This Washington State Case Could Have A National Impact On Agricultural Pollution Several industrial dairy producers in Washington state agreed to implement sweeping changes to their operations this week. The agreement is part of a court settlement that brings an end to months of legal battles over dairy producers’ role in the pollution of drinking water in eastern Washington. (Thursday May 14th, 2015 — ThinkProgress -USA)

Voices on Education: The Waldorf way The Waldorf School in New Orleans is located in a renovated bread factory in the Irish Channel. That’s appropriate, because, while other schools have recently been adding arts integration and experiential learning into their educational mix, the Waldorf method has been doing it for nearly a century. A Waldorf education is designed to teach the whole child, and focuses on the individual. Developed by German philosopher Rudolf Steiner in 1919, this teaching approach was partly a response to the times. (Thursday May 14th, 2015 — NolaVie - New Orleans, Louisiana USA)

Nello's teams with Whitted Bowers Farm to produce first certified biodynamic tomato sauce in U.S. Just weeks after announcing that Whole Foods was expanding regional distribution of Nello's Sauce to 140 stores from Texas to New Jersey—doubling the amount of tomatoes he processes each month—McTighe reveals the chain awarded him a loan to introduce a new product with specific local ingredients. "It is truly groundbreaking," McTighe says. "It's the first in their business's history to support biodynamic agriculture. The real kicker is that this will be the first biodynamic, U.S.-grown, U.S.-made, tomato sauce ever. And we're doing it right here in North Carolina." Other sauces labeled organic and biodynamic contain non-U.S.-grown ingredients or were produced outside of America, most likely in Italy, McTighe says. (Wednesday May 13th, 2015 — The Independent Weekly - North Carolina USA)

Wine growers are toasting biodynamic methods For a winery or a vineyard to refer to itself as biodynamic it must have achieved certification through Demeter International, named after the Greek goddess of grain and fertility and based in Germany, by adhering to the Demeter Farm Standard for a minimum of three years if it had previously been conventionally farmed, or a minimum of one year if it had been organically farmed. And it gets more complex still. The entire farm, or vineyard, must be certified, not just a portion of land within the farm. Demeter inspectors make annual checks to make sure that makers still qualify and nobody can call their wine biodynamic without their approval. (Wednesday May 13th, 2015 — The Independent - UK)

Habitat for Endangered Karner Blue Butterflies Restored Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs students had a very productive Earth Day! The Times Union and The Saratogian both reported that the students helped restore a 1.5-acre section of Karner blue butterfly habitat in Saratoga Spa State Park, completing a $10,000 restoration project that began last fall. (Thursday April 30th, 2015 — Saratoga.com - Saratoga Springs, New York USA)

Fruit Day? Root Day? Leaf Day? Flower Day? Biodynamic followers believe that certain days have optimal conditions for planting, pruning and tending crops based on the cycles of the moon and that the ‘forces of growth’ coming from the moon are the strongest. An astronomical calendar has been developed based on careful observations of the rhythms of the moon, the moon cycles and its placement in the astrological signs. The calender specifi es fruit, root, fl ower or leaf days. Days with optimal conditions for particular tasks ... (Friday April 24th, 2015 — Westman Journal - Brandon and Western Manitoba Canada)

Anne-Claude Leflaive: Winemaker who overcame bitter opposition to establish Domaine Leflaive Anne-Claude Leflaive: Winemaker who overcame bitter opposition to establish Domaine Leflaive as a leading producer of white burgundy (Monday April 20th, 2015 — The Independent - UK)

Lower Wolfville vineyard planning to expand, requests water from town Until next year, when it can open a retail space, the vineyard will concentrate on small lots of wines made from classic grapes or vinifera chosen for the local microclimate. Lightfoot says the emphasis is on biodynamic agriculture in a certified organic vineyard. (Monday April 20th, 2015 — Kings County Register/Advertiser - )

Manure and mysticism: Biodynamic farming turns 90 As Global Soil Week gets underway Sunday (19.04.2015), DW takes a closer look at this controversial farming method. What's behind biodynamic agriculture - does it work? And can it help feed the planet sustainably? (Friday April 17th, 2015 — Deutsche Welle - Germany)

Model Milk wine director on a mission to educate diners Andrew Stewart has steered Model Milk’s wine program in an organic/biodynamic direction. He admits that biodynamics, with its mystical side, can sound a bit “witchy,” but he argues that it is based on sound principles. “A farm or vineyard is viewed wholly as its own ecosystem with every creature, plant and microbe within it playing a part,” he explains. (Friday April 17th, 2015 — Calgary Herald - Calgary, Alberta, Canada)

