biodynamic nuns

I'll include the occasional profile of a producer here too. Here's one on the biodynamic nuns of wicklow town. A rare few nuns do seem to embrace the worlds of organics, biodynamics and sometimes also alternative therapies like Reiki.......

Religion is something you rarely read about in the farming pages of any newspaper. While many farmers may be religious, they probably see farming and religion as two seperate and different things. And organic farmers are probably not seen as the most regular of mass goers.

However, the Dominician nuns of the An Tairseach biodynamic farm and ecology centre in Wicklow town are special. I spoke to Sr. Julie Newman about their 70 acre farm.

'There are 3 aspects to the project: to preserve the land, to farm in an environmentally friendly way, and to develop an education centre to make people more aware of who we are and our place on the planet'.

The farm itself overlooks Wicklow Bay. It is a mixed organic farm; they have a suckler herd, some sheep, pigs and hens. They also grow cereals, feedbeans as winter fodder for cattle, and have 5 acres of mixed veg which they sell through their farm shop. They sell their own meat through the farm shop, and, as often is the case with direct organic meat selling, their prices are good � half that of the supermarkets. The shop opens Tuesday, Thursday to Saturday, and they also sell at two farmers' markets � Dalkey and Ashford.

Along with the farm, there is a special area of conservation. There, 12 acres are laid aside for restoring and enhancing wildlife habitats. This includes plantations of nearly 9,000 trees, mostly native broadleafs, a wetland and wildlife pond. Along with this they restore hedgerows and stone walls as part of the REPs scheme.

Sr.Julie explained why: 'With increasing development, habitiats are being destroyed at an alarming rate, and we'll be the poorer for it if we neglect other forms of life on the planet'

Sr. Julie also spoke of a gradual and slight change in how Christianity (in particular the women religious) views nature; 'Science tells us that the universe and earth has evolved over milions of years. Up to this, we took it literally from the book of Genesis, where man is more or less in charge and the earth is given to man to use, for his own use and benefit. But we would see that a little differently now, knowing that we are part of the whole community of life. We're part of God's creation, if you like, but all the other parts are not just there for us.We're just one of the life systems on the planet, not the pinicle of creation as we thought'

They have also opened an ecology centre. They hold various events and run courses on spirituality in a context defined by 'an evolving universe, an endangered earth and the Christian tradition'. This includes lectures, creative workshops on art, nature and meditation, visits to sacred places, and learning about organics, vegetarian cookery and bird watching.

While being organic, biodynamic farming also includes a more holistic and spiritual approach to the life on earth. On one level this obviously ties in with Christianity, especially as practiced by these particular nuns. In fact, it stems from a philosophy called Anthroposophy, which sees itself as Christian. On another level, however, the actual rituals of biodynamics (e.g. Homeopathic does of various sprays and preparations, stirring for a hour in a particular direction) can at first seem quirky. So I had to ask Sr. Julie about their reasons for choosing to go biodynamic.

'We believe that we are one with the earth, and everything is one, that we all came from the same source, and that we humans are influenced by everything else' She goes on to suggest that 'just as the seas and tides are effected by the moon, so too must we be on some level'. We are, after all, mostly made of water. She illuminated this esoteric statement with a practical biodynamic one; 'the whole idea of the earth breathing out in the morning means that you should harvest leaf veg then, as they are full of vitality at that time; likewise, you try to harvest the root crops when the earth is breathing in'.