Biodynamics: Tuning In to the Heartbeat of the Soil

Biodynamics: Tuning In to the Heartbeat of the Soil Written by Nancy Oster

What Exactly Is Biodynamics?

Introduced to biodynamics during a tour at Oscar Carmona’s Healing Grounds Nursery, I’d learned enough from Oscar to want to dig a little deeper. Oscar told us, “Biodynamics is about place—your backyard as a window to the broader cosmos. A farmer must be a great observer. There are no books written about your own backyard. You have to learn where the shadows fall at any time of year, feel the temperature changes and recognize changes in your soil.”

Oscar attributed this holistic approach to Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian spiritualist, philosopher and scientist who gave a series of lectures on agriculture to a group of German farmers in 1924. The farmers were seeing a decline in the health and quality of their crops. Steiner warned the farmers about the destructive effect of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and advocated a step back to a time when farmers aligned their farming practices more closely with the rhythms of the earth and the movement of the sun, moon, and planets. These lectures became the foundation for biodynamic farming.

Read full article HERE!

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Testimonial: Put the Bu in Butterflies Written by Wendy

From your lips to the butterflies, I put down Bu’s Biodynamic and the next day the butterflies were hovering around my yard.
Thank you…..
My roses thank you too!!!

Sincerely
Wendy

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Testimonial: The Lime Tree Written by Sherry

Last spring I purchased a bag of Bu’s blend to try on my lime tree.

The poor thing had been sitting in the ground (which I had prepared well with compost prior to planting) for 2 years and it was looking worse and worse. I applied the blend and in 3 days….nothing! (I expect things to happen NOW).

However, as the weeks passed the tree started to turn a deeper green and actually start to look lush. It is now October and I just took a good look at it. It’s about 4 times the size and actually has two large limes on it! The first ones! The tips of the leaves look a little curly so I am going to get more Bu’s to work into the soil and I will spray it with the tea. I will do this tomorrow, Thursday, and I expect to be harvesting enough limes for Margaritas by Monday.

Thanks for all you are doing!

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Garden Gossip - 10/07/11 Written by Malibu Compost

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Ojai Valley News Gives Thumbs Up Written by Malibu Compost

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Testimonial Written by Renee Mularz of Aqua-Flo Supply

Malibu Compost is no joke.

Within 4 days of application and regular watering, there is a DRAMATIC difference in both vertical and lateral growth.

After the first day, the test area was noticeably greener. After the second day, healthy patches began to overtake the dead thatched areas, After the third day, significant lateral growth was noted, the test patch was now several shades greener than the untreated area.

I had horrible soil and grass to begin with. Dry, thatched, bare spots, a veritable potpourri of weeds. It now appears as if its been seeded, it has not.

Suggest this product, it’s a winner.

Do your part, IRRIGATE SMART!
Renee Mularz

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Testimonial Written by Eileen at AquaFlo

I have been struggling with my own front lawn. I have a hybrid bermuda lawn, and it was being taken over by clover. I killed the clover, and it was taking forever for the bermuda to fill in. I spread Bu’s blend heavily on the lawn and brushed and watered it in. One week later the lawn is almost filled in. The lawn has grown laterally an amazing amount.

I am very impressed with the results I obtained.

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Using soil amendments Written by Malibu Compost

Should you amend the soil in your garden?

Some folks say not to alter your soil in any way. If a new plant doesn’t like your conditions, don’t bother planting it.

Others contend that most of us garden in neighborhoods where construction has stripped the topsoil or compacted or damaged it. There’s little in the way of virgin soil, or what is there needs help.

I fall somewhere in the middle. While I don’t believe you should blindly “improve” your soil, there are times and places where amendment is appropriate.

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Love in Bloom Written by Malibu Compost

The Los Angeles Times featured a piece on how homegrown wedding accouterments are sprouting up. For ages, couples have been getting married in gardens, amid green, lush settings. Today, however, brides and grooms are incorporating their green thumbs into their weddings.

Some couples are designing and tending their very own gardens to exchange their vows in. Others are growing edible gardens and serving their freshly grown produce at their wedding. As for wedding favors, brides and grooms are gifting seeds and miniature potting kits, in hopes of spreading their love of gardening.

In the article, Malibu Compost’s very own, Denise Ritchie commented, “The idea that a couple would plant the seeds of their union into the soil, while beginning their journey together is so romantic.”

Read the full article here!

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The Dish on Dairy Dirt: Ruminations on composted manure Written by Malibu Compost

Helen Krayenhoff’s article, “The Dish on Dairy Dirt: Ruminations on composted manure” gives great insight on the composting world and also includes an awesome section on Malibu Compost. Krayenhoff explains, “Malibu Compost is made using the biodynamic process that was created in the 1920s when farmers in Germany were seeing a decline in yield, quality, and disease-resistance in their crops in the advent of industrial agriculture…. The fresh manure pile is amended with small, concentrated amounts of six herbs: yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak bark, dandelion, and valerian, which are gathered before they go to seed and pre-composted for a year. These bring in a whole new set of beneficial microbes that help make the elements and minerals of the completed compost more easily available to plants, thereby encouraging plant vitality and disease resistance.”

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Herbicide in Our Watershed: Report reveals this Chemical Causes Birth Defects. Written by Patty Pagaling of Pesticide Free Ojai Valley

The Arundo is growing back. The chemical treadmill continues. Herbicide retreatment in the Ventura River and Matilija Cyn watershed will begin again July 25th – Oct 28th, 2011. (Three retreatments back to back will take place during that time.)

The County will start up again April 23rd, 2012 – Sept 2012, (again 3 retreatments back to back).

The County has already applied Aquamaster (glyphosate) with surfactant and added blue-green coloring in our watershed 6 times over the past 3 years. The County has reported using 3,105 gallons of Aquamaster in the watershed so far to treat the arundo.

Even on the Monsanto’s own Material Safety Data Sheet for Aquamaster, it states: “Keep out of drains, sewers, ditches and water ways.” The County obtained an ‘incidental take permit”, meaning that it’s ok if they kill red legged frogs.

In June 2011, some important information has come out in the report:

Roundup and birth defects: Is the public being kept in the dark?

Excerpts from the report summary:

“Concerns about the best-selling herbicide Roundup® are running at an all-time high. Scientific research published in 2010 showed that Roundup and the chemical on which it is based, glyphosate, cause birth defects in frog and chicken embryos at dilutions much lower than those used in agricultural and garden spraying…

“The public, in contrast, has been kept in the dark by industry and regulators about the ability of glyphosate and Roundup to cause malformations…”

We can let Supervisor Bennett and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District know that we, as a community, do not support the spraying of toxic herbicides into our watershed. Let’s protect our water, wildlife and our children!

Patty Pagaling
Ojai, CA
www.pesticidefreeojaivalley.org

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One Cow, One Man, One Planet Written by Malibu Compost

Our very own Denise Ritchie will be hosting a fantastic event centered around a screening of the film, One Cow, One Man, One Planet. The event, taking place Friday, July 29th at 7:30 PM at Center of The Heart in Santa Barbara, will also be benefiting Backyard Bounty, a program run by the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.

Here’s more details about the film and event:

With special guest speakers and co-sponsors:
Denise Ritchie from Malibu Compost; Patty Pagaling , the Executive Director of Transition to Organics, and Doug Hagensen, Program Manager of Backyard Bounty.

Peter Proctor is New Zealand’s father of biodynamic agriculture. This film is his journey in India. One man, a bucket of cow dung and the agricultural revolution, that may just save the world. Will the future of agriculture in India determine our future? One Man, One Cow, One Planet – garden like there’s no tomorrow

What does an environmentally friendly biodynamic food system capable of feeding everyone actually look like? One Man, One Cow is a blueprint for a post-industrial future, taking you into the heart of the world’s most important renaissance. The outcome of the battle for agricultural control in India may just dictate the future of the earth.

Why YOU should see this film

Modern industrial agriculture is destroying the earth:

Desertification, water scarcity, toxic cocktails of agricultural chemicals pervading our food chains, ocean ecosystem collapse, soil erosion and massive loss of soil fertility. Our ecosystems ore overwhelmed. Humanity’s increasing demands are exceeding the Earth’s carrying capacity. Modern agriculture causes topsoil to be eroded at 3 million tons per hour. (that’s 26 billion tons a year) Human mass is replacing biomass and other species. The carrying capacity of the earth is almost spent. To maintain our comfort zone lifestyles we will soon need five earths to sustain us in the style to which we have become accustomed. The mantra of free trade has failed the world’s poor. There is a better way.

A simple recipe to save the world? One old man and a bucket of cow-dung. Are you crazy? Biodynamic agriculture may be the only answer we have left.

One night only: Friday July 29th

7:30 pm to 9:30 pm — $10 donation
A percentage of the proceeds will go to Backyard Bounty

Center of the Heart
487 N. Turnpike Rd, Santa Barbara 805-964-4861
Up the street from the Wake Center

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Documentary on bee colony collapse focuses on cutting pesticide use Written by Malibu Compost

Last Saturday, Malibu Compost, in association with Pesticide Free Ojai Valley, sponsored a screening of the documentary film “Queen of the Sun, What are the Bees Telling Us?” directed by Taggert Siegel of Portland, Oregon. The film explores not only the importance of bees in the web of life but also the Colony Collapse Disorder of honeybees, which has decimated over 5 million bee colonies in the U.S. Both the film and Pesticide Free Ojai Valley urge farmers and homeowners to reduce or discontinue pesticide use through consensus and knowledge rather than through mandated action.

