SPIRITUAL FOOD FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
1-888-384-9642  or   301-654-4899
4217 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814

VOL II, No. 1                                                                                                   Summer, 2000

IT IS NOT A MANDALA

We prefer to see it as a cell of the social body of the planet.  But it could become a mandala too.  As we move deeper into the ascending aspect of Dwapara Yuga and look back into its descending aspect we recall how an agricultural centered society followed a nomadic form of life. It seems timely that along with this return of Dwapara Yuga we retrace our steps and move towards an agricultural centered society again.
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The diagram expresses this concept.  The nucleus or center portion is where the Biodynamic farms would be.  The number of farms would be determined proportionally to feed all the people in the housing area. Immediately surrounding this inner circle would be the housing area where all the homes, community services, and a commercial area will be located.  Surrounding this circle will be a forest area with recreational options.  Encircling all this will be a beltway where most of the gas operated vehicles may run.

The parameters used for this urban approach have been a) the distance that a bee can fly in its search for pollen (5 miles) b) the need to protect crops from contamination from genetically engineered, airborne seeds. The 5 mile bee limit to guarantee Biodynamic honey set the radius for this cell or unit.  The encircling forest and housing areas provide a barrier (not 100% effective, but significant) to prevent contamination.

The proportions of these different sections are to be determined based on the capacity of the farming core to provide, if possible, 100% of the food necessary for the population hosted in this cell.

The population would be expected to participate actively in the farm's life, working on the land and in other supporting activities, i.e. administration, distribution, etc.  Ideally there will be a service or manufacturing/production activity in which most of the population are involved as the main source of income for the community as a whole, e.g. clothesmaking.  As this cell is replicated, basic needs of the population at large will be taken by each cell, thus setting the foundation for bartering or other forms of exchange or restitution.  Another criterion for cell replication would be the spiritual orientation of the community.  That means ideally members will share a spiritual discipline that will be the soul of the community.

Going back to the design, as said the external beltway would be where all cars and trucks that are gas operated and sources of pollution will be allowed to circulate. Parking areas, ensconced in the forest area,  will be properly spaced to receive all the cars of the population plus visitors. Additional space will be provided for electric cars, bicycles and other forms of locomotion to which the members of the community will need to transfer in order to circulate inside the major circle.

Only non-polluting vehicles will be allowed beyond this point,  except in four main points of access that will lead all the way to the inner circle, to allow transportation of resources to and from the farms. Additional penetrating roads will go only as far as the commercial clusters which will be conveniently located in the housing area. Other than that all vehicles inside the beltway will be either electric or solar powered cars, bicycles, or similar transportation devices; public transportation will also be restricted to non-polluting models.

The forest area that acts as the first buffer protecting the farmland will allow for different forms of recreation including trails, camping areas, streams if available, ponds, nature walks, etc.

The housing area will also meet requirements that will restrict the use of toxic materials such as cabinets with formaldehyde, carpets with toxic dyes, plastic, etc.

Commercial zoning will concentrate shopping areas, community services like schools, places for worship, manufacturing plants, repair shops, service stations, banks, etc.; ideally the number and size of each business will maintain correlation with the needs of the population.  The criteria for doing business will be cooperation instead of competition. High priced equipment will be shared to avoid duplication, with ownership either by the community or a cooperative entity.  Any effort to reduce waste would be supported.  Landfills would be used for refuse disposal-located outside the beltway, however, composting of organic materials and recycling would have priority. 

Ideally the initial cell would be dedicated to the promotion and distribution of Biodynamic food.
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Spiritual Food Farmland Trust

Young CSA member selects strawberries

This increase in volume, added to the increase in milk orders, created the need for a vehicle to carry this load.  Money raised at the fundraiser last November plus additional contributions of the CSA members allowed for the purchase of the van that is now finding its way weekly to and from Kimberton.

Shipping Charges

As shown in the financial report, shipping charges amount (on average) to one fourth of the price of goods, which seems a more reasonable proportion than before.  Consolidating orders has had a positive effect.  With the cooler now in operation in our new location and an expanded CSA we have been able to place larger orders.  So far three pallets of Biodynamic food have been received.  We are hoping this will increase so we can cut transportation costs more.

