> Biodynamic Workshops and Activities
> Farm Visits for Schoolchildren
> Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program
> Calendar of Biodynamic Events
> Downloadable Brochure (PDF)
> Biodynamic Workshops Online Registration

At Rudolf Steiner College, biodynamics is both practiced and taught, bringing health and wholeness to the land and the community. It offers participants a spiritual path that takes them beyond physical labor into a deeper, more intimate connection with the earth, the cosmos, and ultimately themselves.

Rudolf Steiner College, a center for Biodynamic Education, proudly offers a comprehensive selection of Biodynamic Workshops and Events, Evening Study Groups, a Biodynamic Farm Apprenticeship Program, Farm Visits for school children, Garden Tours and Volunteer Days. Students enrolled at the College also participate in a variety of biodynamic educational activities, including classes and garden work.

Information about these offerings can be found here or in our brochure which contains details, dates, fees and a registration form. You may also register online.

The Farm and Gardens

At the heart of Rudolf Steiner College sits Raphael Garden, our 3-acre, Demeter-certified biodynamic farm. Founded in 1987, the farm supports seasonal fruit, year-round vegetables, farm animals, natural beekeeping, and a large seed saving operation, in a beautiful, serene, and very productive setting. The farm is supported by the 40+ shareholders of the Raphael Garden CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

A model of biodynamics in action, the farm provides for most of its needs from within the farm individuality. Soil fertility is maintained by composted garden and kitchen waste, animal manure, cover crops and crop rotations. Biodynamic compost and spray preparations, made on the farm or in cooperation with other local farms, are used rhythmically throughout the seasons to enhance life forces.

Most seeds for next season’s crops are grown right on the farm. Enough seeds are produced to sell nationwide, where they are in particular demand by local growers due to their enhanced adaptability to the area. Seeds can be purchased from the Bookstore at Rudolf Steiner College and from Turtle Tree Seed by selecting RG seeds.

The 13-acre College landscape is also maintained as a unique individuality through the use of biodynamic preparations and principles. Ornamental gardens and the flow form garden, which sits like a jewel at the heart of the farm, offer sanctuary for pollinators and an atmosphere conducive to the College mission of transformative education and artistic renewal.

What is Biodynamics?

Biodynamics is an agricultural method developed from indications given in 1924 in a series of lectures by Rudolf Steiner. It laid the foundation for a new way of thinking about the relationship of the Earth and the formative forces of Nature. Biodynamics became the first organized organic approach to farming.

The ideal is for a Biodynamic farm to be a self-sufficient organism, enlivened by the biodynamic practitioner through the use of compost and spray preparations in cooperation with natural rhythms. The results of biodynamic agriculture are found in the quality of the produce, the health of the land and the livestock, and the independence from damaging modern agriculture practices with their use of herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides. Biodynamics is a way of living, working and relating to nature and the vocation of agriculture, based on healthy common-sense practices, consideration of the uniqueness of each landscape, and the inner development of the biodynamic practitioner.