GOLDEN BIODYNAMICS

While the concept of Biodynamic® agriculture may be new to many, it is widely accepted as the original basis of modern organic farming. Concerned that emerging chemical farming methods could damage the earth, Rudolph Steiner introduced the concept of Biodynamics in a series of lectures given in the 1920’s.

Steiner viewed the earth as a fully integrated whole, with all aspects of nature interconnected. It was Steiner’s belief that to keep the earth healthy, humanity must not simply take what it can from the earth, but incorporate its farming practices within the earth’s own rhythms and forces.

Steiner’s concern that modern chemical farming methods could cause great harm to the planet has sadly come to be. Decades of “conventional” farming practices have introduced millions of tons of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides into the earth, significantly diminishing vital nutrients in the earth’s soil, substantially lessening fertility and lowering yields. These chemicals stay within the earth’s system, oftentimes leaching into groundwater, contaminating rivers and streams and harming plant and animal life far beyond the borders of the multitudes of farms where they are used.

In the last few years, as more and more data pours in regarding the unintended and damaging consequences of “conventional” farming, many of today’s farmers are unlearning the previously accepted notion that modern farming must involve practices that are geared toward short-term yields at the expense of long-term sustainability. Joe and Julie Golden are totally committed to the goal of long-term sustainability. Their Biodynamic and Fish Friendly farming techniques, their all-Biodiesel-run farms, and their constant efforts to promote these practices demonstrates Golden Vineyards' belief that such efforts will not only benefit the earth but the consumer as well, producing vibrant fruit that fluently expresses the living system that nurtured it.

Why be Biodynamic®?

To be a Biodynamic® vine is to thrive. These vines are not vines, but forces of fruit merged into earth and air and water. Like one cell in a larger organism. The vines thrive where these forces meet kindly, and resonate with living frequencies, building a kind of momentum which leads to…grapes.

Not just any grapes. Fantastic grapes. Grapes that tell the story of the places and people that made them.

Not buying it? Think it’s all hocus-pocus?

Then try this experiment. Go to the store and buy a tomato. Yes, that one right over there sitting in the middle of all those other flawless orbs. The great big firm one—the one that’s colored like an embarrassed orange. It’s a tomato right? The sign above them says, “tomato”. Fine. Did you already pick one?

Great, now take a sniff. How does it smell? Does it smell at all? Now eat it.

Does it taste like a tomato? Or does it taste like a tomato as if it were a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a tomato? Is that mass-produced, chemically maintained, burnt-orange fruit/racquetball in your hand a fine representation of Mother Earth or a rubbery vessel for tomato-flavored water?

Now hustle yourself over to a farmer’s market and find a stall with tomatoes. Over there. There’s a nice lot. Look at ‘em. They were once a part of a farmer’s garden...carefully grown by hand alongside other complementary plants and flowers…all of them living it up under the sun.

Ask the person behind the counter if their produce is organic—perhaps even Biodynamic®. They are? Fantastic. Grab that one over there.

Good. Now look at it. How red is it? Seriously. How incredibly red is it? Perhaps it is a red that is dark and lively. Could it be considered “crimson”?

Smell it. A-ha! Tomatoes ARE supposed to smell like tomatoes!

Take a bite. Need I say more? Maybe a dash of salt and it’s a snack in and of itself.

This is what we’re talking about. This is the difference. This is the why. The flavor. The depth. You, consuming a luscious part of the earth, are a participant in its life-cycle.

And to think—that other “tomato” was raised on a plot of land regularly sprayed with nasty clouds of pesticides and herbicides.

Now what kind of wine do you want to drink?