Iowa Public Television   Farmers Go 'Organic Plus' with
Biodynamic Approach that Connects Plants to Earth's Rhythms
posted on April 9, 2010  SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. (AP) -- When
vintner Randall Grahm chose the softly sloping hillside and time
to plant his new pinot noir vines, he weighed all the things
farmers usually consider: drainage, soil quality and weather.
Then he considered less orthodox factors: the cosmic and
seasonal rhythms at play and how they might be harnessed to help
the clippings take root.  Grahm, who owns Bonny Doon winery on
the Northern California coast, is one of a growing number of
farmers in the United States employing a holistic farming
philosophy sometimes called "organic-plus." Biodynamic farming
views land as a self-contained living organism, encouraging
respect for the soil's integrity and eschewing not just
chemicals but anything that comes from outside the farm.  It
developed in Austria in the 1920s in reaction to the growing use
of synthetic fertilizers. Fertility in Grahm'