I know,
with those international certifications, there’s a little bit of the possibility to vary
in the regulations according to local conditions. But still, the basic standards should be achieved,
like, should be according to law, of course. But I’m not sure with the preparations, actually,
if like how much adaptation is possible. And of course, it’s also a question of like,
a lot of, or some of the biodynamics, or some of the farmers that practice biodynamics,
they’re not Demeter certified, but they practice biodynamics without having the certification.
So it’s also a question of if you have a certification or not, and what kind of certificate,
certifying persons, you have to take it to farm. Yeah, yeah, cool. Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Now, okay, I know a lot of our audience is familiar with biodynamics, but some of our audience
isn’t. And so I would ask you, if somebody were asking for the first time, you know, what is
biodynamics? How is it different from, you know, other organic practices, or what have you?
What, you know, what is your response? And how do you convey somewhat succinctly all of these
really interesting detailed elements that go into the biodynamic practice and experience?
Hmm, not an easy question. The biodynamics is quite complex in a way. And I think it
also depends who you ask what biodynamics is. For me personally, I think what resonates most
is the idea of Udostana to farm in a way of a farm organism, and that you have an individuality
as a farm, and that you create a system where, where the different elements of a farm so that can be
cow’s plants, soil, the atmosphere, the social sphere, that they come together in a way that they
are really one, now I’m lacking the English word, like one part in a way, so that they are not
separate, but they really intervene with one another, and that they form this farm organism.
And then you have this idea of the farm individuality that if you have a farm organism,
and the human comes into the system and creates, accultivates, landscape, and the farm that
one individuality evolves out of it, and that is something which can be experienced as I said at
the beginning in the atmosphere, but also in the taste of the product, and in the smell of
a product, or the soils, and of course then, so that’s personally for me the main difference,
and this individuality show in different characteristics, and from my research I could say
some of the characteristics are quite common in biodynamic farmers, so one I just mentioned
with the curiosity, but also with the social aspect that often biodynamic farms are places where
people come together, then you have like often a very deep love to the soil, and to the animal,
and that you really, and the plants as well from this interconnection, that you really want to
see the spirit of a plant, and the spirit of a soil, and the spirit of each animal,
and then of course we have these other tools, which are the preparations, which is mentioned,
so that’s something which is used in biodynamics, and not in organic farming,
and then it can also be farmed, for example, to the Maria Tun calendar, which is the moon calendar,
which is also included in the biodynamics, and other natural rhythms, so basically I would
say my dynamics is a way to farm where you try to integrate the different parts of a farm,
into the natural rhythms and needs in a way.
Yeah, beautifully put, and I actually love how you’re able to bring together all of these
different elements and dimensions in a relatively short description, and I wanted to,
no pun intended dig a little deeper on the preparations themselves, because in my experience,
it’s a very unique aspect of biodynamic farming, where essentially we’re creating herbal medicine,
if you will, and almost like the homeopathic soil-based, alchemical medicines for the land,
and the soil, and the water, and the plants, and animals, and can you describe for us a little bit
what the preparations are, and what that’s all about.
Yeah, so basically the idea of the preparations is that you have specific plants or materials
that you use, and sometimes there, so for example, hi, not so good in the English words,
the nettle, for example, the nettle is a very special plant in a way, and it grows on special
places, and if you use that as a preparation for the compost, the idea is that this quality of
the plant is then included into the compost, and the overall compost quality is enhanced for the whole
farm. And yeah, there we have the different preparations, and they’re made, and made at different
timings, so that depends if you’re in the wintertime, or in the summertime, and of course in the
tropics, there’s always this challenge that you need to adapt to the timing as well. And yeah,
as he said, it’s a way of a little bit like chomeopathy, and to use it all over the farm,
and it’s also again a very social aspect as well, so the people come together, and they stir
the preparations, and then they spray it on their fields, so that’s quite often quite a very
social aspect that comes there. And then there are also biodynamic farms that are not so
eager in the preparations, but they are very focused on other biodynamic practices, so that’s
the difference, and that depends on the individualities that come together.