After the screening, actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr., who introduced the film, directed the crowd to the nearby farm of Kimberly Ainsworth where he spoke briefly and introduced Siegel, who engaged in a question-and-answer period with the audience.

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Ojai Premiere: “Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?” Written by Malibu Compost

Co-sponsored by Malibu Compost, the acclaimed documentary “Queen of the Sun: What are the Bees Telling Us?” will open July 9 at the Ojai Playhouse with a special event hosted by actor Ed Begley and director Taggart Siegel to pollinate awareness of Colony Collapse Disorder and build support for a citywide ban of pesticides, making Ojai a model of sustainability for the rest of the country.

For more info, read HERE

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TESTIMONIAL: Pasture Perfect Written by Basia

We sprayed pasture # 3 w/ compost tea last Monday. I came back to Santa Ynez Sunday, 6 days later. Kristina, the horse farm owner asked if I have seen what happened to the pasture! Well, it was pretty fresh green, all dry & yellow patches disapeared! I also took photo of pasture #2 where you can see the condition of the pasture not sprayed.

Amazing!

(click to enlarge)

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Garden Gossip - 5/20/2011 Written by

Garden Gossip - 5/20/2011

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Garden Gossip - 5/13/2011 Written by Malibu Compost

Garden Gossip - 5/13/2011

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Garden Gossip - 4/29/11 Written by Malibu Compost

Garden Gossip - 4/29/2011 by Malibu Compost

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Garden Gossip - 4/22/11 Written by Malibu Compost

Garden Gossip - 4/22/11 by Malibu Compost

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Testimonial: Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Written by Jesse Patterson, Environmental Management Specialist

During a bank stabilization project on the Chumash Reservation the Santa Ynez Environmental Office (SYCEO) used Malibu Compost to cover a native seed mix dispersed over ~1000 sq. ft. of stream bank on a 2:1 slope. The compost was applied on Sept 20th, 2010 (see photo) as a 1-2” compost blanket and watered in 1-2 times per week for roughly two months (from Sept. 20th to Dec 1st). There was seed sprout within 2 weeks and substantial coverage within 3 weeks (see photo). We received heavy rains in the month of December (totaling ~12”) that resulted in no noticeable erosion or damage to the slope. There is also a picture taken in Feb 2011/~5 months after installation.

Jesse Patterson
Environmental Management Specialist
Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

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Garden Gossip - 4/15/11 Written by

Garden Gossip - April 15, 2011 by Malibu Compost

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Demeter Association vs. Monsanto Written by The Demeter Board and Staff

Dear Demeter and Stellar Members,

The Demeter Association has joined a group of approximately 50 membership organizations, seed distributors and farmers/farms in a suit challenging the chemical giant Monsanto Company’s patents on genetically engineered seed , commonly referred to as GMO or genetically modified seed. We have thoughtfully entered into this action to preemptively protect our members and non-GMO farmers in general from being accused of patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed. We are sure you are aware that in the past, Monsanto has indeed taken this aggressive course of action.

The case was filed on Tuesday March 29, 2011, in federal district court in Manhattan. In addition to Demeter, the plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it. Some Demeter members are amongst the plaintiff group.

“This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto’s genetically modified seed should land on their property,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in the case. “It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by GM seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients.”

As our members are well aware, once released into the environment, genetically modified seed contaminates and destroys organic seed for the same crop. Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets, canola and alfalfa now face such a fate, as Monsanto has released genetically modified seed for each of those crops, too. Monsanto is developing genetically modified seed for many other crops, thus putting the future of all food, and indeed all agriculture, at stake.

In the case, PUBPAT is asking the court to declare that if organic farmers are ever contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seed, they need not fear also being accused of patent infringement. One reason for this result is that Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don’t meet the “usefulness” requirement of patent law. Evidence cited by PUBPAT in its opening filing today proves that genetically modified seed has negative economic and health effects, while the promised benefits of genetically modified seed – increased production and decreased herbicide use – are false.

“Some say genetically modified seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that’s not possible, and it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher. “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB’s and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says genetically modified seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”

We will keep you involved in what will surely be a long drawn out court case. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Talking points regarding the suit follow, as does information about the legal firm taking this action. Should you be queried about the suit, consider this language that you are welcome to use.

Sincerely,

The Demeter Board and Staff

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Testimonial Written by Jody

Last year I built four raised beds in the back yard. All four beds had a base of organic compost mixed with soil. I ended up planting only one of the beds using Bu’s Blend. What a difference this year in the one bed in terms of soil texture! The Bu’s Blend bed, planted last year, is fluffy this year and so easy to turn and retains moisture nicely too!. The other beds are super hard and very difficult to work. Bu’s Blend really is incredible stuff! I think it’s misleading to call it compost. There should be a special name for it like “Soil Resurrecter” because it makes soil come alive.

Anyway, last year was my first attempt at backyard vegetable gardening. I’m very excited about this years garden.

Thanks,

Jody

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The Power of Dirt Written by Laurie Benenson

When I happened upon the book Dirt, the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth about eight years ago, I was immediately intrigued by the notion that soil was something you could write a whole book about. Obviously, there were soil scientists, and whole textbooks were devoted to the subject, but here was a collection of philosophical and poetic essays which talked about its subject in ways that I had never imagined.

My husband, filmmaker Bill Benenson, decided that this rather obscure subject might make a fascinating documentary, and six years later he and his filmmaking partner, Gene Rosow, finished their film Dirt! the Movie, just in time for the Sundance Film Festival to select it for their 2009 lineup. In the years between discovering the book and finishing the film (of which I was Executive Producer), we became deeply interested in dirt, and all the subjects it relates to on this planet—which, as it turns out, are myriad. Farming. Climate change. The purity (or lack thereof) of our water and our air. The nutritive value of our food. The economic integrity of farmers and the communities they serve all over the world. Dirt is so fundamental a substance (the prima materia, in Latin) that it relates to every aspect of our environment. It’s not immediately obvious how the health of our soil relates to, say, the state of our oceans, but if you poke around a little, you discover that soil that has been heavily laden with excess nitrogen (from fertilizers added by large agricultural concerns) travels through our rivers and ends up in the bays into which those waterways empty, killing fish and marine life. There’s simply no getting around it. The condition of our soil is a barometer for the condition of the planet at large.

Making the movie not only completely upended the way we regarded the place of dirt in our lives; it changed our behavior as well. We’d always been champions of environmental awareness, but understanding how it all came together in the dirt matrix caused us to reorganize our lives in a number of ways. Probably the most significant involved food: the shopping, the eating, the disposing of excess. Farmers markets over grocery stores, organic and local over imported and conventional, and composting over tossing in the garbage. Of all of these, I found composting to be the most challenging. I know it’s supposed to be easy, but I could never quite get the right mixture of wet and dry—there were always swarms of insects flying around my composting bin, and it was difficult for me to turn the stuff. (I’ve since purchased a better bin, and it’s become easier, but there is definitely a learning curve.) So when I met Denise and Randy Ritchie, the founders of Malibu Compost, at the Bioneers Conference a couple of years ago, I had my own personal reasons for finding out more about the benefits of biodynamic compost.

But it wasn’t until Denise and Randy came over to my house and gave me a two-hour seminar on the benefits of biodynamic (not to mention a biography of Bu the Rescue Cow) that I began to grasp how the stuff might actually leave other kinds of compost in the dust. So to speak. They were kind enough to leave a bag of Malibu Compost with me, and I was eager to use it.

Since we don’t grow our own food, the most obvious place for me to start was my sick rose bushes. The problem wasn’t the blooms—the bushes produced plenty of roses. It was the leaves, the poor, hole-infested, brown and curling leaves. They looked so sick, and I’d tried everything, including wiping each individual leaf off with soapy water. Nothing worked.

So I added about a cup of the stuff to each of my potted rose bushes. It was really strange—about ten days after adding this biodynamic magic to the soil, the leaves were PERFECT. I don’t mean better, I don’t mean “much improved”—I mean immaculate. The lacy texture was gone. The curling gone. The white spots, the brown spots, the black stuff, GONE!

I can’t say I know exactly why it worked so beautifully on my roses, as well as my (not very sustainable, I know) lawn. But if you’re going to have a lawn, biodynamic compost significantly reduces the amount of water needed to keep it green. I now buy several bags of it a month, and use it on all the plants in my backyard. I think it’s the nicest present you can give the gardeners in your life. Thank you, Denise, Randy, Bu, and Malibu Compost.

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Malibu Compost and Tomatomania! Written by Good Food

http://blogs.kcrw.com/goodfood/2011/03/tomatomania/

And so, my tomato odyssey begins. Today, Evan and I went up to Encino to buy my tomato seedlings and all the things I need to grow robust, tasty tomatoes. Last week on Good Food, Scott Daigre of the annual tomato sale Tomatomania, gave me a tutorial on how to grow tomatoes. I took home three plants, Malibu compost, bamboo stakes, potting soil, worm castings and fertilizer. Tomorrow, I plant…

Pictures of tomatomania follow…more can be seen HERE.

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Garden Gossip: BD Saving the Planet (3/25/11) Written by

Garden Gossip: BD Saving the Planet (3/25/11)
Topic: Radiation and Japan - how to step up and save our soil.

