By Kim Deans
Well it has been an eventful few months in our world.   Our property was impacted by the Tingha Plateau bushfire in February after over a year dealing with ongoing and severe drought conditions previously.  Our whole property was burnt, all of our fences, our garden and a shed were destroyed and some of our Khaki Campbell ducks perished.  

Our house caught alight but was quickly extinguished and saved by our neighbour.   A corner of our vegetable garden and our bird aviaries miraculously remained unscathed which was SO good.  Our much loved pet highland cow was seen sheltering her calf in a corner of the fence as the fire passed and they both made it through unscathed other than some singed hair.  Fortunately for us we had made the very difficult decision to get rid of all our sheep only the week before due to the drought and the lack of feed going into winter with out summer rain.  Miracles happen!  

We can not emphasise enough the importance of having a fire plan and reviewing your insurance cover regularly. 

We made the decision to leave with the apocalyptic weather and fire conditions predicted which meant we were not here to protect our property.  This decision to stay or leave can have a huge impact on how your property survives but we realised we were unprepared for a fire of this size and speed and in conditions that created the "perfect storm" and as a result leaving was the best option.  

This has been an amazing experience and we are learning a lot through the recovery, redesigning and rebuilding process.  

We are grateful we did not delay the decision to destock our sheep as it was tempting to wait and see if we got any rain in February.  Hope is not a strategy.  Make drought decisions based on the information you have at the time and act on them!  

Emotionally the experience feels like you are a pendulum swinging between devastation and gratitude. We are SO grateful for the locals who stayed while so many of us left and who helped save homes like ours.  Grateful to the fire crews who travelled in from all over to assist with the efforts to contain the fire. We can experience devastation seeing things we have been developing over the last 15 years destroyed by the fire in a matter of minutes and to see so many homes in our neighbourhood destroyed. It has been important to acknowledge all the feelings and not to put on a brave face and pretend that all is well.  This helps us reach a place of acceptance with regards to what has happened.   Acceptance and realising that it is what it is!  Nothing we can do will change it so we accept it and move on with gratitude for what we still have.  

Regenerative agriculture gives you tools for building resilience in your landscape and in your human resources but it does not mean that you won't be impacted by natural disasters.  In fact at times of fire when we are managing our grazing lands to conserve ground cover and a feed residual one of our biggest risks in a hot, dry period is fire.  Thanks to our efforts in grazing management to conserve pastures our property was one of the blackest in the district after the fire and was featured as a back drop to many news crews reporting on the fire which burnt out over 23,000 hectares and destroyed 14 homes.  

We are happy to report after some rain our grass is coming away again but it is going to take a long rest and significant rainfall to rebuild ground cover and biomass. 

We are practicing being patient as fire recovery is a slow process and will not happen overnight.  Dealing with our insurance company took many weeks of work but we are now ready to start the rebuilding process.  Receiving help at times like this is the hardest thing for us and we have been humbled on many occasions by the amazing generosity we are experiencing.  

Our regenerative agriculture toolkit reminds us to allow plenty of time for our pastures to rest to recover and to prioritise feeding our soil biology which will feed our plants as they recover. We quickly put out biodynamic soil activator and we are also putting out a bushfire soil remediation brew devised by Nicole Masters. We will be sure to share our experiences further here on the blog.

Our regenerative agriculture philosophy has been challenged by the realities of keeping livestock in such conditions.  We have been feeding our cow in a sacrifice paddock for the time being which is incredibly hard for us given our passion for regenerative and adaptive grazing systems. However whilst coming to terms with the damage caused by the fire we found it difficult to move our gorgeous highland cow off the property.   It was important to monitor her health for a couple of weeks initially and with our cattle yards destroyed in the fire and the lack of agistment options due to drought we had more good excuses not to!  Working out a more suitable option for her for the coming winter months is our current challenge.  

Mother nature is the most resilient of all in times of fire as new growth has reappeared in trees, pastures and gardens much more quickly than the man made structures will be redesigned and rebuilt.    

Written by Angus Deans
This is a very different musing to the typical – and yet not so different in some respects either. The tone of some of what I have written before has often queried the reasons for people failing to change the ways they manage the landscape over which they have ‘control’ in order that those same landscapes could become ever more regenerative and productive.
 
I have to be very honest. I have often said that we need to get rid of farmers! Not all farmers – just those who seem to be so uninterested in looking after the health of their animals, their environment and their soils. The actions of these people I consider to be both an animal welfare issue and environmental vandalism!  
 
I expect many people to be somewhat affronted by that statement and perhaps to get “their knickers in a twist” and need to lash out at that statement. And that is their right and so be it if that is what happens for them. 
 
