Please help

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2009/12/25
Please help

Dear friends,

My wife, Konomi and I met at the 2007 The Josephine Porter Institute in Virginia U.S.A.. Fall workshop to learn to make the BioDynamic preparations. I had previously attended the spring workshop and other workshops there as well. We were both apprentices on Biodynamic farms.She on a BioDynamic farm in Iwamizawa Japan and I at Jeff Poppens farm in Tennessee. After the workshop we invited Konomi to come to Tennessee to see how a C.S.A. garden operation works and attend another prep making workshop in Kentucky. We worked together there on Jeff's farm, fell in love and decide to become partners in the BioDynamic movement and so we married. We could go anywhere in the world we wanted to go to learn more or start on our own. We decided to go to Japan because Konomi was starting a BioDynamic movement already, almost all by herself. Konomi was part of starting the first Anthroposophical community in Japan(Hibiki no mura) before she became an apprentice in Iwamizawa. And she is already well known for her work in BioDynamics in Japan by other countries. Japan is a rich country but they are only 1% organic.We want to help raise that 1% higher. We saw the need to do something about trying to introduce BioDynamics to Japan by making the BioDynamic preparation for farmers and gardeners who wanted the preps but could not find them or know how to make them themselves.
We moved to Iwamizawa but the farmer there did not make his own preps and did not have cows.Shortly after we arrived in Iwamizawa we were invited to give a workshop on BioDynamics in the Tokachi area of Hokkaido. Takeshi Han-ura and Michiyo, Konomi and I Gave this workshop to a group of farmers who were associated with Hidenobu Ito, an organic buyer and distributer near the city of Obihiro. Mr. Ito invited Konomi and I to stay and help him with the BioDynamic/organic movement there with him. So we decided to move there on one of his farms.We tried to tell everyone about our farming method but only seeing is believing. Mr.Ito said we could stay on the farm for 2 years and then we had to move.
Our first year there was just getting settled in and making friends and resourceing materials and herbs for prep making. We made preps and they turned out ok. We could not find organic cows for our cow parts nor valerian. So we planted valerian and used it the second year. We bought 2 jersey heifers and fenced of some pasture for them. We sprayed the pasture with BD 500,barrel compost (B.C.) ,and BD 501.A friend gave us a round bale of his organic hay. We collected manure all winter and made several compost piles the next spring and preped them. That first year we did all that and supported ourselves on part-time jobs. We were making a network as we went.
We had a fall workshop to discuss lecture 8 of the agriculture course by Dr Steiner with Denis Pillaud who has been farming BioDynamically in Kyushu for over 20 years. He has been helping Takeshi and Konomi give these workshops over the last 10 years here in Hokkaido. Takeshi has started the Hokkaido BioDynamic Association but is not officially registered. So after this fall workshop Denis, Takeshi, Konomi and I decided we should have a meeting to discuss an official BioDynamic association. So we met during the winter to discuss the Demeter standards. We talked for 2 days and decided to call our association the BioDynamic Agriculture Association of Japan (B.A.A.J.) Mr. Ito is financing the registration fee and Takeshi was named our associations director in charge of getting registered. We wrote a prospectus of our intentions for this association and sent it to our interested friends.So all that is going on now. You can contact him to learn more about what is going on with our association at (han-ura@mx2nisiq.net) and please support him if you can.