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Mariposa Elementary Thanks Malibu Compost Written by Lauren Limbert

Recently, Malibu Compost had the opportunity to provide our compost to Mariposa Elementary to help them build their school garden! Below are some of the wonderful thank-you notes we received from the class! We can’t wait to see the plants flourish and fruit and hope to visit again soon! Thanks, Mariposa!

(click on each letter for a larger version)

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Living Each Day With Beauty and Inspiration Written by Wanda Wen

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The Harmful Effects of Miracle-Gro Written by Malibu Compost

Check out this eye opening article that discuss more of the harmful effects of Miracle - Gro: http://www.ehow.com/list_6596099_effects-miracle-gro-plants.html.

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Garden Gossip - 3/11/11 Written by Malibu Compost

Garden Gossip - 3/11/11

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Testimonial by Judy Pearce Written by

A big fan and customer of Malibu Compost, Judy Pearce comments on her new garden and how much she loves Malibu Compost and Garden Gossip. She writes:

“Here’s the planting of a tangerine tree in honor of my grandson’s birth. Baby Liam’s placenta went in, some dirt, then the tree. In the hole prep. we used at least 2/3 of a bag of Malibu Compost (maybe more). One photo shows Liam with his parents, Sara and Bryce Killen. The other is of Bryce, Liam and our dear friend, Verne, who helped me with the hole; it had to be very deep so we could line it with wire (gophers). Putting the placinta in with a tree is an international cultural tradition. There are different reasons, I like the New Zealand one that says it shows the relationship of humans to earth. Also, the Hawaiians believe the placenta is part of the child, they plant with a tree to watch the child and tree grow up together. Love our Malibu Compost, it’s all around the yard!! Glad you are on Garden Gossip, my favorite program.”

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A Soolip Wedding Preview Written by Lauren Limbert

On March 6th, Malibu Compost’s own Denise Ritchie will be a guest at A Soolip Wedding at the Bel Air Bay Club where she will be discussing the “Couple’s Garden” as a new eco-chic way to celebrate a couple’s love as they prepare for the big day. She will also join A Soolip Wedding on March 20th at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco! For a preview of A Soolip Wedding click here.. For tickets to the event click here. You can also learn more by reading this great article written by Aubrey Magazine!

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Garden Gossip ft. Dan Bifano and Matthew Freund Written by

Denise visits Garden Gossip and chats with Dan Bifano, who used Malibu Compost on one of his biggest client’s roses! Check out the entire show with Dan and Denise by clicking play below. And you can also check out another show of Garden Gossip featuring Matt Freund, the founder of “Cow Pots” by clicking the second player below!

Garden Gossip ft. Dan Bifano

Garden Gossip ft. Matt Freund

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Malibu Compost at Luther Burbank Middle School Written by Lauren Limbert

Last fall, Denise Ritchie visited Luther Burbank Middle School and brought along a donation of Bu’s Brew and Bu’s Blend to the school’s gardening project. Malibu Compost explained some of the secrets to a healthy garden as students tended to their plants! Below are some of the wonderful thank-you notes and photos we received from the class! (click on the image to enlarge)

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Dirty Girl Gardening Is Lovin’ Malibu Compost Written by

A fellow blogger and gardener blogs about Malibu Compost and our awesome biodynamic compost! Dirty Girl Gardening ran into us at this year’s Green Festival in San Francisco where she learned more about our certified biodynamic compost and perfectly healthy cows that do not receive any genetically modified foods. Dirty Girl Gardening praises Malibu Compost’s techniques as well as our compost tea! You can read this full post by Dirty Girl Gardening by clicking here. Thank you Dirty Girl Gardening for recognizing our methods and in her words, “Loving our Shit!”

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Landscaper Testimonial Written by Oscar Carmona of Healing Grounds Nursery and Landscaping

I’ve been brewing and applying compost teas for over fifteen years at my nursery, Healing Grounds and for clients desperately looking for ways to successfully treat chronic landscape and garden problems. I take pride in continuing to learn and work to develop the best tea possible. I am always on the lookout for great sources of compost as a starter for my teas. Last year I discovered Malibu compost and Bu’s blend. I tried the product and have been very impressed with its quality! I believe it’s the best bagged compost on the market today without question.

One client who I have worked with, Debbie Shaw Landscape company located in Santa Barbara, Ca, hires me to apply compost tea to disease-prone hedges and new plantings at various job sites. Tightly pruned Eugenia (Sysygium paniculatum) hedges are notorious for having disfigured leaves cause by psyllid infestations. Stressed plants tend to lack vitality and have a weakened self-defense system. Because the tea is teaming with billions of micro-organism communities which enliven the soil environments and the plants growing in that soil it is the perfect antidote for this common problem. Additionally, years of removing leaf litter from the soil; use or chlorinated water have served to kill off important soil microorganisms.

Compost tea made from Malibu Compost Company’s biodynamic compost used as a foliar and soil drench in conjunction with compost applied to the surface of the soil at the base of the hedges helped to fortify the plants and stimulate healthy growth. Debbie’s clients have been amazed at the results and overjoyed that this problem can be solved without the use of toxic chemicals

Before

After

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Tea Party Workshop: This Saturday in Santa Barbara! Written by

Denise Ritchie of Malibu compost Company and Oscar Carmona of Healing Grounds Nursery are having a Winter tea party and you are invited. Come to Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara, Ca. on Saturday, Jan 22 from 10 to 11 AM for some tea and snacks and talk about how compost tea can be used in the Winter season for soil and plant health.

Winter time is a particularly important time to fortify and enrich the soil environment in preparation for the active growing seasons of Spring, Summer and Fall. Adding biodynamic compost and applying compost tea will go a long way to helping build important microorganisms to the soil environment. Compost tea applied to bare root plantings including fruit trees and roses can help to enliven plants and aid their transition into the landscape. Biodynamic compost applied to the winter vegetable garden will greatly improve general fertility.

Come sip some tea, have a scone and learn how compost tea can nourish your landscape and garden environment.

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Tea Party Workshop: Feb. 5 in Santa Barbara! Written by

Denise Ritchie of Malibu compost Company and Oscar Carmona of Healing Grounds Nursery are having a Winter tea party and you are invited. Come to Seven Day Nursery in Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 5 from 10 to 11 AM for some tea and snacks and talk about how compost tea can be used in the Winter season for soil and plant health.

Winter time is a particularly important time to fortify and enrich the soil environment in preparation for the active growing seasons of Spring, Summer and Fall. Adding biodynamic compost and applying compost tea will go a long way to helping build important microorganisms to the soil environment. Compost tea applied to bare root plantings including fruit trees and roses can help to enliven plants and aid their transition into the landscape. Biodynamic compost applied to the winter vegetable garden will greatly improve general fertility.

Come sip some tea, have a scone and learn how compost tea can nourish your landscape and garden environment.

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Colum Riley interview on “Get Growing” Written by

Check out founder Colum Riley’s interview with Farmer Fred on “Get Growing” Talk 650 KSTE Sacramento, under the show name “Get Growing 12/05/10 Hour 2”!

Colum comes on at 21:30 of the interview, which you can listen to or download, HERE!!

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Denise on “Garden Gossip” Radio! Written by

Denise Ritchie, founder of Malibu Compost, was a guest this morning on Santa Barbara’s “Garden Gossip” radio show on KZSB AM 1290 . Did you miss it? No problem! You can catch the show when it airs two more times - TONIGHT at 9 pm and tomorrow morning at 11!

So tune in to KZSB AM 1290 and hear Denise talk about Malibu Compost and the wonders of biodynamic composting!

Not in Santa Barbara? No worries! You can listen in to the show HERE!

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Shout Out from Ojai Valley Green Coalition! Written by

Malibu Compost has been featured in Ojai Valley Green Coalition’s December 2010 newsletter, titled “Food News”. Here’s what they had to say about us:

”Malibu Compost: Bu’s Blend & Bu’s Brew

This is just great!! Biodynamic cow poop for our gardens, no less.Imagine rescuing organic dairy cows from an untimely death and putting them out to pasture, and then collecting and composting their poop in a strictly biodynamic fashion. Stir at the full moon, apply to the garden and voila, you can restore the microbial life to your soil.

In addition to the Bu’s Blend compost, there is also Bu’s Brew compost tea bags, 4 to a bag, each for a 5-gal. container of water. Hop on down to Ortiz Nursery in Meiners Oaks. They are more expensive than your run-of-the-mill compost, but since the microbial health of our soil is the most important factor in home farming, this is a true value. Jodi, at Ortiz, says she has repeat customers on these products who just keep coming back for more when they see the results in their garden.”

Thanks for the shout out! To learn more about our Ojai Valley Green Coalition friends, click HERE

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VIDEO - EcoBold Interview’s Malibu Compost Written by

Check out this great video in which EcoBold interview’s Malibu Compost’s David Perkins about our Biodynamic Compost - what it is, how it works, and why its fantastic! David also introduced EcoBold to our beloved Bu!! Enjoy!

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Malibu Compost and The Couple’s Garden Written by

Denise Ritchie, founder of Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost joins Wanda Wen, the creator of a new and inspiring engagement process titled The Couple’s Garden during a filming of the process and background behind the entire initiative. The Couple’s Garden jumpstarted at Wanda’s company Soolip. Denise decided to retrieve more information regarding the unique idea of The Couple’s Garden by its very own creator directly on the set. The Couple’s Garden allows for newly engaged couples to plant a garden together, whether it be flowers or food, that will later be enjoyed with their friends and family at their own wedding. This creative idea encourages couples to participate in this process because it allows them to not only generate the seeds of their marriage, but also entails them to share the growth of their marriage with loved ones. Many have already been inspired by this innovative idea, just as Denise was on the set. Soolip recently wrote more about The Couple’s Garden and Denise on the set on their blog, be sure to check it out by clicking here! You can also check out more information on The Couple’s Garden here, and for more about Denise and Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost, click here!

