-Willow & Lew Summer
We always loved seeing David at quarterly meetings of the Biodyanamic Association of Northern California (BDANC). One Spring, after seeing David at Fry vineyard, David called me. He wanted to talk about our newly developing Biodynamic vegetable farm in Sonoma County (Three Springs Community Farm) providing produce in San Francisco. A few years before, Live Power Farm in Covelo had decided to only deliver locally, so community members in SF were looking for BD produce anew. We hadn’t planned to market in San Francisco, but after talking with David, and then other members of his ad hoc committee “BD to SF”, we decided to give it a try. We miraculously received the support we needed in that moment to be able to get the farm off the ground. Now I know that we never could have survived as a new farm without this collaboration! I am truly indebted to David for his very active encouragement! How he found the time while having such a busy practice I will never know! David hoped that Biodynamic produce could be made more freely available to anyone in SF, not just those from the Waldorf/Anthro communities, and I wholeheartedly agreed then and now. I hope that one day this will be possible. At that time I told him that his vision would require creating a job for someone who would coordinate the different farmers and vendors into a Biodynamic marketplace. I hope there are others besides us who wish to hold this vision and one day make it happen. This goal was dear to his heart I am guessing because he wanted to see a more diverse community deeply nourished by Biodynamic food. What a sweet, sweet man!
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hi Willow,
Yes that is so important to build bridges between the farms and the cities, we are trying to do that in Chicago, Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost. This aspect of our impulse was born as well in many ways to David’s collaboration.
One day the CAO, Council of Anthroposophical Organizations was meeting at Michael Fields with the East Troy community (Wisconsin) about this issue. Apparently the legend has it that Dr. David was very clear that there needed to be a Michaelmas festival on the land with the city folk and the farmers.
We attended that gathering 2019 at Angelic Organics, and it was where it became clear we had to expand our gaze from just the social questions within urban life to a larger life bridge with farmers, not by vanity but necessity.
A Michaelic task worth striving to realize in as many ways as possible. Blessings to Dr. David and his working with us on.