High Court dismisses Botton villagers’ human rights claims The High Court will not intervene in the ongoing dispute over proposed changes to the way Botton Village operates. Three residents from the village had claimed that planned adaptations to current living arrangements amount to a breach of the residents’ rights under Article 8(1) European Convention on Human Rights. (Thursday April 16th, 2015 — Whitby Today - UK)

Understanding Sustainable Wine Standards Biodynamic viticulture pursues a set of organic agricultural practices devised by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s and is currently certified by the nonprofit Demeter association. The practice treats the vineyard as a self-sustaining ecosystem, employing a lunar cultivation calendar and the application of special preparations to improve productivity. (Tuesday April 14th, 2015 — Santa Barbara Independent - Santa Barbara, California)

The Alpha of Alphabet Here is a unique way to learn the alphabet. Trace the letter ‘M’ from a picture of snowy mountains and ‘V’ from deep valleys, spot ‘W’ hidden in blue waves and ‘S’ from the snake rushing to keep an appointment. In Waldorf education, children learn the alphabet by drawing letters in the air with their hands, on the floor with their feet and through images and stories that excite their rich imagination. This concept is Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy on education. (Saturday April 11th, 2015 — The New Indian Express - Chennai. India)

Oz distillery unveils biodynamic wheat vodka Australia’s Hippocampus Metropolitan Distillery has introduced its first small batch spirit – an organic vodka which is made using “biodynamic” farmed wheat. (Tuesday April 7th, 2015 — The Spirits Business - London, England UK)

Canberra biodynamic winemaker lets the lunar cycle determine harvest Biodynamic farming uses organic or natural fertilisers with devotees looking to the moon's cycle to indicate days to plant and harvest. In biodynamic winemaking, the lunar cycle outlines four, three-day periods called flower day, fruit day, root day and leaf day. Dr Carpenter said grape picking to make vignoles, a white wine, is to be conducted in the middle of the fruit day period just a few days prior to a blood moon lunar eclipse. (Monday April 6th, 2015 — ABC Online - Northern Territory, Australia)

Another Life: Grow it yourself – with a hoist from the moon This necessarily demands an elaborate calendar, sorting the seeds by their celestial influence. A model was one produced annually by a German farmer, Maria Thun, from the 1960s until her death at 89 in 2012. By that year, biodynamic techniques were in use on some 142,500 hectares in 47 countries, almost half of these in German farms and gardens and quite a few in Ireland (go to biodynamic.ie). (Friday April 3rd, 2015 — Irish Times - Dublin, Ireland)

Green Meadow PolyGnomes Continue Record Robotics Season to World Championships Green Meadow Waldorf School’s robotics team, The PolyGnomes, recently won the Super Regional competition in Scranton, PA, and are headed to the World Championships in St. Louis on April 21. (Thursday April 2nd, 2015 — PR Web (press release))

Half-Shell Hero How the humble oyster is reviving a regional economy and helping to heal one of America's great wild-food factories. ... Shockley, Fitzhugh, and other proponents of shellfish aquaculture believe the practice could reestablish Maryland as a nationally renowned oyster powerhouse, on par with Virginia and Washington, two states that have farmed oysters for more than a century. Beyond that, aquaculture could help set the stage for restoring one of the country’s most complex and imperiled wild-food factories. The Chesapeake Bay once produced the largest oyster harvest in the world. But decades of overfishing, pollution, and state neglect have put the bay’s wondrous ecosystem on life support. A growing aquaculture industry might help it bounce back. (Thursday April 2nd, 2015 — Grist - USA)

Nevada Sage Waldorf student featured artist in Reno Art walk Zoe Murkovich is a third grader at Nevada Sage Waldorf, a school that encourages bringing arts and academics together, a perfect place for the young artist who is gaining attention from the local art community. (Thursday April 2nd, 2015 — KRNV My News 4 - Reno, Nevada USA)

Shared living to continue at Botton after agreement reached at High Court For the last 60 years, learning disabled residents in Botton have shared their homes with volunteer co-workers and their families in a unique shared-living arrangement. Camphill Village Trust are seeking to implement changes to the way it operates and make the volunteers paid employees, a move that will force them to live seperately from the residents. ... Today’s agreement ensures the villagers’ traditional way of life will be maintained for the duration of the legal dispute before the court. (Wednesday April 1st, 2015 — Whitby Today - UK)