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Randy Ritchie to Present at Cedros Gardens on October 30th! Written by

On Saturday, October 30th from 9am to 4pm at Cedros Gardens, Malibu Compost Founder Randy Ritchie will be talking Biodynamics!

Hear our tips on:

Planting your winter vegetable garden
Organic fertilizing with Bu’s Brew Compost Tea
Preparing your beds and pots for winter with a cover mulch using Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost
How to build soil in your garden with biodynamics
Erosion control for winter months
Create big water savings over the fall months

Malibu Compost is the first national producer and distributor of certified biodynamic compost. Our biodynamic compost blends are hand-crafted from a base of dairy cow manure, laid in windrows to mature and treated with biodynamic preparations. Biodynamics uses scientifically sound organic farming practices that build and sustain soil productivity as well as plant and animal health.

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Bu at Photo Shoot for “C” Magazine Written by

Bu getting prepped and ready for her photo shoot for “C” Magazine by celebrity make-up artist Amy Hollier!

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Randy Ritchie (Malibu Compost) Interview with The Farmer Fred Rant! Written by

Be sure to catch Malibu Composts’ Randy Ritchie online in an interview with The Farmer Fred Rant! Randy & Fred chat about the biodynamic method Malibu Compost employs, making biodynamic compost from dairy cows. Check it out anytime you please, it’s available to stream here.

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Denise Ritchie (Malibu Compost) interviewed on KCRW 89.9FM! Written by

Be sure to catch an interview with Denise Ritchie, Founder of Malibu Compost, ten minutes into Evan Kleinman’s show “Good Food” on KCRW, airing this Saturday, October 16th at 11:00 AM! Denise will be sharing the incredible story behind her cow, Bu, and her innovative company Malibu Compost who makes biodynamic compost from dairy cows.

After accessing the show, the specific episode can be found under “Chinese Wine; TheForeclosure Gardener; Mexican Hot Chocolate; Compost.”

Out of the area? No problem! You may listen online to KCRW’s streaming simulcast through KCRW, KCRW’s very own iPhone app, and through iTunes!

The show can also be streamed or downloaded from KCRW.

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Bu’s Blend at Highland Hall Waldorf School Written by Juanita Gilmore

Dear Denise
Finally, here are the pictures! You can see how vibrant and healthy everything looks!
I have received alot of comments from visitors to the garden and have spread the word about Bu’s Blend to as many people as possible.
Thank you again for your generosity. We love the compost!
All the best
Juanita Gilmore

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Prest-o Change-o! Written by Quyen Tran

I’ve never believed in magic. David Blaine? Penn & Teller? They do stunts, illusions. But genuine magic? Making things appear - poof! - out of thin air? Doubtful.

It turns out, though, I’ve been thinking about magic all wrong.

When my husband and I moved into our new Silver Lake home three months ago, the backyard was a monstrosity. I hesitate to call it a “yard” at all; it was more like a museum of weeds. Every sort of aggressive, tangly creeper imaginable was on display to the public. The three foot-tall knotted thicket gave shelter to a horde of black widow spiders, and made the idea of my dream vegetable garden seem impossible.

However, I had something that no weed can withstand—determination. An army of my closest pals descended on the mess, cutting down the vines and clearing space for the garden of my dreams. Their reward? Fresh lemonade…AND, of course, the promise that I would one day feed them with the veggies of their labor (in about 50-60 days from sowing).

As a first time gardener, I had much to learn. When to plant, what to plant, how to plant—it took dozens of hours of research (thank you, internet) before I felt confident enough to actually break ground.
Fortunately, I made a very good decision early on. A friend recommended I check out something called Bu’s Blend compost. I researched it and figured that anything with the word biodynamic would have to be awesome, so I emailed the company. Within seconds I received a message back, telling me how to layer in Bu’s with the native soil, and how I should let it sit for a while before sowing a single seed. I was chomping at the bit, but patience won out.

Time passed. More lessons were learned. Composting workshops were attended. Researching…about sunlight, worm juice, battling aphids and cutworms, making my own fish emulsion (wow is that a smelly endeavor!), and the list goes on and on.

But after a whole MONTH of intense preparation—from weed whacking, to building planters, to layering soil with Bu’s—something truly magical happened. Where a mound of invasive underbrush once lived now stood an organic vegetable garden. Bu’s Blend worked. And I mean really worked! The corn is 9 feet high. Tomatoes tower over their cages. Cucumbers spill out of the planter. Not only was I able to keep my promise and feed my friends, I’ll have plenty left over for neighbors, family and guests. All from someone who has never had a garden before!

Like I said, I’ve never believed in that flashy, saw-a-woman-in-half kind of magic. But that’s not what gardening is about. The most important lesson I’ve learned is patience. With patience, a few hard-working friends, and a little help from Bu’s Blend, the impossible becomes possible. Weeding… becomes seeding… becomes feeding.

If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.

Quyen Tran
Cinematographer and Magician

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Thank You Letter: Soil Web Workshop Written by Anu Singh

Dear Denise ,

I had a chance to try your Malibu compost recently during the Soil Web workshop conducted at M.A. center, San Ramon. We analysed it and found it of impeccably pure quality, with the perfect balance of nutrients and live organisms fit to enrich our soil for our fruit orchards, vegetable and rose garden.

We have started brewing compost tea from your compost as well, to spray on the fruit and rose bushes, and are eagerly waiting to see the results. We will be able to scientifically observe the beneficial effect of your compost and tea, and i would like to send you photographic proof of that soon.

I admire all the work and effort you are pouring into this most primal and essential cause of enriching our planet’s depleted soil, as well as rallying for the sacred mission to save the cow in order to save this planet. The world needs more people with your sense of commitment, dedication and truth of values so we can return to the basic agrarian, land based sustainable culture and restore compassion and peace on this earth.

More power and blessings to you. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anu Singh

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The Problem with Factory Farms Written by CLAIRE SUDDATH

If you eat meat, the odds are high that you’ve enjoyed a meal made from an animal raised on a factory farm (also known as a CAFO). According to the USDA, 2% of U.S. livestock facilities raise an estimated 40% of all farm animals. This means that pigs, chickens and cows are concentrated in a small number of very large farms. But even if you’re a vegetarian, the health and environmental repercussions of these facilities may affect you. In his book Animal Factory, journalist David Kirby explores the problems of factory farms, from untreated animal waste to polluted waterways. Kirby talks to TIME about large-scale industrial farming, the lack of government oversight and the terrible fate of a North Carolina river.

What exactly is a factory farm?

The industrial model for animal food production first started with the poultry industry. In the 1930s and ‘40s, large companies got into the farming business. The companies hire farmers to grow the animals for them. The farmers typically don’t own the animals—the companies do. It’s almost like a sharecropping system. The company tells them exactly how to build the farm, what to grow and what to feed. They manage everything right down to what temperature the barn should be and what day the animals are going to be picked up for slaughter. The farmer can’t even eat his or her own animals. People who grow chickens for Perdue in Maryland have to go down to the market and buy Perdue at the store.

We collectively refer to these facilities as factory farms, but that’s not an official name. The government designation is CAFO, which stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Basically, it’s any farm that has 1,000 animal units or more. A beef cow is an animal unit. These animals are kept in pens their entire lives. They’re never outside. They never breathe fresh air. They never see the sun.

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Reconstruction Written by OLD SCHOOL BRAND

Time flies when you’re knee deep in a project. It’s been a flash of nine months since I’ve started this renovation and there is so much yet to do! ugh! The short of the story is that I’ve been given an amazing opportunity to create change…and let me tell you change in every sense of the word! What was once a Japanese nursery in the forty’s, morphed into an open air thrift store serving the community for the past twenty plus years. One could find just about anything on this corner lot of 6,500 square feet, and I mean anything!!!
The original brick paths and flower beds have been covered in alternating layers of carpet,plastic tarp,plywood, roots and whatever was caught between the 6 to 8 layers. This was an effort to create a “dust-free"environment to sell clothes, couches, records,lamps and whatever came through as donated items.

Generations have shopped the thrift store through demographic changes, riots, earthquakes and the introduction of crack. Through it all a wonderful salt of the earth woman serviced the needs of the community by supplying an ever changing client base with a treasure hunt of a space. We met about 4 or 5 years ago when I would stop in to see what treasure had my name on it. September of last year she asked if I would partner with her as she was growing tired and wanted to have time for herself before she met her maker.

I took on the project with the intention of organizing, merchandising, throwing out stuff, donating stuff, selling stuff and whatever it took to create paths between the mounds of stuff collected over the twenty years!

I have since been given full reign to transform the entire space into what will be a general store for sustainable living! URBANSCAPES I thought to myself, this is what this community needs, a resource for living fully, healthy, environmentally! These kinds of concepts exist on the west side of town, but nothing in perceived marginalized mid-L.A.