I would ask those same people to also consider this - we can never be hurt by the words of someone else unless there is truth in those words, or unless those words play into a belief – conscious or sub-conscious -that we already hold as true about ourselves.
 
If there were no truth in my belief then it would be merely dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic with no emotional import at all.
 
The origin of the simplistic notion that it would be simpler to just remove all perceived ineffective land managers to effect change came about from my time after transferring to a mine that the company I worked for had recently acquired. My job role was to develop and put in place a Quality Assurance System, Occupational Health Management System and an Environmental Management System. The intent of these systems was so far removed from the reality of the workplace culture that had existed prior to this time that I quickly became aware of the fact that it would be easier to “sack the lot (employees) and start again”! Due to workplace laws in this country that was not possible and so my journey of discovery into how to motivate people to embrace change was forced to begin. 
 
There is so much talk about the drought at present and so much imagery of bare ground and increasingly starving livestock, and of the need for society and government to support the struggling farmers and I say – “Bullshit”! Some of the imagery being portrayed in social media or mainstream media should see charges being laid against many land managers and owners from an animal cruelty aspect alone. And that is without thought for the long term harm being done to the land under the feet of those poor animals.
 
You see a drought can create a space of minimal or no growth. It cannot in the short term create a space of no ground cover – of bare soils. That is a creation of management decisions – not drought. Now we have the great good fortune (?) to live on the driest inhabited continent on earth – subject to very erratic rainfall patterns and increasingly hot temperatures. Drought seems to be an inevitability. 
 
In fact in the 37 years I have lived in this part of this country I believe that 90% of those years have presented us with drought conditions for approximately 9 months of every year. Sporadic rainfall events that are not followed up by regular falls create very short growing ‘windows’ and freezing winter nights create an almost total absence of growth even if moisture is present. This means that we have to make hay while the sun shines so to speak. When the growth ‘window’ occurs we have to maximise the effectiveness of that growth and budget it’s subsequent use assuming – at least in our brittle environment – that it has to last until the same likely event next year! 
 
The elegant simplicity of the truth of this should be apparent to anyone who wishes to think about it. But why is this important?
 
It is vitally important because the vocation of farming is dependant upon the health and healthy processes of it’s prime asset – the soil – being able to take advantage of both rainfall and sunshine when they are available to grow whatever we are aiming to grow in our production system whether that be pasture in grazing or crops in horticulture. 
 
You may have noticed that I spoke about farming as a vocation rather than as a business. This is for one simple reason – a business never survives by starting with a capital base and then exploiting that until it no longer can function or even exist. This is a model too often seen in our behaviours that can sometimes in the extractive phase make a lot of money for a very small group of people but in the long run leaves just a  train wreck coming that is now someone else’s problem to deal with. And yet that is exactly the model the majority of ‘farmers’ have used for too long and unfortunately are still using. This is simply mining – here today and gone tomorrow.
 
I recently watched a short video detailing how on a monitored property 6 months of carrying more stock than the carrying capability with the rainfall that had been received resulted in below average production for 3 years! I have observed this first hand many times travelling around this country and have been guilty of having created the same effects myself at times.
 
My emphasis in this writing is not just to be judgemental but to offer hope. You see, we can (and will) make mistakes! There is nothing wrong with that – it is in fact necessary – it is part of the human experience. And if those mistakes create enough pain we may even be motivated enough to try not to repeat the same behaviours that led to the pain that we are currently experiencing. Wow! Imagine that!  
 
One of the things that I have discovered via my counselling practice has been that most people are only ever going to consider changing their stories when the pain of hanging onto them is so great that they cannot handle them any more.
 
My personal hope is that this period of drought may be one of those times. When the pain of doing more of the same creates the willingness to try something different then land managers now have the most amazing opportunity to create a new looking future if they can survive the economic stress they are enduring. The only downside to this is the fact that regenerating these landscapes will be a slow process but also a very rewarding one.
 
Having said that the recovery process would be slow we are learning more all the time about how to expedite the process and the end result of managing the land in a regenerative fashion rather than an exploitative one has to be seen to be believed. It takes less work, it is more fulfilling and a joy to be involved in, it heals broken cycles such as the water and carbon cycles, supports much greater biodiversity and results ultimately in increased production at lower costs per unit produced. 
 
Managing for the sake of soil health produces healthier crops / pastures that provide healthier food for the animals / humans that consume them at the same time as restoring ecosystem functions by keeping rainfall on and in the land for longer and allowing for longer stream flows of cleaner water as well as producing more plant life to feed more soil biology to help sequester more carbon to lift the system even higher. 
 
