Lecture 5 recap
In this lecture we are given indications of certain preparations (502-507) that vivify the compost and enable it to carry its own vitality into the soil. In agriculture we are bound to exploit the soil, actually depriving the earth - and even the air - of forces. These forces must be replaced, and that is why the compost must be prepared in such a way as to contain the forces which the impoverished soil needs to become vitalized again. The compost of the future should be treated not with chemicals, but with yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion and valerian. Such a compost will then have much of what is actually needed by the plants.
To ensure sound growth in a plant, it is not enough to organize and vivify the water, for this does not distribute any vitality as it trickles through the soil. The soil must be vitalized directly. This cannot be done with mineral substances, but only with organic substances, like compost, which have been suitably prepared so as to organize and quicken the solid earth element. What we do must remain within the realm of the living.
In the first place, it is necessary to ensure that the basic substances in the organic world — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur — are combined in the right way with other substances in the plant, especially with potassium. The main thing is that the potassium content shall be “worked up” so it acts properly within the organic process towards that which becomes the body of the plant. To accomplish this, we proceed as follows: —
Preparation 502
Yarrow, like some human beings whose mere presence is felt to be beneficial, has an extraordinarily beneficial effect on its surroundings. Take one or two handfuls of the yarrow blossoms well pressed together and place them in a stag's bladder. Tie the bladder up and hang it in a sunny place, leaving it there throughout the summer. When autumn comes, take down the bladder and bury it in the soil, not too deeply, leaving it there throughout the winter.
The substance obtained from the prepared yarrow has such a quickening and refreshing effect upon the compost that when it is used in the usual way it does much to restore that of which we have robbed from the soil. In the bladder of the stag there are forces which are connected to cosmic forces; the stag's bladder is almost a reflected image of the cosmos. And by putting the yarrow into the bladder, we greatly increase its capacity to combine its sulfur with the other substances.
Preparation 503
We must also render the compost capable of closely binding together substances necessary for plant growth: we wish to capture calcium as well. We require a plant which also contains sulfur in homeopathic distribution. I refer to chamomile. The chamomile “works-up” calcium for the purpose of excluding certain tendencies towards fruit formation which are harmful, and in this way, keeps the plant healthy. If we wish to work with chamomile we pluck the flowers, and we put them in the small intestines of a cow. We make sausages filled with chamomile; here again, using only ingredients taken from the realm of the living world. Now we have something which only needs to be exposed to the right natural influences to become of value. Place these precious sausages under the ground, not very deeply, in soil which is as rich as possible in humus, and leave them through the winter. It will be found that compost so treated will have a more stable nitrogen content than other composts, and it will also promote very strongly the growth of plants.
Preparation 504
The stinging nettle is really a great boon. The mere presence of nettles has a significance for plant growth nearby. Take some nettles, allow them to wither a little, then press them together and place them into the soil. They must lie buried for a whole year; then their substance will have become enormously powerful. If this is added to the compost it will cause it to be inwardly sensitive. It will not allow anything to decay in a wrong way, nor give off nitrogen in a wrong way. By using this preparation the soil will behave individually towards the different plant species; it will have the effect of impregnating the soil with common sense, practical intelligence.
Preparation 505
Many plant diseases can be arrested as soon as they are noticed. For this we must add calcium to the soil by means of the compost. But it will be of no use if the calcium is not applied in a living condition. If it is to have a healing effect it must remain within the realm of the living. A plant which is very rich in calcium is the oak, and especially its bark. In the bark, we have something which is at an intermediate stage between plant and living earth. Calcium in a living state calms excessive life forces in a steady and orderly fashion.
For this preparation, collect some oak bark, chop it up until it has a crumbly consistency, and put the crumbs into the hollow part of a skull or cranium of a domestic animal. The skull should be closed up and put into wet ground — not very deeply. It is left there through the autumn and the winter. This substance endows the compost with the power, the prophylactic property, of fighting and arresting harmful plant disease.
I know very well that the hard-boiled modern thinker will exclaim: “But you have told us nothing of how the nitrogen content in the manure is increased.” As a matter of fact, I have spoken of this all the time, in what I said about yarrow, chamomile and nettles. For in organic processes there is a secret alchemy. This hidden alchemy will, for example, transform potassium into nitrogen, provided only that the potassium is working in the right way; it will do the same even with lime, if the lime is active in the right way.
Preparation 506
Silicic acid contains silicon, and this in its turn, undergoes transmutation in the living organism. The dandelion is the mediator between silicic acid in the minutest distribution in the cosmos and the silicic acid actually present in the area in question. The dandelion is a kind of messenger from heaven; but if it is to become active in the compost, it must be applied in the right way. It must be exposed to the influences of the earth during winter. Collect some yellow dandelion heads, let them wither a little, press them together, and sew them into the mesentery of a cow. Bury them in the ground for a whole winter. In the spring, take out the preparation, which will then be permeated with cosmic influences.
This substance, when added to the compost, makes the plants become sensitive to the influences that surround them. They can, by themselves, attract what they need. For in order to grow, plants must have a kind of sensibility. If the plant is permeated with silicic acid very finely, it will become sensitive to its surroundings and able to attract what it needs. The plant can then make use not only of what is in its own field, but also of that which is in the soil of the neighboring meadow or wood. It only needs to be made inwardly sensitive in this way.
Preparation 507
As a final effort before using the prepared manure, take the blossoms of valerian, Valeriana officinalis, squeeze out the juice and dilute it with plenty of warm water (this can be done at any convenient time and the result put on one side). If this highly diluted juice of valerian be added to the compost heap, it can arouse in it a proper behavior towards phosphorous substances. With these six ingredients, the most excellent compost can be obtained.
