With all the threats of the urban environment, it is natural to idealise about retreating from the cesspools and getting a small farm to become self-sufficient, as much as possible. The TV show, The Good Life (1975-1978), satirised this notion, but the show had its moments. Still, as discussed by Dr Malone, who has a property of his own, with horses, family survivalist family farm needs to be based upon more solid philosophical foundations than the principles of Big Agri. Organic farming is a big leapt forward, but is focused upon the end product of food production, even if just for local farmer’s markets. Biodynamic farming, a concept created by Rudolf Steiner in his lectures to farmers in 1924, goes further. While incorporating various spiritual concepts from his theosophy, the core ideas hold regardless of this. The farm is treated as a living organism, made of elements such as the animals, plants, soil, water resources, and Steiner says, the spirit of the place, which is not so strange for anyone who has lived close to the land. These elements are managed in a holistic way, to produce an overall healthy farm. The key is seeing all things on the farm as part of a web of life, with plants and animals interacting. Thus, control of pests is done naturally by not having monocultures, and by encouraging natural predators. An example is free ranging ducks, who love to eat snails and other grubs, and who produce natural manure.
