François Chidaine practices bio-dynamicsin his Montlouis and Vouvray vineyards.
The basic products used in bio-dynamic agriculture are dung compost, horn dung, and horn silica. Before being used, all three have to be "dynamised" in a process that consists of putting the product in water and stirring it "by first turning in one direction so as to create a vortex or funnel inside the water and then in the other direction for a set period of time," the English-language brochure says. "Thus a transfer from matter to water takes place."
Dung compost is made up mainly of cow dung, silica, limestone, and various plant-based preparations "such as milfolio, camomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion. It is first dynamised for 20 minutes before being sprayed onto the soil in fine droplets after 3 pm g.m.t."
The "tasting room" chez Aubert in Vouvray,where bio-dynamic agriculture is not practiced.
Here's a link to an earlier topic on the Aubert winery.
"This compost introduces life into the earthy element," the brochure says. It doesn't explain why you have to wait until after 3:00 p.m. GMT to spray it on the ground.
Here's how you prepare the product called "horn dung": You place dung "in a cow's horn which is buried in the ground over winter where it fills up with vitalising energy." Then you spread it on the soil "after one hour of dynamisation and after 3 pm g.m.t."
Here's a scan of the page in French,in case you want to read the original.
Horn dung encourages plants to grow thicker, longer roots, the brochure says, and therefore makes them more drought resistant. That would be important in France, where irrigation of the vineyards is prohibited (unlike in California, for example). "Horn dung attracts cosmic forces into the sap while planetary forces are provided by the dung compost," according to the Huet brochure.
"The role of dung compost and horn dung is to prepare the plant and the soil to maximize efficiency of the horn silicum." More on that another day.
The timing of spraying the preparations will be something to do with circadian rhythms I expect, so plants or other micro-organisms may take it up better later in the day. I can't remember spraying being restricted to particular times of the day.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame they are focusing on so many of the hokey elements of the practice, but adherents are rather encouraged to see the movement as quasi-religious.
The basic principle is that if you take care of the soil and in particular its micro-organisms, everything else will just about take care of itself.
The conventional phrase in England is "muck and mystery".
ReplyDeleteI won't tell you my father's variation on that...
Dung, in and out!
ReplyDeleteJust catching up after a week off, so I'm late to the party. The Benziger winery in the Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen that has been practicing bio-dynamic farming for years, sans the hokey bits. At its simplest, everything used in the farming process comes from the land -- the mulch they put down between rows of vines comes from fallen trees elsewhere on the farm. They do things I'd rather not inquire too closely about with composting and ponds of muck to encourage the nice little micro-organisms Susan mentions.
ReplyDeleteTwo things stand out about the Benziger operation: the passion for the land that motivates the winemakers and the quality of the wines they produce. Good stuff.
...Susie