School Lunch Bag

Thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of Iris Alvarez (Helper of the School of Life) a test run was conducted on June 6 at the Washington Waldorf School.  The parents of fourth graders agreed to buy a lunch bag of prepared Biodynamic food for their children. Basic Feast, the newly formed catering service of Monica Corrado (member of the Nutrition Advisory Board) and Jennifer Gillispie prepared the lunch. This first experience was very educational and a stepping stone for further efforts in providing sound, nutritious, spiritual Biodynamic food for the children.

Anthroposophical Society Holds Annual Meeting

The Anthroposophical Society is holding its Annual General Meeting and Conference in Baltimore, Maryland on October 13^th thru 15^th.  The title is What Is our Role in Contemporary Culture?  As a welcoming gesture for the conference being held on the East Coast, Spiritual Food for the New Millennium will provide a bio-dynamic meal for the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society.   The meal will be catered by Basic Feast who will  be catering all the meals for the conference. 

Price Lists

The requests for information on the products have grown exponentially.  We keep reprinting product lists to satisfy requests.  Availability of Biodynamic Food is still an issue-- the timing and coordination of the demand with the supply of perishable items is very challenging. Storage and bug control issues, along with the usual challenges nature gives the farmer certainly test the resolve of all committed to growing and eating Biodynamic True Food.  A lot more education is needed to harmonize eating habits with Mother Nature's  offerings.  We need more helping hands in this field.  CSA's could be a wonderful source to spread the word and put things into practice.  Please get in touch with us so we can work together.

New Committed Friends This Year
Paula Hall
Colisa Ho
Jonathan Klassen
Susan, Kate, Beth and group from the Eastern Shore

Renewals:
Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Austin Waldorf School
Sally Fallon
Dorothy Hinkle-Uhlig
John Kule
Barbara Martin
Phyllis Holdway
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Here’s a great way to help advance the biodynamic effort and save yourself some money at the same time.  Spiritual Food for the New Millennium is partnering with Butterfly Enterprises, a long distance telephone service for business and residential customers.  Butterfly is an independent long distance agent representing many top quality telephone companies.  What they are offering you is 6.95 cents per minute on long distance calls, in state and between states (lower rates in some locations)..  That’s everyday, all day, with no monthly fees and quality equal to AT&T.  When you become a customer of Butterfly Enterprises in partnership with Spiritual Food for the New Millennium,  5% of your long distance telephone payments are donated for as long as you remain their customer.  For further information, you can call Butterfly, Toll Free at 1-877-392-3466.  There’s no catch here and you won’t be pressured.  Butterfly is a socially responsible company and if they can’t save you money, they’ll tell you so. 
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ADVISORY BOARD NEWS

We’re pleased to welcome Dr. John Foster to the Spiritual Food Advisory Board.  Dr. Foster is the Director of Integrative Medicine at Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.  He is an Anthroposophical medical doctor and also a biodynamic farmer. 

Advisory Board member, Monica Corrado has been working with Jennifer Gillespie, her partner in the newly formed catering service, Basic Feast, to develop a school lunch bag for children in the Waldorf Schools.  Their first effort was very well received by the fourth graders at the Washington Waldorf School.  The Advisory Board is still looking for suggestions on how we can begin to implement an affordable biodynamic school lunch program.

Rose Lord has been working with a biodynamic whole wheat flour baking mix to develop easy dessert recipes to be used in the kindergarten classes and in the school lunch bags. The mix and accompanying cookbook are also available to the general public.  (Please see promotional piece on page 7.) 