Wonderful. Yeah, thank you so much. I want to remind our audience that this is the YonEarth
Community Podcast, and I’m your host, Erin William Perry. Today, we’re visiting with Lin Boutsa
from the Guilty Onament, Switzerland, and they, Lin and her colleagues, are hosting in just
a few weeks, a very special annual agricultural conference for biodynamics this year with a focus
on climate solutions, climate action, and stabilizing our climate in part through
biodynamic agricultural techniques and practices, and you can find out more about the conference by
going to agriculture-conference.org slash 2021. You can go to learn more about the Guilty Onament,
which is the headquarters for Rudolf Steiner’s work at GuiltyOnament.org, and of course, we’ll have
all this in the show notes for you, and check out livingfarms.net to experience these wonderful
videos being created by biodynamic farms all around the world, and I want to give a thanks and
shout out to our sponsors, making our podcast series possible, and the Community Mobilization and
Climate Action Work of the YonEarth Community possible, and this includes Earth Coast Productions,
the LIDGE Family Foundation, Alpine Botanicals, Purium, Earth Hero, Liquid Trainer,
Vera Urbals, Growing Spaces, Soil Works, Earth Water Press, 1% for the planet, Dr. Bronners,
and Waylay Waters. Now on the YonEarth.org website, you can go to the Partners and Supporters page,
that’s YonEarth.org slash Partners, Dash Supporters, to get discounts from most of these
companies on their products and services. A special thanks to Waylay Waters, one of our social
enterprises, who provide biodynamic hemp-infused aromatherapy, soaking salts, massage oils, and
saves, and they are offering special monthly gifts for folks who joined our monthly contributor
program. If you join at the $33 level or greater, you’ll get monthly shipments of the
Waylay Waters soaking salts. You can join at any level, and if you haven’t joined yet and you’d
like to, you can go to YonEarth.org slash support to join our monthly contributor circle.
So thanks to all of our supporters and a special thanks, Lin, to you and your colleagues,
for all the work you’re doing in the biodynamic movement and helping to spread this even further
now. And of course, one of my very favorite quotes from Rudolph Steiner, I don’t have it right with me.
I may have included in the show notes is about how it’s so important for us to spread the
biodynamic practices as far and wide as we can around the world to help deal with these
nutrition problems that we’re facing. And of course, as if he was anticipating many of these
other interconnected challenges like climate and the toxicification of our soil and water
and environments through chemical-based agriculture. And so it’s just wonderful that you guys are
leading the charge as it were with all of this. And I guess, Lin, I want to ask you,
what about the upcoming conference? Are you most excited about?
Last question, because there are so many, so many interesting things. So of course, there will be
very great presentations from different people that I’m excited to hear. But personally,
I think I’m most excited for the future labs part. Because in the future labs, the idea is that
that people will really work on 20 different topics that are related to climate change.
And in each of the future labs, an expert will be present and the participants will develop
their own questions for the farms or for their personal life and really go into the solution
finding. And so at the end of the conference, hopefully all of the participants from the future
labs will go out and say, okay, I know exactly where my vision is and what I want to achieve and
and how I can reduce my footprint I have on Earth and with concrete next steps. And I think that’s
something where I feel very excited about because I don’t know how you feel, but for me often
in this world, we face so many challenges, but we don’t have a clear vision how our
society should look like and how a positive society should look like. And I think if you
formulate for yourself how a good future and a good vision for you as a person that also
for society can be, then we really have the potential to go into this direction and focus on these
steps and say, okay, I’m taking part in this. And that’s for me quite exciting to start that
experiment. That’s so beautiful. I’m smiling over here with agreement and resonance. It’s so
important to have clear vision. And I’m actually late in the process of finishing a novel and
epic novel that presents this kind of vision in the story is a deep exploration of biodynamics.