So! That’s what I’ve been working on. It is a monumental task, and at times I wonder what the hell was I thinking??? The reality is, it’s bigger than me, and it’s not about me although I am the messenger of creativity. It’s really about standing up for positive revitalization! This corner lot has the ability to transform an entire community of apathy. The street does not need another liquor store, lawnmower shop, car repair shop, vacant lot, adult care facility, pawn shop and the list goes on. I guess someone had to be the change, create the change for what is sustainable in the big picture. Living not just surviving.. I will offer recycled, repurposed, goods for sustainable living. Workshops on saving and protecting natural resources (including $‘s), drought tolerant plants, goodies for the garden and outdoor living including a demonstration vegetable garden! It will be a welcoming green-space in the heart of the city, with fruit trees for shade!!!!!

I will keep you all posted on the progress..in the meantime this project has tested me on so many levels.

I will not give up as some have hoped, it has tested my resourcefulness, patience, finances, belief in mankind, but I won’t give up! It’s not about me, it’s about community in the fullest sense of the word.
By the way, I found the stools and typewriter buried under 6 feet of debris.

Anyone out there want to offer support, ideas, contributions to the cause, by all means, please drop me an email! We are a village!!

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Woman’s life goes from manure to manure Written by MARTHA GROVES, Los Angeles Times

Former screenwriter, recovering pill-popping alcoholic rescues Holstein headed to slaughter to help create unusual biodynamic compost

FRESNO - Denise Ritchie scratches holes into a pile of cow manure to make room for the herbs that will create her unusual brand of fertilizer.

Once dried and infused with chamomile, stinging nettle and yarrow, the mixture will be bagged and sold as Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost. Each package features an illustration of a Holstein surfing near Malibu Pier. That’s Bu, the formerly scrawny dairy cow Ritchie and her husband rescued as she was about to “go to beef.”

“You’re healing your soil with this stuff,” says Sarah Spitz, a KCRW producer and a graduate of the Los Angeles County master gardener program.

It’s also healing Ritchie’s soul.

The former screenwriter thinks her Malibu Compost business can save thousands of cows doomed to die in slaughterhouses—and maybe help some careworn dairy farmers in the process. It’s an ambitious goal for a woman who spent years just trying to save herself, a pill-popping alcoholic who in 1989 stared down her 19-year-old son’s murderer in a Los Angeles courtroom and said she had been “sentenced to a lifetime of pain.”

Ritchie quips that her life has gone from manure to manure. Only she doesn’t use the word “manure.”

Empty-nest child

Ritchie, 59, grew up as Denise deGarmo in Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, far from the Fresno pasture where Bu resides.

Bu “is our empty-nest child,” Ritchie said with a throaty laugh. The Holstein is the symbol of Malibu Compost, complete with her own blog. Her cardboard likeness, in full dress tail, appeared at a Los Angeles screening of “Dirt,” a film about the world’s soil and its loss through deforestation, war and industrial farming.

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Open Letter from Desiree Negrete Written by Desiree Negrete

Here’s a great letter from Desiree Negrete to Malibu Compost co-founder Denise Ritchie.

Read the Letter Here.

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No methyl iodide on our food Written by CREDO Action

Submit a public comment

California is on the verge of approving a potent carcinogenic gas for use on strawberry fields and other food crops. The chemical—methyl iodide—is so toxic that scientists in labs use only small amounts with special protective equipment, yet agricultural applications mean it could be released directly into the air and water.

On April 30, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation proposed that the state approve use of methyl iodide for agricultural purposes, despite ongoing outcry from prominent scientists and the general public. Arysta LifeScience, a manufacturer of the chemical and the world’s largest privately-held pesticide company, has invested in a substantial lobbying campaign to gain approval in one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions.

Methyl iodide has been subject to ongoing controversy in its approval process. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved methyl iodide for agricultural use in 2007, amid criticism from more than 50 prominent scientists that the process was hidden from public view and the research focus was too limited. California followed with its own review. Even though a report from an independent panel of scientists in the California study declared that “methyl iodide is a highly toxic chemical and we expect that any anticipated scenario for the agricultural or structural fumigation use of this agent would result in exposures to a large number of the public and thus would have a significant adverse impact on public health,” the Department of Pesticide Regulation nonetheless proposed that the chemical be approved.

There is little to debate about methyl iodide’s toxicity. It is a known neurotoxin, disrupts thyroid function, damages developing fetuses, and has caused lung tumors in laboratory animals. California already classifies it as a human carcinogen. Fumigating fields with the gas—even with the strictest regulations—would no doubt still result in unacceptable exposures to farmworkers and and surrounding populations.

We have one last chance to stop methyl iodide from being used on our food. The DPR is accepting public comments on its proposal through June 14. Submit your comment today and send the incontrovertible message that we don’t want the public or our food exposed to this poison.

Submit a public comment

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An Open Letter to Gary Conklin and the Workers of the Conklin Dairy Farm Written by Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest

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Mr. Conklin,

Our daughter came to us last night urging us to watch the video of the abuse at your plant. She was overcome with grief that human beings could inflict such cruelty and unconscious hatred at the most benign of creatures and their infants. The shocking images were too much for her father and me but we watched enough to know where it led.

There are moments in all our lives where we face our deepest, darkest truths.

This is your moment.

What will you do?

Can you look in the mirror and see what you have done? Have you shown this to your children and family? You are a third generation farmer. Did you learn this from your ancestors?

Can you face and take the anger and sadness and grief and rage that so many will be feeling for you and your staff and accept and understand the outrage?

We know this media attention is difficult to navigate, there are many people in communications to help you but handle it you will.

Can you hold an open news conference and truly accept the responsibility, really accept it and be willing to implement change?

Can you attend education classes where you are taught kindness and compassion for all beings?

Can you then spend your lives teaching that same compassion to children throughout Ohio about the possibility to change the very nature of your beings through this exposure in the media?

We challenge you to have the courage, as the brave person who filmed this did, to open your doors and your hearts. Become the standard for safety and kindness and actually change—change your mental state and spend the rest of your lives, and the lives of your descendants, trying to make your farm the leader in humane, clean, loving treatment of the very animals you profit from. You have the opportunity. Certainly one more than those helpless victims of your sick, tortured abuse.

This is your moment. From the ashes of your lives can you re-build yourselves?

We know it is possible, if you have the willingness. But do you?

We are all waiting for your outrage and the outrage of your children and families and friends.

We are all waiting for your next move because we certainly know what ours is….

It’s all here in this petition, which we encourage everyone to sign.

~ Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest

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She’d call herself dirt rich Written by LA Times

Read at LA Times Website

Ex-screenwriter Denise Ritchie thinks her Malibu Compost will save cows from slaughter—and help dairy farmers too. It’s already smoothed some rough patches in her life.
April 19, 2010|By Martha Groves

Reporting from Fresno — Denise Ritchie scratches holes into a pile of cow manure to make room for the herbs that will create her unusual brand of fertilizer.

Once dried and infused with chamomile, stinging nettle and yarrow, the mixture will be bagged and sold as Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost. Each package features an illustration of a Holstein surfing near Malibu Pier. That’s Bu, the formerly scrawny dairy cow Ritchie and her husband rescued as she was about to “go to beef.”

“You’re healing your soil with this stuff,” says Sarah Spitz, a KCRW producer and a graduate of the Los Angeles County master gardener program.

It’s also healing Ritchie’s soul.

The former screenwriter thinks her Malibu Compost business can save thousands of cows doomed to die in slaughterhouses—and maybe help some careworn dairy farmers in the process. It’s an ambitious goal for a woman who spent years just trying to save herself, a pill-popping alcoholic who in 1989 stared down her 19-year-old son’s murderer in a Los Angeles courtroom and said she had been “sentenced to a lifetime of pain.”

Ritchie quips that her life has gone from manure to manure. Only she doesn’t use the word “manure.”

Ritchie, 59, grew up as Denise deGarmo in Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, far from the Fresno pasture where Bu resides.

Bu “is our empty-nest child,” Ritchie said with a throaty laugh. The Holstein is the symbol of Malibu Compost, complete with her own blog. Her cardboard likeness, in full dress tail, appeared at a Los Angeles screening of “Dirt,” a film about the world’s soil and its loss through deforestation, war and industrial farming.

After months of ingesting grass and alfalfa at Organic Pastures Dairy, Bu has been transformed from the bleeding, manure-encrusted creature that Ritchie’s husband, Randy, spotted at an auction last August. With the help of a dairyman friend, the Ritchies bought her for $650 as she was about to be trucked to a slaughterhouse. Sporting a cowbell around her neck, she is the picture of bovine beauty, a fact not lost on a resident bull. Baby Bu is due in July.

Bu is the first of what Denise hopes will be thousands of rescued dairy cows that will provide raw milk for her friend Mark McAfee’s dairy and then live out their retirements producing the main ingredient for Malibu Compost.

Whether Ritchie succeeds in saving herds of Bu’s milk-mates remains to be seen. Saving Bu alone, however, has injected hope and meaning into what has been a tumultuous life.

As Ritchie tells it, her saga began as a high school senior, when she married a Marine and later gave birth to a son, Daniel Tyge Valdemar. Her husband disparaged and abused her, and she left, believing 2-year-old Tyge would be better off without her.

By her third divorce, Ritchie had struggled with bulimia and an addiction to prescription drugs; given birth to a daughter; co-written “Kate’s Secret,” a TV movie inspired by her eating disorder; and fallen in love with Randy Ritchie, a blue-haired singer in a punk band. They had a daughter and became a writing team.

Tyge had bounced between parents and by his teen years had grown addicted to drugs. He entered rehab. On Oct. 7, 1988, mother and son spoke by phone. “He said, ‘I love you. I don’t blame you,’ ” Ritchie recalled.

