To BD and anthroposophy this connection of all life is fundamental, and the farm is treated as an entity or being in it's own right, consisting of all that is within.. land, plants (wild, scattered and cultivated), stock, workers, soil, air, wildlife and so on.

The task of the farmer is to engage with this as a whole, understanding and aligning oneself with the natural patterns and rhythms therein.. for me it has a quite Toaist element in that at first "it" (the "life" forches, rhythms whatever) is invisible, but once you spend time within it, it becomes ever more evident.

The BD farm i work at is very young at about 5 active years.. the soil still needs a lot of work (done the old fashioned way by letting different stock "soil" it), the orchard won't produce for another couple of years, and we are gradually breeding enough of our own stock, but already it is a place of gentle natural beauty - it would be news to most folk that BD gardeners recieve artistic/sculptural instruction besides the farming gumph, but if you visit a garden you will see this at work

Seeing as i'm gushing about this i may as well make a final point lol, and that is "observation", a key practice and skill from the Anthrop/BD world. Just watching whatever you are involved in, practicing observation and reflecting on those observations and drawing conclusions and forming questions. The process sounds simple, but it's hard to do well, and very effective if done properly. Again, the more you engage in this, the more you get out of it untill at times it is almost innate, and when one is "in the zone" it's like divine inspiration. you just know

heh

/sermonover