A letter will soon be going out to all board members informing them of upcoming events.  Please look for communications from Spiritual Food in your e-mail and in your regular mail.  If your e-mail (or regular) address has changed please let us know.
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As I pack and send out orders I have the urge to write individually to each of you, my customers.  Ideally it would be grand if we could get to know each other on such an intimate basis.  But, as the urge wells up within me, reality counters these wishes.  I must ultimately concede to the demands of time and settle with less.  Luckily within these pages I am able to express my feelings in a general way.  I wonder somewhat as one curt lady at U.P.S. quipped when I told her that the contents of a package were flour, “Can’t they purchase flour locally in Texas?”  I am impressed when people are willing to expend the efforts necessary to procure something which others would consider foolish.  I wish to commend you.  I will pledge to do what I can to merit your trust. 

I wish now to move on and continue the discussion begun in previous issues.  I will now attempt to explain my understanding of the basis for bio-dynamic agriculture.  Faith as a basis for belief is substantial but not alone satisfying to me.  I desire understanding.  I think this is the wave that moves progress in modern man.

In his anthroposophical world view Rudolf Steiner presents to us a conception which includes more than the physical world.  In an earlier issue it was mentioned that life giving forces are streaming from the cosmos to earth.  From where do these forces come?  We can learn a lot by looking at the word cosmos in the scriptures of the New Testament.  This is the Greek word which has been translated “world.”  We derive our word cosmetics from it.  It denotes the idea of a covering which hides that which resides beneath. This something hidden behind the façade is true reality.  This something which has been camouflaged behind the three-dimensional cosmetic that confronts our senses is referred to by Steiner as the Spirit.  If one is capable of avoiding the temptation of being mesmerized through the senses by this three-dimensional distraction the spirit becomes apparent.

So, it is then the realm of the spirit which expresses itself to the soul.  The apparatus of the physical body is the obstacle we souls as sojourners in the physical world must learn to overcome if we wish to perceive the source of those forces we seek.

By using such methods Steiner was able to present his agriculture course to those asking for it back in 1924. By observing the entities residing in the world of spirit and their influences he was able to give indications for collecting and concentrating these influences or forces, as you wish, for our consideration and application.
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Editor’s Note:  Pamela Perkins, a member of the Spiritual Food Advisory Board, has researched and developed a variety of materials about healthy daily nutrition for the developing child, based on the indications of Rudolf Steiner.  Below is an excerpt from one of her articles.

Recently I journeyed across New York state, my first continental travel experience beyond the confines of relatively narrow valleys bordered by sheltering hills and mountains, or the sea.  I witnessed with exhilaration and wonder mile after mile of breeze-stirred wheat, burnished red-gold under a clear blue sky, and pale, green-fading-to-ivory oats interspersed with immense vibrant fields of corn.  I had been thinking about kindergarten and this time of the harvest for several weeks, and the image came to mind of Rumpelstiltskin spinning roomfuls of straw into gold.  But in this case, the miraculous upward weaving process of drawing golden grains out of the bare and now dying blade was influenced not only by the elemental forces of the earth but also by the power of the sun.  And, like the poor miller’s daughter, we can move beyond helplessness and ignorance in the face of the elemental forces at work in our food and in our nutrition to conscious active understanding.  We too can discover Rumpelstiltskin’s name.

We are more than what we eat; indeed, we are what the plants “eat” and what we do with what we eat.  Is our task only to stay alive, or do we have the potential to transform our food substances into uniquely human creative activities?  One can say that plants are woven out of light; so through our individual soul forces we create light within ourselves through the process of digestion. 

Looking at the grain plant – at the growing stalk – one sees at the base a close overlapping of leaf and stem.  The tendency to a round bulb form due to the influence of the moon is overshadowed by the stalk.  This masterpiece of static engineering carries its golden seed head crown upward into the sun using a minimum of matter.  The alternate positioning of the leaves indicates the influence of Mercury which emerges alternately from east to west of the sun’s path.  Preeminently, however, the full heads of ripened grains are children of the sun – out of the straw comes the gold.

In ancient Persian times, during which researchers feel grain cultivation developed, the priest-king Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda, the spiritual being whom he perceived in the sun, what nourished the first man.  The answer came, “He ate fire and drank the light.”

