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HP Top > 日誌Top > ベン/ Ben Campbell > may 21 2009 it's a bullcalf

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2009/05/21
may 21 2009 it's a bullcalf
[ベン/ Ben CampbellComment(2)]

It's a bull calf.We named him junior.We got to witness the birth,his first steps,and his first taste of momma's milk.Today he is two days old.Tomorrow the cows go to the pasture for the first time this year.They have been grazing in the woods behind our house since the snow went away.We hope we can put pigs in there later.We'll see how it goes.
We dug up our preps this last weekend.They turned out good.the 506 was robbed by some animal bear,fox or dog probably before winter.luckily we had some buried in the pasture leftover from the Shintoku workshop last fall.the 500 turned out just so so.We used mostly the hooves with only about 12 horns.The horns all turned out good.Some hooves were good some not.We noticed that the hooves that were put open end to open end that were not from the same foot or leg did not do well.The ones that looked like they were from the same leg looked good.Some hooves that were not exactly end to end and looked like they could be from the same leg looked real good.We buried some cow horns and hooves in the pasture that were also leftover from Shintoku workshop were not buried with the hooves end to end and they looked better than the ones we buried in the pit end to end and horns looked good too.The pasture pit was only big enough for 7 horns and 2 cow hooves and only about 1 foot deep.The big pit was a half meter deep and clay at the bottom.We think the pit was not a good location.Maybe not enough drainage because of the clay bottom.This year we will bury some of them without the ends to end and some end to end in a better pit.We dont have many horns so we have to use hooves.We read in a book that you should bury the hooves flat with the end to end.That is why we tried it that way.Do you know a better way?What is the right way?Konomi tried to tell me that we should bury some with the open end down but i didn't listen and now i'm sorry i didn't listen to her.We'll count the hooves and let you know how many we buried.We got more hooves getting ready for this fall so we will have more hooves in a bigger pit.
We made 501 and 502.We had 7 of us at this workshop.We stuffed 5 deer bladders and made 1 501 cow horn.
We dug up 502 it looked good.But we think it could have gotten more light from the sun during the summer and stay in the ground a little longer.
The 503 looked good too.Next year we will bury 502 503 506 in clay pots in the ground.
We dug up the 504 because it was buried under a powerline and we repacked it in a round flue liner and sealed the ends with clay from the back yard.We dont know yet if we should use peat moss with the clay flue liner or not.I think Jeff Poppen just buried them without the peat moss in teera gotta tiles like we have.Hugh Courtney made pillows like i did this time but the peat moss for us is expensive and a lot of work.When we dug up the 504 it had not fully decomposed.It still had big pieces of stem in it.Maybe it will be ready next year.But we will make more this fall.
The 505 turned out real good.We had 4 cow skulls and 1 pig skull.We will not use the pig skull because we cooked the pigs head at the summer soltice party last year along with the rest of the pig of course.We have a good pit for this prep with mountain snow melting or semi glacier water runoff.



506 was robbed.We learned a lot from my first prep making on my own.Konomi has made preps before and so have i but i had not seen the results of my work until now.I have seen other people dig up their preps and listened to their observations.
The only prep we did not get to make for our selves yet is 507.The valerian preparation.I look forward to making it as i do all the preps but we are growing our own valerian.Can you find some valerian flowers and send them to us?if you want to know more about or have any advise or suggestions about our biodynamic preparation making please call or write to us.
Other news is our garden is coming along very slowly.We are planting in the csa garden now by the biodynamic calendar from Pokowapa in Kyushu.We added compost to the unused parts as the seeds we planted earlier are not looking too good right now.I'll add sifted compost to the set out vegetables by side dressing them with it.I believe the soil has no life.Plants should have a breakfast lunch and dinner type stage of life.Start the seeds in a lite soil and for breakfast the when they are transplanted they should have a little more fertilizer in the soil(lunch) before they are set out into a well fertilized garden space(dinner).So we have to catch up to the dinner stage.Just because you dont use chemicals doesnt mean you are organic.Soil is an organism like animals and plants.It is alive or should be.We will bring life to our garden soil.I could talk a long time on how to bring life to your soil but if you want to talk to me later or come by i'll talk then.I will be glad to talk to anyone on how to grow organically at aytime.I'm still learning the biodynamic method and can tell you only a little on how and why it works.I got involved with biodynamics because i wanted a better garden.The next thing i knew was that i was learning to know my own soul and that i am healing the earth.Now i'm hooked on Dr. Steiner's philosophy.
The farmers market has opened up and our first csa delivery date is coming on june 4.So What are we doing now?We are building a brickoven,taking care of our new baby calf and will start milking soon,we are gardening for a csa and farmers market,we are processing our preps,we are preparing for a music festival and planning our fall workshop,we are having study groups and we are training 2 apprentices.Konomi is still working partime at the candy farm but i'm working here.The money situation is tight until our oven is finished and our crops are ready to harvest.This is a very tough time we are going through.But we have to do it to accomplish our mission.Konomi is working her tail off.She is doing all the networking and organizing our events while forming commitees and trying to keep up the house and do what she can outside on the farm.She is so wonderful.It is a very stressful time for both of us and she makes it all worthwhile.It was her who came to Virginia to a workshop to help with the biodynamic movement in Japan.I'm just trying to help her do that.We are doing a lot for the biodynamic movement by being farmers and her networking.We could use a little support right now.Call or write if you want to help us.I'll try to write again later.

Love and peace.Ben.



[ベン/ Ben CampbellComment(2)]

Edited by ベン/ Ben Campbell 2009/05/21 23:06:26
Last Modified 2009/05/22 22:48:52

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コメント(Comment)


お孫さん(?)のご誕生おめでとう!!

朝の光の中で、なんと神々しいのでしょう。

生命誕生のの神秘ですね!!

牛さん達、目がキラキラしていてみんなかわいい〜。

たくましく育って、大家族をつくってゆくことでしょうね。



忙しい中、伊藤さんの文もアップしていただいてどうもありがとう。

(って私が言うのもヘンか?)



ジュニア誕生のベンの記事を読んでみたいので、ついでに

訳しちゃうね。できたら送ります。

投稿者(Contributor):けいこ|2009/05/25 05:54:29


Thank you everyting, Ben.
I love you.

投稿者(Contributor):konomi|2009/05/25 06:01:10

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