Not long after, she received a devastating call: Tyge had been stabbed to death in the Canter’s Deli parking lot on Fairfax Avenue. Ronald Lambakis, a vagrant with a criminal record, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison.

“Every time I close my eyes I see Ronald Lambakis stabbing my son,” Ritchie said at the sentencing hearing in March 1989. ” . . . I can never get over not being . . . there to protect my son.”

She filed a wrongful-death suit against Canter’s Deli, a futile five-year battle during which she drank, binged on tranquilizers and developed melanoma. The financial fallout forced her into bankruptcy. After hitting bottom, she went to Alcoholics Anonymous and got sober.

Writing jobs were scarce in the mid-1990s, so the couple found work with a landscaper friend and realized they had an aptitude for the business. When the friend retired, they took over and designed gardens for celebrity clients with outsize foliage needs.

After one job, the Ritchies reflected on the environmental effects of their labors. “We were looking at the ocean and realized we had probably killed a pod of dolphins with all of the concrete and rebar,” Denise said. They launched an eco-friendly venture, using recycled rebar, installing water-saving drip systems and planting insectaries, gardens that attracted beneficial bugs.

Not long after, Denise stumbled onto biodynamic farming—an eccentric approach that mixes organic principles with cosmic spirituality. First espoused in 1924 by Austrian scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner, biodynamic agriculture approaches the farm as a self-contained organism. Farmers rely on non-chemical weed and pest control and engage in rituals timed to the movements of the sun and the moon.\

Steiner advocated using herbal and mineral concoctions—homeopathy for dirt, one might say—to restore the soil’s “life force.”

One practice calls for packing cow horns with manure and burying them on the autumnal equinox. When farmers dig up the horns six months later, they find the manure transformed into a dark, rich, moist substance that smells surprisingly sweet and earthy. They mix it with water and spray the resulting “tea” over crops.

Many mainstream agriculturalists mock such rituals, and scientific research is slim.

Still, “there are lessons for all of agriculture in some of the basic agronomy that biodynamic farmers practice,” said Glenn McGourty, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor who has worked with biodynamic wineries.

The Ritchies embraced biodynamic tenets such as integrating plant and animal agriculture and placing a strong value on the local community’s health. Such practices, they said, countered the packed feedlots and cruel slaughtering methods of the nation’s highly mechanized food industry portrayed in “Food Inc.,” a 2009 documentary. The demise of thousands of family-run dairies, they learned, was caused in large part by consolidation, with further woe imposed by the loss of overseas customers after the dollar strengthened in 2008. With producers awash in milk, prices plunged.

After years of solid gains, even organic farmers were struggling because of the sour economy, with many forced to sell cows to conventional dairies or to slaughterhouses.

Ritchie thought she could help.

Last October, the Ritchies and Colum Riley, a business partner, began producing Bu’s Blend, now carried in 50 nurseries in California. Master gardener Spitz became a customer of the pricey fertilizer after studying various approaches to gardening and concluding that biodynamics “was the purest, healthiest and cleanest system.” Every seed she has planted using Bu’s Blend, she said, has sprouted and grown “big and beautiful.”

Malibu Compost pays organic dairy farmers an average of $10 a ton for manure. The payments provide a little cash flow for farmers, and the manure—piled in rows on Gena Nonini’s Fresno biodynamic farm—keeps Malibu Compost bustling.

Further establishing their green credentials,Malibu Compost donates 1% of profits to Chez Panisse Foundation, the nonprofit group that Northern California chef Alice Waters established to support edible schoolyards and other programs that educate youngsters about food.

The whimsical ad copy on each Bu’s Blend bag echoes the biodynamic ethos when it asserts that dairy cow manure is superior to chicken, steer or horse manure or bat guano. “Why? Because a dairy cow has an unequaled digestive process which is enhanced by cosmic life-giving forces in her hooves and horns that enable the nitrogen in her manure to rekindle life within the earth.”

The Ritchies, who live at Malibou Lake in Agoura, are searching for a spread in Northern California where they can boost production and care for rescued bovines. They have submitted the paperwork for a nonprofit dairy cow sanctuary.

After seeing Bu’s progress at Organic Pastures Dairy, they partnered with McAfee in a for-profit venture called Operation: Rescue Organic Cows. To date, investors have bought about 40 cows, paying $1,800 each, sparing the bovines from being sold to a slaughterhouse or to a conventional farm. Organic Pastures’ McAfee said those cows daily produce about 220 gallons of milk that the dairy transports to stores. Each investor is promised repayment of the rescue cost plus 10% interest over 36 months.

Once the cows stop producing, they’ll retire to the Ritchies’ sanctuary. Everybody and every creature wins, Ritchie said.

“I cannot bring my son back,” Ritchie said.

“But I can make a compost that will help save our soil. And I can rescue a factory-farmed dairy cow with the hope of thousands that will follow.”

martha.groves@ latimes.com

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Saving Tongass National Forest Written by Cindy Shogan

The other day, I had a realization about the future of the Tongass National Forest: It’s like piecing together a puzzle.

We all know that the forest’s ecosystem is intricately balanced between salmon, bears and old-growth trees – but the network of human interests is just as complex. Conservationists, fishermen, Native groups, lumberjacks, and town governments – all depend on the forest’s ecosystem for their livelihoods as well.

A historic thing is happening in the Tongass right now as these groups put decades of conflict on hold to come to the table and try to fit all the pieces together, knowing that a sustainable vision of the forest awaits at the end.

But the Sealaska Corporation, having profited from years of intensive logging, doesn’t like the way the picture is coming together. Surprisingly, the U.S. Senate is moving forward on its proposal to dismiss the conservation piece of the Tongass puzzle and authorize more clearcutting on high-value land. The “Sealaska bill” will only perpetuate conflict in the Tongass, razing old-growth forests along the way.

Tell your senators to stop the Sealaska bill now!

Conservation is essential to the future of the Tongass. This place is unique and majestic and all too important to waste for short-term gains. It is a place where huge bears grow fat on salmon, eagles soar through endless skies, and 500-year-old trees stand silent sentry over a lush, verdant world. The old-growth trees are the stalwarts of the forest. They foster the rich biodiversity that is its lifeblood, safeguarding its complex, intricate balance. No plan for the future of the Tongass will be sustainable without protecting these iconic trees and the invaluable habitats they enable.

Sealaska Corporation is one of the largest private employers in the region and, consequently, an irrepressible piece of the overall Tongass picture. But we cannot allow its friends in the Senate – far removed from the good faith efforts to finally solve this great puzzle – to force this one piece where it doesn’t belong, blithely discarding the keystone of conservation. The Sealaska bill would perpetuate the conflicts we’re trying so diligently to resolve. The bill is gaining ground in Washington, DC, so please act today to stop this corporate takeover of our public lands!

Tell your senators that conservation is absolutely essential to the future of the Tongass.

Conservation is necessary to secure the future of the Tongass and its people. The balance of complex human needs that depend on the forest requires that we preserve the intricate balance of the forest first.

Thank you for all that you do,

Cindy Shogan , Executive Director,  Alaska Wilderness League 

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DOJ Turns up Heat in Monsanto Anti-Trust Probe Written by Frank Morris

The Monsanto corporation owns a piece of almost every soybean, corn and cotton seed planted in the United states. More than 90% of soybean seeds carry its “Roundup Ready” genetically engineered trait. That generates billions of dollars in royalties for the company, and broad control of the seed industry. Pioneer claims that the company has used Monsanto’s patented, almost must-have technology to build a monopoly. This month a judge recently ruled that Pioneer had infringed on Monsanto’s patent for Roundup Ready seed. But, meanwhile, the US Justice Department and others are looking into allegations that Monsanto has gained a stranglehold on production agriculture, and is poised to extend that control for decades to come.

Luke Ulrich, who grows corn and soybeans south of Lawrence, is thinking about spring. It’s time to buy seed again, but hundreds of seed companies have gone under in the last two decades.

Ulrich remembers the days before genetically modified seeds up-ended the industry. Critics of the big agriculture biotech company Monsanto say its popular Roundup Ready technology is to blame for that. Roundup Ready is a line of gene-modified seeds that inoculates plants against a herbicide, Roundup, that kills just about everything else.

“Ever since they’ve come out with the Roundup Ready trait and that became popular and basically took over farming, we’ve seen significant increases every single year,” Ulrich says.

Ulrich says his seed costs shot up almost 50 percent last year. That’s because farmers are contractually prohibited from saving seeds and planting them the following year.

But farmers face lawsuits if they try to save and re-plant the genetically modified seed because they don’t own the technology. While they bristle at that, they love the Roundup Ready seed.

“There’s nothing like Roundup. A monkey could farm with it,” Ulrich says.

More than nine out of ten soybean seeds carry the Roundup Ready trait.
It’s about the same for cotton and just a little lower for corn.

“Farmers will not buy soybeans without Roundup Ready in it. So, that gives Monsanto an amazing amount of leverage,” says Jim Denvir, a lawyer working for a DuPont. DuPont owns Pioneer, the competing seed company.

Pioneer licenses the Roundup Ready trait from Monsanto as do about 150 other seed companies. Those agreements control what other genetics competing companies can mix with the Roundup Ready trait. Last year, Monsanto sued to stop Pioneer from “stacking” Roundup Ready with another trait. Denvir says Pioneer complained to the Justice Department.

“A seed company can’t stay in business without offering seeds with Roundup Ready in it, so if they want to stay in that business essentially, they have to do what Monsanto tells them to do,” Denvir says.