So yeah, it’s one of, we can do so much in terms of healing our planet and our
our social and economic challenges and dysfunctions really. And I believe in my heart that
biodynamics offers something very special at the core of what’s possible for us to
to create and amplify together as a global community of humans. And so it’s just wonderful,
Lin. And I’m really looking forward to the conference. And I know YonEarth is going to help
participate and invite some others in our network to be involved. And it’s great knowing you’re
doing all the work you’re doing as a scientist and as a biodynamic practitioner. And also you
have been part of the negotiations related to the global community’s work on climate change. And
you recently were involved in negotiations in Vaughn for the UNF CCC. And I was curious if you
might tell us a bit about that aspect of the work that you’re doing.
Yeah, I think that came with my study course. So like I studied global change management where
we really tried to analyze global systems and to really look at things in a systemic way.
And for me, policy belongs with it. I mean, I believe in grassroots movements and I believe also
in local acting. And at the same time, I still believe that we need for some of the issues
also global policy. And with the UNFCC, I find it quite interesting that you have this policy
development where really the different states come together and try to negotiate a consensus
and try to find a solution for all the countries. And of course, you can’t see it without critics.
I mean, it’s always also bad sides about political developments. And I don’t want to go into
this one deeper. But for me, it was very promising to see that people can come together and
and discuss things and partly find solutions for things, for challenges. And I mean, it’s also
something which touches me a little bit now with the corona situation because I think it’s the
first time that we as a global society reacted in a very fast and interesting way to take a global
issue. And so I think after this pandemic, we can’t say that we are not able anymore to do this.
So there will be no excuse to not go into the climate change solution finding.
And it’s clear that we are capable of humans to do this. And we have the financial resources.
If we need it. And that’s, yeah, that there needs to be steps that need to be done in the future.
Yeah, yeah, beautiful. Yeah. So I know that you’re living in a small
village, rural community in Switzerland, but you grew up in Berlin and had a very sort of
urban lifestyle in your youth. And I’m curious, how is it different for you going from a big
city like Berlin to a small village and tell us what you like about it and maybe also what’s
sometimes challenging about it? So for the challenges I have to admit that I sometimes miss
the food of Berlin. Because I grew up in a very multicultural district. And we had
if we had food from all of the different cultures that come together in Berlin, which I sometimes
really miss. But for the opportunities of living in the rural areas, for me, I think I never
felt so home in a way, because I can connect with a nature more deeply. And I can go two minutes
and I’m in the forest. I can walk for hours in the forest, which is for me personally really
great. So whenever I feel a little bit, I can go outside. And I also think that it’s quite healthy
in a way, because the number of people is also restricted. And as I said, we’re living in a very small
village, so it’s 100 people. And the philosopher Kosou said, for example, that 100 people are so
limited that you can grasp as a person. And where you can empathically think of the others and
that you’re capable of having them on your mind. And that’s something that I feel, because in
the cities, sometimes it’s very luminous and you’re a little bit lost in a way, but here you’re
much more connected. And I think that’s the same when you’re living on a farm and working with
the people on the farm that you’re more socially grounded and grounded with the nature as well.
Yeah. Yeah. That was a good change to move from Berlin to the area with the land here.
In addition to all the work you’re doing with climate and soil and agriculture and biodynamics
and work out the Gertianum, you’re also working as a yoga teacher and working on a music therapy
education program. Is that right? Yes. Tell us about that. What’s going on with those?
Yeah. I mean, yoga is for me a good way to release tension in the body. So it’s like on the one hand
a good sport, but it has also quite some similarities to the biodynamics philosophy and
anthroposophical philosophy. So Rudolf Stein, I don’t know, he was never in India, but he
seemed to be quite connected to the to the Vedic philosophies. Yeah. And yeah, it helps you to
to school your perception in a way and to to school yourself for
for acknowledging nature as well. And with the music, I mean, everybody that has worked
on a farm knows how much a farm can make different sounds and so much sounds developed from nature.
And I think that’s a beautiful thing if you’re connected with a nature, you hear all of this
different sounds and so music therapy is quite a quite a good way and I want you to start that.