Sun-Moon-Mercury:  How do planetary influences relate to daily nutrition and the kindergarten child?  How does one connect fairy tale images with the fruits of the garden and their transformation from kitchen to the table?  If we enliven our imaginative forces through quiet and open observation of growth in the plant world, we can begin to understand the images of myth and folk tales in a new way.  This and exploration into the extraordinary complexity and genius of the process of digestion and transmutation of substances can awaken in us an echo of the open sense perceptive faculties we once had as children.  We have heard that the young child is an imitative being open to the sense world and reflecting in his whole being that which is seen, heard and felt in the surrounding environment from a soul mirror of pure love.  That idea takes on a profound new depth of meaning as we slowly reawaken the childlike joy and reverence within our own beings.  It is out of these feeling perceptions that a true sense for nutrition develops which no amount of technical knowledge or cookbooks can explain. 

In The Child’s Changing Consciousness and Waldorf Education,” Rudolph Steiner states, “..in reality the child chooses to imitate out of en even higher motive than that of love.  The child is prompted by what in later life one might call religious or pious devotion…This attitude of soul is strongest during the child’s earliest years and it continues, gradually declining, up to the change of teeth.  We must never underestimate the delicate influences – one could also call them imponderable influences – which, only through a child’s powers of perception, emanate from the environment, summoning forth an urge to imitate.  We must on no account underestimate this most fundamental and important aspect of the child’s early years.” 

Soul activities and physical activities are related: the young child experiences life in a mood of reverential imitation, and thrives through repetition – indeed, knows in repetition, and this continues until the change of teeth when abstract memory is established.  In the home or school setting we have numerous ideal opportunities to involve children in a myriad of daily, weekly and seasonal activities regarding meal preparation…for instance setting the table (the same way each time) not only with plates and utensils but also with a small centerpiece from the garden or nature; commencing the meal with a regular verse and a lit candle; clearing up and sweeping accompanied with a song.  We can make the mundane into simple satisfying pleasures, performed harmoniously and artistically, and it is this attitude of soul which falls as fertile seed into the ground of the child’s soul. 

A rhythmical succession of grains, and preparation of regular weekly special foods, such as the baking of bread, making of soup, and grinding and stirring  of sweet millet porridge (prefaced by a telling of the Grimm’s fairy tale of the same name), also serves the child well.  These are generally part of a Waldorf kindergarten’s routine and can be duplicated and/or supplemented at home.  Interestingly, these activities tend to involve the three specific grains which are related to those aforementioned forces which so strongly influence the entire grass family:  Sun, Moon and Mercury.  These grains are rice, wheat and millet.

(Continued in next issue.)
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Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains is the approximately 2500 acre Makaibari Tea Estate, the oldest organized tea estate in the district of Darjeeling, India.  The biodynamically grown tea covers some 595 acres of the estate.  The rest of the land is occupied by beautiful virgin forest, thriving gardens and seven villages with a total of 272 homes for the estate workers. 

The Makaibari Tea Estate was founded in 1859 when the land, originally owned by a British homesteader, was left to his good friend Girish Chandra, a member of the Banerjee family.  The estate was originally operated by a British managing company but in 1939 the Banerjee family took the operation of the company into their own hands.  Since then, Makaibari has been a leader in the application of ecologically sound farming techniques, with the introduction of mulching in 1945 to prevent soil wash and erosion, the application of permaculture techniques in 1975 and the adoption of biodynamic techniques in 1990. 

Makaibari makes every effort to preserve and enhance the natural environment in and around the estate.  Their forest is a refuge for all kinds of animal life including 220 known species of birds, 1,000 kinds of butterflies, barking deer, wild boar, wild Himalayan mountain goats, black Himalayan bears, flying squirrels, monkeys, leopard cats, porcupines, pheasants, hare  and many more.  For the past forty-five years Makaibari has been working to reverse the decline in the panther population in their region.  They started with two animals and now have eleven. 

One of the top priorities of the owners of Makaibari is to improve the living conditions of their workers.  They are presently engaged in installing bio-gas units and water-borne toilets in each of the 272 village homes.  In addition to housing, Makaibari offers childcare nurseries for working mothers, a retirement program, health care benefits, the opportunity to own animals (cows, pigs or goats), and a variety of educational opportunities, including assistance in establishing their own biodynamic vegetable and flower gardens.  Education in family planning has resulted in zero population growth, an unprecedented accomplishment in India. 