Monsanto’s critics say it used this “platform monopoly” to crush many competitors. Chris Holman, a patent lawyer who teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, likens it to Microsoft and its dominant Windows operating system.

“Because of the structure of the industry, they are able to really drive participants in the industry into using their technology,” Holman says.

Monsanto spokesman Lee Quarles says those allegations are unfair, though he concedes they’re coming at the company fast and furious.

“We’re actively working to address questions from regulators, both the Department of Justice and state attorneys general as well as other parties in the industry, to address any questions they have about our business,” Quarles says.

But Monsanto is pushing ahead. It will soon market a corn seed combining eight separate genetically engineered traits.

Roundup Ready technology was developed at Monsanto’s world headquarters in St. Louis.

Jim Tobin of Monsanto says it sells itself.

“Farmers get to vote every year before they plant, and it’s that vote each year that determines who has the largest market share or volume,”
Tobin says.

Monsanto spent huge amounts of money and took big risks to develop the Roundup Ready trait. Tobin says it’s revolutionized agriculture. But now, “Well, we’ve invented something new,” he says.

It’s called Roundup Ready 2 Yield. It uses the gene as the original, just placed in a different spot in the genome. Monsanto claims that boosts yield.

Interesting timing: Monsanto’s patent on Roundup Ready 1 expires in 2014 and with it, a revenue stream of maybe half a billion dollars a year in royalties. That’s unless it can switch farmers over to Roundup Ready 2.

“We’d like to have everyone in the soybean business, seed business using the trait,” Tobin says.

Monsanto’s putting the new trait in all its best soybean seeds. And Paul Schickler, president of Pioneer, says Monsanto is forcing its licensees to do the same. He charges that Monsanto is trying to make Roundup Ready
1 disappear.

“That’s our concern: bridging or switching from one patented product, Roundup Ready 1, to the next generation Roundup Ready 2 Yield, doesn’t allow competition for the original technology,” Schickler says.

Unlike in many other industries, there’s no clear path for a genetically modified crop to go generic. If companies wanted to add other genetically modified traits to Roundup Ready 1 seeds, they’d probably need new regulatory approval. Being able to use Monsanto’s proprietary information about Roundup Ready 1 would probably speed and significantly cheapen the regulatory process, but there’s no indication Monsanto would cooperate with that kind proposition.

Companies offering Roundup Ready 1 will also need closely held technical data to update licenses that keep the trait legal in big, important markets like China and the EU. Absent some solution to the overseas licensing issue, Roundup Ready 1 soybeans will likely become illegal in lucrative markets by the end of the decade. That would mean that if just a handful of the then forbidden DNA turned up in a shipment, importing companies would have an excuse to reject the entire boat load. And remember, Roundup Ready 1 is just the first ag biotech trait going off patent. There are dozens more in the pipeline. Unless a way to address the overseas licensing issue is found, trade could be severely disrupted.

Meanwhile, the end of the Roundup Ready patent will likely give farmers a chance to do something they haven’t for years: plant the seed they’ve harvested. Luke Ulrich is ready.

“I don’t care how good Roundup Ready 2 is, if you tell me I can save back my own seed, I’m going to plant my own seed,” Ulrich says.

The problem for guys like Ulrich will be finding seed that has just the Roundup Ready gene alone, one not stacked with other patented traits.
After all, if he can’t find the seed in the first place, he can’t grow it.

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Meeting BU Written by Branden Aroyan

Bu, wow, what a wonderful cow!! I never thought I’d say it, but I’m in love with her and all that she represents—from her rescue, to living a healthy life, being treated kindly, experiencing community, balance, the family owned and operated farm she now lives on roaming eight hundred acres of organic alfalfa and grass pastures, biodynamics and Malibu Compost for making it happen.

I went on this photo shoot to capture windrows of biodynamic compost in Fresno. It’s not the typical dream destination I’m used to but it sounded like a good cause—saving the planet with compost. I liked the idea of a photo shoot that told a story of the earth under our feet rather than nature at its extreme which is the kind of stuff I’m usually shooting. I’m surprised to say this but of all the pristine surf trips I’ve been on around the world photographing big waves and world class surfers Fresno and Bu became one of my top five.

This trip opened my eyes to so many things. I saw the way other dairy cows live…the way it usually is, and it does not look fun. Along the highway I saw dairy cows crammed in small pens with no grass and no room to move. Bu now roams free and socializes with the rest of the herd grazing on open pasture under sunny skies. The joy of her new family can be felt in the air and seen in the warm smile on the faces of Randy, Denise, Colum, Mark, Teo and me. Yes, I am part of Bu’s family now.

As Bu stared into my camera lens I had to wonder if she realized how amazing her journey has been, how many lives she will touch and how she and other dairy cows are going to help save our soil with their poop. Bu and her friends each contributing a little organic goodness while curing the planet one crop at a time…this made me smile.

Bu, wow, what a wonderful cow!!!

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Bu’s First Blog Written by

THIS IS MY FIRST BLOG. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT A BLOG WAS UNTIL LAST WEEK….

THREE A.M.

I THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE…MOST PROBABLY THE END OF MY SHORT TIME ON THIS PLANET AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT THE GOSSIP AROUND THE BARN WAS WHEN A GIANT TRUCK WITH AN EVEN BIGGER TRAILER CAME RUMBLING UP TO THE DIRT CORRAL I’D BEEN HERDED INTO YESTERDAY JUST BEFORE FEEDING. THERE WERE SO MANY OF US JAMMED TOGETHER I REALLY COULDN’T EAT. NOT THAT ANYONE WAS DOING MUCH EATING. EVERYBODY WAS SCARED. WE’D ALL HEARD ABOUT “THE AUCTION” WHERE THE PEOPLE WHO OWN MY DAIRY WERE SENDING GROUPS OF US TWICE A WEEK. NO ONE EVER CAME BACK AND SOME I HEARD GOT KILLED THAT VERY SAME DAY.

I’M JUST EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD. I NEVER REALLY KNEW MY MOTHER ALTHOUGH I CAN STILL REMEMBER THE SOUND HER OF MOOING WHILE I WAS INSIDE OF HER…THE GENTLE SWAY OF HER BODY AS SHE SHIFTED HER WEIGHT PUTTING ME TO SLEEP. I REMEMBER HER TONGUE LICKING ME ALL OVER AND HOW SHE SMELLED AND THE TASTE OF HER MILK. I REMEMBER THE SOUND OF HER HEART BEATING AND HOW FAST IT RACED THE NEXT MORNING WHEN THEY TOOK ME AWAY FROM HER. I REMEMBER HER MOOING AND MOOING ...CALLING FOR ME BUT I COULDN’T COME. I WAS ALREADY LOCKED IN A STALL IN ANOTHER BARN. I COULD STILL HEAR HER VOICE, EVER SO FAINTLY THROUGH THE NEXT NIGHT AND THEN IT STOPPED. I LISTENED AND LISTENED UNTIL THE SUN PEEKED THROUGH THE SLATS OF THE BARN BUT I NEVER HEARD MY MOTHER’S VOICE AGAIN. I’M A HOLSTEIN AND HOLSTEINS AS A RULE ARE STOIC. WE ADAPT BUT WE DO NOT FORGET AND WE NEVER GIVE UP.

I HAVE TO ADMIT I CAME CLOSE TO IT WHEN THEY TOOK MY BABY AWAY. I THOUGHT I’D PREPARED MYSELF…TOLD MYSELF NOT TO GET TOO ATTACHED…BUT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO LOVE THIS BEING THAT WAS GROWING INSIDE OF ME AND WHEN SHE WAS BORN I HAVE TO SAY SHE WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BABY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. YOU ARE PROBABLY SAYING THAT ALL MOTHERS THINK THAT THEIR BABIES ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL IN THE WORLD BUT MY LITTLE GIRL WAS. THERE WAS NO WAY TO STOP MY HEART FROM BREAKING THE MORNING AFTER THEY TOOK HER AWAY. I HATE TO ADMIT IT BUT MY MOOOS FILLED THAT BARN FOR DAYS. MY HOLSTEIN STOICISM WENT OUT THE WINDOW.

SO, I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PUTTING OUT TWENTY GALLONS A DAY…THAT’S THE REASON THEY TAKE OUR BABIES…SO WE’LL HAVE TONS OF MILK…WELL I’M A THREE-TITTER AND I COULDN’T KEEP UP SO I ENDED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT STARING AT A GUY WHO WAS COMING AT ME WITH A STICK AND AN ELECTRIC PROD.

NOON

I WAS STANDING IN A SMALL PEN…MAYBE EIGHT BY EIGHT WITH SEVERAL OF MY FRIENDS FROM THE DAIRY. IT WAS SO CROWDED WE COULDN’T MOVE…NOT AN INCH. I COULDN’T REALLY SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON ANYWHERE OUTSIDE OF MY PEN BUT I COULD HEAR THE OTHERS. THEY WERE DEFINITELY SCARED. SOME OF THE YOUNG BULLS WERE TRYING TO ACT ALL COCKY BUT I COULD HEAR THEIR HEARTS BEATING. THEY WERE SCARED. I COULD HEAR A MAN’S VOICE OVER SOME SORT OF LOUD SPEAKER…HE WAS TALKING REAL FAST…I WAS TRYING TO MAKE IT OUT WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE FRONT SIDE OF MY PEN OPENED AND COUPLE OF GUYS WITH STICKS STARTED BANGING ON THE METAL FENCE AND HITTING US TO GET US TO MOVE. I HESITATED… ASSESSING THE SITUATION…HOPING THERE MIGHT BE A WAY OUT… IT WAS CLEAR THAT THERE WAS NO REAL ALTERNATIVE BUT TO MOVE WITH THE MASSES. MY NOSE WAS RIGHT UP ONE OF MY CLOSEST FRIENDS TAILS AND SOMEONES WAS UP MINE AS WE MOVED INTO AN EVEN SMALLER, DARKER HOLDING PEN INSIDE OF A BUILDING. HEARTS WERE BEATING SO FAST IT’S ALL THAT I COULD HEAR. WE STOOD LIKE THAT FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER. FINALLY, A BLAST OF LIGHT HIT AND ONE OF THE YOUNG BULLS WAS PUSHED OUT. THERE WERE TEN OF US LEFT.