So it’s just starting this year. Oh, that’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
You know, I’m struck sort of wrapping this back up and coming back around to the upcoming
conference and the biodynamics work. I’m struck that in the in the soil stewardship handbook
that we published a couple of years ago, we share a statistic, a fact that says a 10% increase
in soil carbon worldwide is equivalent to sequestering all of the fossil carbon that we’ve released
since the beginning of the industrial revolution. And I’m not necessarily putting you on the spot
to say whether or not that’s true. We can follow up later on the numbers, but you know, it strikes me
that our work with the soil in communities around the planet in particular with the biodynamic
tools and techniques really might just get us to the kind of future and culture that we long
for and that we might imagine an envision together. And so it gives me huge hope. And I’m wondering
how it feels for you and in your heart, what is your experience knowing the potential
and also knowing the scope of the challenges as a scientist? What is your what is your heart telling
you about what biodynamics might be able to help us do? I think I have to be I have to give
my recentific answer. I’m hope that’s that’s okay and I will try to explain it in a way that’s not
too scientific. So like having that idea to solve all of the climate problems so surely on
with the soil would for me personally be a little bit of dangerous vision? Yeah.
Because when you look at the soils and see how they work, you come up at a certain time at a
maximum of carbon that can be stored in the soil. And after this time, the carbon is recycled
again and again and released to the atmosphere again and then going back. So you at one point
you have a saturation point of the soil. However, if you manage your soil in a sustainable way
increasing the carbon that often comes along with for example less machinery use which has
climate change benefits or you have a good crop rotation which also comes along with the
mitigation potential for climate change and at the same time an adaptation potential because when
your soil is better you can I’m sure you know this as a farmer when when you have heavy rainfalls
your soil and your soils in a good quality it will soak up the water or if you have a drought it
will not dry this past as maybe the neighboring fields. And so I think organic or in particular
biodynamic practices come with practices that increase the soil quality and by this also the
mitigation potential but they offer much more solutions for climate change mitigation and
adaptation and that I think the beauty because you can’t expect to have or it would be it would be
said if we do the mistake again to just put one perspective on a farming system and we need to
develop or for me personal biodynamics is a system where you tackle several things at the same time
where you reduce the pesticide herbicide use and synthetic fertilizers which come with a huge
greenhouse gas potential and they need large quantities of energy to be produced at the same time
you increase the soil carbon you have smaller animal husbandy which comes with less methane for
example you have good crop rotations and results that grow better you have again the social system
that you have more local farming system where the customers buy at the farms or where smaller farm
markets happen where the customers can buy local food which comes with reduced emissions of
transportation freezing and storage and and and all of this and I think that’s the combination which
is very fruitful and and that’s the the power of biodynamics and organic farming in a way
but I wouldn’t put it on on one but specifically now with you 100% on that in fact we’ve got
colleagues working in so many sectors energy transportation I mean across the board not even
in agriculture and clearly all of these different pieces and solutions are critical
I get excited thinking about the way in which biodynamics particularly
offers so many such a big basket of solutions and many of which you you’ve mentioned and spoken about
so it makes me excited that’s that’s not all I’ll share all day long
yeah me too
so now you know we we need to wrap up Lin and I’m so happy we have this opportunity to speak with you
and I have to take the advantage of telling a really really cheesy joke that I get to share when
I encounter German speakers and then you a divorced hot which maybe you can translate for our
audience but before we before we conclude for today Lin I want to thank you for taking the
time to visit with us and if there’s anything else you’d like to say or share with our audience
please the floor is yours yeah so I’m I’m also very grateful for the possibility to to come
with your online and to meet your online and your audience as well and yeah I would just say
the brave and curious and start to continue the great work you’re doing on your farm and
your audience as well and yeah you welcome to join Switzerland in the conference and maybe at another
time when traveling is possible again yeah beautiful well thank you very much Lin it’s really
appreciated yeah and the saying was that everything has an end but only the sausage has two ends
which speaks a lot about our culture that the sausages have such a big impact
yeah it’s natural in the in the philosophical culture I suppose
so thanks so much Lin it’s wonderful connecting with you and look forward to collaborating with you more
we are too thank you very much the YonEarth community stewardship and sustainability
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