The workers are an integral part of every aspect of life on the estate.  Every evening there is a planning meeting, called a Hukum, attended by the owner and managers, in which the day’s progress, problems and possible resolutions are discussed.  At these meetings there is also a report of any new species of birds or animals that has been observed.  The location and time of these sightings are recorded in a book that is now many hundreds of pages thick.  Workers are also helped and encouraged to develop their own micro- enterprises which usually take the form of raising flowers, vegetables or animals for sale. 

In a recent interview Swaraj Kumar Banerjee, the owner of Makaibari Tea Estates, discussed how the preservation of the natural topography and resources of the area by application of biodynamic principles has helped to avoid the devastation that often accompanies the monsoons, droughts and landslides that plague the Darjeeling region. He noted that the biodynamic process has given the ground underneath and surrounding the tea bushes “the most healthful life-force possible.” This has enabled them to produce the most healthful and vibrant tea.  He states the future goals of Makaibari as

1.  To make each family self-sufficient.
2.  To create a completely self-sufficient tea estate
3.  To promote the efficacy and health benefits to plants, wildlife and man that are the results of a biodynamic agricultural philosophy throughout  the estate and beyond
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Just to note that after the wonderful reception and program for Spiritual Foods, held at the Austrian Embassy, I had the best night’s sleep I can remember (deep and refreshing) in several years.    Sandra Doren

I fixed some biodynamic eggs for my 18 year old son who did not know they were biodynamic.  He ate less and was quite satisfied after eating one egg as opposed to two or three eggs.    Kathleen Dunne

I bought some of the biodynamic rice from Egypt and I gave it to my parents.  It was so good, the taste, the aroma, everything.  It’s not like eating regular rice like you buy in the grocery store.    Ray Hernandez

Last Christmas I gave gift baskets made up of biodynamic food products, like the fruit spreads, raisins and other dried fruits.  I made baked goods with the biodynamic whole wheat flour-cookies and muffins, and put those in the baskets.  People were amazed at the flavor and the energy they derived from that food.   Rose Lord  
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We hear an awful lot about FAT and its effects on our health lately.  There’s so much terminology related to this simple little three-letter word that it becomes a bit confusing; saturated fat, unsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat, essential fatty acids, omega fatty acids, triglycerides. Or, on a less technical level, good fat, bad fat, low-fat, no-fat, and even fake fat.  What does it all mean?  Do we really need to know? If you read enough nutrition articles you’ll become convinced that you shouldn’t eat anything, which might help to solve the over-population problem, but who’s willing to make that sacrifice?  So we’ll try to whittle this fat issue down to size, like maybe a size 10, or even an 8.

What is Fat?  According to my medical dictionary, it’s “any of a class of naturally occurring mixtures consisting of glyceryl esters of certain acids.”  WHOA! I’m no chemist so that doesn’t mean a whole lot to me.  Webster’s defines fat as, “any of various soft, solid or semi-solid organic compounds that are energy rich and occur widely in animal tissues and in nuts, seeds and fruits of plants.”  That’s a little more decipherable.  I think the key words here are “soft” and “semi-solid.”  That’s how we end up if we eat too much of it.  

Webster’s definition tells us where fat comes from, namely, animal tissues, nuts, seeds and fruits of plants.  That brings us to the fact that there are two types of fat.  The type found in animal products (meat and dairy) is saturated fat.  It’s a solid.  The kind of fat found in vegetable products, such as canola oil, olive oil and soybeans is unsaturated fat and it’s a liquid.  Saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and we all know what a bugger that cholesterol can be.  Unsaturated fat does not, but it’s still high in calories and contributes to obesity, which leads to all kinds of health problems.