Our second year we built a woodfired brick oven ,made a C.S.A. garden and attended some eco events as vendors to sell our goods and spread the word about Biodynamics and expand our network. We made preps and B.C. again and used our compost during the summer and used the sprays too. We were doing very well with 10 C.S.A. members selling bread and expanding our network.
We decided we should try to find a place where we could start a BioDynamic farm community. We found a place 2 hours away in Honbetsu with Mr.Hayashi. It was hard for us to make a future on Mr.Ito's farm knowing we had to move. Everything we did was temporary or portable. But now we have land we can build on. Mr.Hayashi has let us join his farm corporation.He Runs a school and farm business but is retiring soon. So Konomi and I are in charge of the farm and he will continue his school until retirement. He has let us use his 4 ha (10 acres)of land for our C.S.A garden and for pasture for our cows and his 3 jersey cows, 2 expecting calves this spring. With our 2 cows expecting we should have a total of 11 jerseys this spring.We also have 2 jersey steers. Mr.Hayshi's wife's sister owns 160 ha (400 acres)that maybe will be joined with our farm corporation too.If not then there is other land nearby that we can buy.
Our plans for the near future is to survive this winter. It took all our money to move in.We want to be Asia's premium prep makers.In order to do that we must have a Demeter certified farm to base our prep making enterprise. We have that chance here. We can grow our own feed for our cattle and other livestock,provide BioDynamically treated soils for our gardens, pastures and fodder fields and sell under the Demeter label.As I mentioned earlier we are soon to be organized in Japan as a legitamate BioDynamic association. We have worked hard to help get this association going and we will continue to support its activities in the future.
We need your help. We need support until we can get on our own feet.We are building another brickoven here because it costs less to build it again as it would to move it,so the first one is for sale. and we have manured and plowed our C.S.A. garden and are winterizing the schoolhouse that Konomi and I are staying in.Our brickoven and C.S.A. garden will support us through the summer and from then on. We will try to expand our C.S.A. membership to 50 members.
We have a lot of plans here to start an organic farmers school and waldorf school,train apprentices and host W.W.O.O.F.ers,Expand our network of BioDynamic farmers,teach farmers how to make and use their own preps and other such workshops, offer preps for sale to people who don't want to make thier own,and become the first Demeter certified farm in Japan to show the world that BioDynamics is in Japan now.If we can do this in Japan then it is possible to do it in any country. Then in every country in the world.
We need farm equipment,building materials, a delivery van and money to pay our fuel and household bills.We are excepting volunteer laborers but soon will not have enough food for them until our garden starts producing this spring. The Japanese people can help us with the material things, but we are asking you to please send money to help support us. We are both hard workers and are devoting the rest of our lives to this BioDynamic movement in Japan. We have put our bodies, souls,and, spirits into this. The spiritual beings are with us. They have made it possible for us to get this far and i know they will see us through.We do not do this for us to be rich.We do this for you and the rest of humanity.We are like our friend Harvey Lisle said. as BioDynamic farmers"We are sons of God,disicples of Christ, and priest in the Micheal Order. We are not the ones who blesses but we pick our land and ask that the high spiritual entities do the blessing"We are just servants. We love our way of life with BioDynamics and hope to heal as much of the earth as we possibly can. That is our mission.To make the best BioDynamic preparations possible and get them on the earth as soon as possible..It will take time and hard work, but Konomi and I are willing to do it. Please help us and advice us if you can with whatever you can give As soon as we get setup better we will be asking for community members to share our lifestyle..Please contact us by email. or
If you could please send money from the U.S.A. please send a United States Post Office International money order to us at:
Ben & Konomi Campbell
707-1 Nishi Biribetsu,
Honbetsu-Cho, Hokkaido
089-3443 JAPAN

For other countries use your postal system with an international post-office money order. Your own currency would be fine. Thank you.
Sorry this is such a long letter. But there is still a lot for us to say. You can go to our homepage for more information about our mission and our accomplishments and current news about our progress at; http;//www.sophiafarmjp.com this homepage is mostly in Japanese but if you click on diary/top and then click on Ben's article you can read in English what we are doing. The bottom line is we need some help to get started, so we can help heal the earth.

Mary Christmas and happy new year!
May peace prevail on Earth!

Love, Ben and Konomi.

[ベン／ Ben Campbell｜Comment(1)]

Edited by ベン／ Ben Campbell 2009/12/25 08:52:26
Last Modified 2009/12/25 08:53:29

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コメント(Comment)

Hello beloved biodynamic friends,

あけましておめでと, and all the best for this new year. I hope that this year will be the embodiment of your deepest BD's dreams :-)

As soon as we have the possibility to do it, we will send you some money. Unfortunately, it won't be before april/may (when we'll get money from our house).

Meanwhile, がんばってください！！

投稿者(Contributor)：Syl｜2010/01/12 22:14:59