ONE P.M.

I’VE JUST GOT TO SAY THAT STANDING IN THAT SMALL, CROWDED HOT SPACE FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER WAS DEFINITELY CHALLENGING. I’M NOT PARTICULARLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC. I MEAN I’VE SPENT MOST OF MY LIFE STANDING IN A NARROW CUBICLE WITH COWS ON EITHER SIDE OF ME EITHER BEING MILKED OR WAITING TO BE MILKED. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE PEN AND THE FEAR, THE LOUD WAILING THAT WAS DEFINITELY GETTING TO ME. BY THE TIME I WAS AT THE GATE, IT OPENED. I LEAPT OUT INTO A SMALL ARENA WITH A GUY ON A MIKE SHOUTING OUT INTO THE AUDIENCE, “WE GOT A FRESH HEIFER HERE BOYS. HOW ‘BOUT A THOUSAND DOLLARS. DO I HEAR A THOUSAND DOLLARS?”

I FELT MYSELF SCAN THE ROOM HOPING SOMEONE WOULD RAISE THEIR HAND OR SHOUT OUT “I WILL!” NOTHING. “NINE HUNDRED…HOW ‘BOUT NINE HUNDRED BOYS!” NOTHING. I SUDDENLY FELT MYSELF GETTING MAD. I’M A GOOD COW. I HEARD THEM PAYING MONEY FOR ALL OF THE OTHERS. WHY NOT ME? “OKAY THEN, SEVEN HUNDRED…” I DECIDED I NEEDED TO GRAB THEIR ATTENTION SO I STARTED TO MOVE AROUND THE PEN. I DIDN’T JUST MOVE I PRANCED…WELL AS MUCH AS A HEIFER CAN PRANCE AND I SHOT MY BEST GLANCES OUT AT THE AUDIENCE. “SEVEN HUNDRED…NO…GO-TO-BEEF.”

WHAT DID HE SAY? I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND. WAIT. A GUY WITH ANOTHER STICK WAS PUSHING ME BACK DOWN THE BARN AISLE. SECONDS LATER I WAS SHOVED INTO A PEN WITH FOUR OTHER COWS AND A YOUNG BULL WHO TOLD ME WE WERE GOING TO THE KILLERS. I’M NOT GOING TO LIE. MY HEART STARTED BEATING AND I BEGAN PACING…LOOKING FOR ANY WAY OUT. I THOUGHT ABOUT JUMPING BUT AFTER SCANNING THE FENCE I COULDN’T FIND A SPOT THAT SEEMED LOW ENOUGH. I’M NOT A HORSE. THEN I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE I’D FIND A WEAK SPOT…YOU KNOW A PANEL THAT HAD BEEN RUSTED OR KICKED IN THEN I COULD BASH INTO IT, BREAK IT AND MAKE A RUN FOR IT BUT THE PANELS WERE SOLID. I DECIDED THAT THE ONLY ANSWER WAS TO START DIGGING, WELL PAWING WHICH WAS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS DOING WHEN A MIRACLE HAPPENED.

1:45 P.M.

I WAS PAWING AND PAWING NEXT TO ONE OF THE FENCE POSTS. I FIGURED IF I COULD DIG DEEP ENOUGH I COULD LOOSEN THE POST THEN PUSH MY WAY OUT BUT IT WASN’T GOING FAST ENOUGH. THE GUY DRIVING THE “GO TO BEEF” TRUCK HAD JUST COME OVER, DONE A HEAD COUNT AND WAS HEADING OVER TO HIS TRUCK WHEN I HEARD, “THERE SHE IS!” I LOOKED UP AND SAW TWO MEN RUNNING TOWARDS ME. “I THINK THAT’S HER, THE ONE IN THE CORNER.” PART OF ME WANTED TO HIDE, WHAT IF THEY WERE THE KILLERS. ANOTHER PART OF ME STILL HAD HOPE. “YEAH, THAT’S HER. WE WANT TO BUY HER. HOW DO WE BUY HER?” SUDDENLY THE TWO MEN WERE SEPARATING ME OUT. CALL ME STUPID BUT ONE OF THEM TOLD ME IT WAS GOING TO BE OKAY AND I BELIEVED HIM. THEY WEREN’T LIKE THE OTHERS. THEY WEREN’T SCREAMING AND HITTING ME WITH A STICK.

BEFORE I KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING I WAS HERDED BACK INTO THE BUILDING… “WE WANT THIS COW. SHE ALREADY CAME THROUGH ONCE. NOBODY BOUGHT HER AND WE WANT HER.” MY HEART STARTED TO SLOW DOWN. MAYBE I WASN’T GOING TO BE KILLED AFTER ALL. “BUT SHE’S A THREE-TITTER. YOU SURE YOU WANT A THREE-TITTER.” THE GUY WITH THE MIKE WAS TRYING TO TALK THEM OUT OF TAKING ME. I HAD DO SOMETHING, LET THE TWO MEN KNOW THAT I WOULDN’T DISAPPOINT THEM. I MOVED TOWARDS THEM AND LOOKED RIGHT INTO THE EYES OF THE ONE IN THE BASEBALL HAT. HE WAS DIFFERENT THAN THE REST. THERE WAS A KINDNESS IN HIS EYES AND THEN HE SMILED, “WE’RE TAKING HER.”

2P.M.

THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES OF MY LIFE WERE FILLED WITH SO MUCH EMOTION I COULDN’T FIGHT BACK THE TEARS. I KNOW THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T THINK COWS FEEL ANYTHING BUT THAT IS THE FURTHEST THING FROM THE TRUTH. MY HEART BROKE INTO THOUSANDS OF PIECES. DON’T GET ME WRONG. I WAS GRATEFUL THAT THE TWO MEN HAD SAVED ME BUT AS I HEADED BACK DOWN THAT BARN AISLE TOWARDS MY FREEDOM I WAS LEAVING SO MANY FRIENDS BEHIND. THERE WERE SEVEN HUNDRED COWS AT AUCTION THAT DAY AND ONE HUNDRED OF THEM HAD COME FROM THE SAME DAIRY AS ME. I’D KNOWN THEM MY WHOLE LIFE AND I WAS PROBABLY NEVER GOING TO SEE THEM AGAIN.

4P.M.

“HI BU…” WHO’S BU? A WOMAN STANDING NEXT TO THE TRAILER STARING IN AT ME SAID, “YOU’RE HOME.” I’M HOME. AND I GUESS I’M BU. WEIRD. I NEVER HAD A NAME BEFORE. JUST THEN THE TRAILER GATE OPENED. THE GUY IN THE BASEBALL HAT WAS STANDING NEXT TO THE WOMAN. THEY WERE SMILING AND GESTURING FOR ME TO COME OUTSIDE. I LOOKED OUT OVER THEIR HEADS AND THOUGHT I MIGHT BE DREAMING. THIS PLACE LOOKED LIKE HEAVEN OR AT LEAST WHAT I THOUGHT HEAVEN WOULD LOOK LIKE. THERE WAS GREEN PASTURE FOR AS FAR AS I COULD SEE…AND COWS GRAZING. I’VE NEVER GRAZED IN MY LIFE. I’VE NEVER EVEN TASTED FRESH GRASS. I JUMPED OUT OF THE TRAILER AND HIT THE GROUND. IT WAS SOFT AND THE AIR SMELLED LIKE NOTHING I HAVE EVER SMELLED BEFORE…SWEET AND FRESH. I WAS AWESTRUCK.

I LOOKED UP AND SAW FOUR PEOPLE…RANDY, DENISE, AARON AND TIO…I DIDN’T KNOW THAT WAS THEIR NAMES BUT I DO NOW. THEY WERE ALL SMILING AND TELLING ME TO GO OUT INTO THE PASTURE, THAT I WAS HOME AND NO ONE WAS EVER GOING TO HURT ME AGAIN. THE NEXT THING I KNEW I STARTED TO RUN. IT FELT REALLY GOOD…SO GOOD I BUCKED AND LET OUT A SQUEAL! I KEPT RUNNING AND DIDN’T STOP UNTIL I HIT THE HERD. I WAS HOME.

I HAVE A NEW FAMILY, MALIBU COMPOST: COLUM, DENISE AND RANDY. I LIVE ON EIGHT HUNDRED ACRES AT ORGANIC PASTURES DAIRY IN FRESNO WITH MY GODPARENTS, THE MACAFEES, TEO MY COW WHISPERER AND ALL OF THE GIRLS IN THE DRY HERD. I’M LEARNING A LOT ABOUT PEOPLE, BIODYNAMICS AND COMPOST. STAY TUNED THERE’S A LOT MORE TO COME.

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