Okay, so maybe we shouldn’t eat any fat.  Right?  Wrong.  One of those terms I threw out in the first paragraph, “Essential Fatty Acids,” tells it all.  Fat is essential.  Those Essential Fatty Acids are necessary for the maintenance of cell membranes and the regulation of the molecules that pass in and out of the cells.  In other words, EFA’s play a vital role in controlling blood pressure, carrying oxygen to the cells, decreasing inflammation and pain and helping the body to heal.  There is apparently evidence that a deficiency of EFA’s may contribute to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and a variety of aging diseases including Parkinsons and Alzheimers.

So fat is good?  Yes, but in the right form and quantity. Health officials recommend that no more than 30% of the calories in our diet should come from fat.  Many experts suggest that percentage should be much lower, more like 20% or even 15%, but recent studies indicate that a fat intake as low as 15 or 20% can be harmful, especially to certain people.

One of the main culprits in fat is cholesterol.  The cholesterol in fat combines with other fatty substances in the blood stream and forms a plaque-like substance on the walls of the arteries.  The build up of this plaque makes it difficult for blood to get to the heart and increases the chances of a heart attack.  A heart attack occurs when there is a complete interference of the blood supply to the heart muscle.  As mentioned earlier, it’s the saturated fat in animal products that contains cholesterol.  But this doesn’t mean that we can pig out on unsaturated fat (like maybe drink a bottle of olive oil every day) and not have to worry about it. 

In addition to heart disease, high fat diets have been linked to different types of cancer (including breast and prostate cancer), as well as arthritis and diabetes.  Some of these connections seem to have more to do with excessive weight than any other factor.  It becomes clear that we should avoid eating a lot of fatty foods  when you consider that one gram of fat contains nine calories whereas a gram of protein or carbohydrate has only four calories. 

So what’s a body to do?  We need those Essential Fatty Acids but too much of them makes us susceptible to all kinds of nasty ailments.  Do we keep track of all our calories and fat grams and try to calculate the percentages?  Well you can do that if you like, but it’s kind of a hassle.  One simple method I’ve run across is to avoid entres with more than ten grams of fat and side dishes with more than four.  But not everything we eat comes with a nutritional information panel (thank God) and some nutritional information does not tell the whole story.

If you’re trying to avoid “bad” fat in your diet, you should be aware of the hydrogenated oils.  Hydrogenation converts liquid oil into hard fats by adding hydrogen.  The most common examples are shortenings, margarine, and partially hydrogenated vegetable fats used for frying and in processed foods.  Food producers like hydrogenated oil because it improves the shelf life, spreadability and texture of fat, and increases the melting point thereby allowing for high temperature cooking such as deep frying and stir frying.  However, one result of hydrogenation is the creation of trans fatty acids.  Mono- and polyunsaturated fats that have been hydrogenated are still technically unsaturated fats but they can no longer perform the critical function of these nutrients.  Trans fatty acids can even interfere with the formation of the Essential Fatty Acids, increase the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol  and decrease the production of HDL (good) cholesterol.  Since trans fatty acids are listed along with monounsaturated fats on Nutrition Facts labels (a misleading practice), it’s best to check the ingredients list and see whether the product contains hydrogenated oil.

It is important to remember that one major objective in watching what we eat is to reduce the total caloric intake, thereby avoiding obesity, thereby avoiding all the diseases it contributes to.  Many people who see something labeled fat-free of low-fat, think they can eat huge quantities of it without a care.  (I’ve heard this referred to as the “Snackwell Effect.”)  What these people don’t realize is that by eating a whole box of fat-free cookies they are greatly increasing their consumption of sugar and starch. 

The best thing we can do for ourselves is to base our diets on a variety of fruits and vegetables and whole unprocessed grains.  An excellent source of “good fat’ is flaxseed oil but you may have to go to a health food store to find it.  You’ll probably get plenty of EFAs if you use extra virgin olive oil or organic canola oil in your food preparation, snack on fresh nuts (cashews, walnuts, almonds) and seeds (sunflower, pistachio, pumpkin) and eat avocados and dark leafy green vegetables.

Harvesting some green leafies in the garden at Kimberton during the summer campout.

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