cosmic light and cosmic warmth
Honouring Summer Solstice by spraying Horn Silica (BD 501)
The radiant beauty of the world
Impels me now from depths of soul
To free my own life-powers divine
For World-aspiring flight;
To leave my self behind
And simply trusting, seek my Self
In cosmic light and cosmic warmth.
—Tr. John F. Gardner
I awoke at dawn to begin the stir. To prepare the Biodynamic Preparation Silica Quartz or“BD 501”, I added one unit of crushed horn silica to a bucket of rain water. It takes one hour of stirring to become potent. I find the one-hour stir powerfully meditative. As the rain water becomes structured, the feeling changes in your fingertips; the water becomes velvety, silky, thicker, smoother.
Immediately after the stirring is complete, the silica spray must be applied.
I use a manual sprayer to achieve a fine mist that gently coats my urban food forest.
I purchase all of my preparations from the
, whose website explains that “spraying the silica preparation stimulates photosynthesis and the ripening process, regulates leaf growth, enhances flavour and storage quality. It also improves carbon sequestration by enhancing the sugar-forming process.”This is why it is so valuable to spray silica preparation on fruiting shrubs, vines and trees: it makes them bear more fruit and taste sweeter. Silica is one of the reasons biodynamic wineries are such abundant producers of flavourful bouquets.
My strawberries, haskaps, blackberries, raspberries and elderberry are already turning from flower to fruit. It is the first year my young Saskatoon berry tree is bearing fruit, its boughs bending almost sideways, heavy with bright red berries. My zucchini, pumpkins, beans, sunflowers, fever few, arnica, echinacea, borage, chicory, marigolds, lettuce, swiss chard, thyme, rosemary, basil, witch hazel, asparagus, jerusalem artichoke, cucumber and tomato will all benefit from the silica spray.
It’s the most food I’ve ever grown; it’s the most diligent I’ve been with spraying.
If horn manure (BD 500) is the biodynamic farmer’s right hand, horn silica (BD 501) is the farmer’s left hand. Working in tandem, horn silica is to be sprayed only after horn manure has been applied. This year, our homeschool group made our own horn manure preparations for the first time. They have been buried in the ground, fermenting and enriching with healthy micro organisms and life forces that will enrich our soils and enliven our homestead properties. We are gathering to dig them up on St. John’s Day, June 24th. They have been fermenting since last Autumn’s equinox, when we gathered to celebrate Michaelmas.
I’ve been spending a lot of time connecting to homeschool families across Ontario, working to grow my network as I seek to share my knowledge of biodynamic sprays and edible food forests, and I sense the interest in biodynamics continues to grow.
Giving and sharing freely is the key to abundance. After spraying our yard, I wandered off to spray two other neighbours’ yards. They are not Waldorf or biodynamic growers, but they offer a kind curiosity for all the “weird potions” I’m always preparing, and often compliment my “wild garden” for its continually improving soil health and increasing crop yields. As I offered the silica spray to these neighbours’ yards, I felt such a sense of peace and community wash over me. Even though I can often feel isolated here in suburbia, I am held by the etheric energy of the Humber River, these long, narrow backyards that provide vital habitat and biodiversity on the edges of a concrete jungle. While I was spraying one neighbors’ hundred year old maple, a young red breasted hawk landed on a limb high above, looking down at me with such interest, bobbing its head up and down. Its presence felt like an acknowledgement from Divine Source that I am doing the work I am being asked to do, as weird as it may sound or as unusual as it may be, and that I am fulfilling my soul purpose as I share my passion for chemical-free gardens and help grow the movement.
The Solstice takes place today at 4:50pm EST, when the sun enters the zodiac of Cancer. I encourage you to take a moment and acknowledge the Universal Life Force that connects us, and your own unique gifts that can help shepherd change.
Let us be certain that our efforts in working for peace, social justice and sustainable communities will result in a new cultural flowering.1
Happy Solstice!
https://www.satyacenter.com/en-ca/blogs/cosmic-weather-forecast/summer-solstice