There is no other way to farm. We either work in harmony with our environment or we ultimately grind ourselves down into the dust we have created by being at war with it. To farm in the manner described in the preceding paragraph or to be endlessly mired in warring against weeds, disease and pests, drought and floods. This consumes much too much energy and ultimately we will never win. Nature always will.

And in this time Mother Nature is showing us the folly of not being in harmony with it, and is asking us to consider a different way of acting as land managers. There are many people farming regeneratively now – all around the world but also many in this sunburnt country we call home. Yes the dry affects them – but much, much more slowly than conventional mechanistic farmers who are removed from the natural systems and processes that sustain life. Many of these regenerative practitioners have improved their ecosystem functions to the point that whilst they experience rainfall reductions they do not experience drought with starving animals and degraded soils as we are seeing now.
 
The one difference between the two systems of agriculture is choice – it is always that simple, and conversely always that hard. Many have been forced to change as a result of drought or financial hardship but none would choose to go back. All those who have dared to be different have copped the flack from doing so socially and amongst peers in their industries but have persisted both because it works ecologically, productively, socially, financially and because it feels good. 
 
Who wants to farm when you are at war with everything and at the mercy of our climate? What a struggle! And for too long we have portrayed that struggle as heroic! Heroic it is not. Stupid it definitely is. And cruel as well – to the poor animals and landscapes that it is inflicted on. None of us would like to be starved so it is time to stop doing it to other sentient beings – whether they be macro or micro flora and fauna.
 
When we look after the whole functioning system it will look after us. True heroism is seeing that something is not working and daring to make an effort to change it. Not by warring with it trying to make it perform as you in all your infinite wisdom (or lack of?) perceive is should. Instead flip the story on it’s head.
 
If I want to grow meat or fibre then first I must grow nutritious forages (not mono-cultural or couple of species forages as that will never equal nutrition). If I wish to grow nutritious forages then first I must support all of the life giving processes that grow a healthy thriving soil. In this manner I can then endlessly achieve my aim of producing the meat or fibre and enjoy the process of doing so.
 
To grow nutritious grain, fruit or vegetable crops first I must support all of the life giving processes that grow a healthy thriving soil. Only then can I produce a healthy life promoting product. Not a commodity laden with “...cides” that is at war with health.
 
If we wish to farm then we have no choice but to grow soil – not as some sort of hydroponic substrate that we have so often regarded it as – but as a living breathing ever upward trending medium that provides the basis for all life.
 
And for those in the grip of drought this can be dismissed as irrelevant or “yeah ..but” and that is OK for those who believe their farming system is as perfect as it could ever be and that they are merely victims. 
 
For those who are tiring of this way of being in the world take a little time to look around and find the people near you who still have feed in their paddocks and healthy, vibrant functioning livestock and ecosystems and reach out to them for guidance. Most people into regenerative agriculture are quietly just doing it wondering why the rest of the world does not get it. They are tired of being bagged for what they do but are generally willing to help coach someone genuinely interested in change through the processes that takes.
 
And the easiest time to start this process is when you have nothing left. It seems a paradox but when you have finally removed the distractions that “normalcy” provides and the attendant unspoken rules of behaviour that go with that, then at last you are free to proceed in a different manner. This is a process of learning that is guaranteed to be both exciting and rewarding and continues for a lifetime. It all starts with a dialogue and an openness to consider that there may be another way.
 

By Angus Deans

It has been a long time since I have put pen to paper – some of it due to the weather conditions we have been experiencing and some of it due to the lethargy that the summer heat induced!
 
We have experienced severe summer heat here at The Oasis with but sporadic rainfall since Christmas. I guess what motivates me to write this now is that I firmly believe that we as custodians of the land have a duty to be in tune with it and to steward it accordingly. But first I have some observations – some of which could be met with incredulity on behalf of some – but that is not my problem. I am of the belief that we should never become stuck in dogma – for that closes our mind rather than opens it to the myriad and endless possibilities that are out there.

I personally am drawn to question everything – which is not how it always was! Once I had the belief that everything was black and white and that everything could be “changed” to fit into the box as required if I only tried hard enough! Life has a curious ability to grant us opportunities to let go of the Ego and to instead invite us to become as one with reality. 

So what is reality? Reality is what is. Nothing more and nothing less. What does this have to do with this blog? Everything! Because I am drawn to question everything I spend my life querying all assumptions – both those that belong to others (society) and those that I have been attached to. I have always been deeply connected to Nature for I always found the environment, plants and animals to be more ‘real’ than people generally are. Kim’s and my journey into Biodynamics has only added to this as we have sought to understand the inter-relationship of everything in our awareness.

This journey has led me to observe that our sheep have the ability to forecast with incredible regularity the seasonal conditions for some time in advance. How? Since we stopped trying to manipulate lambing time by manipulating joining time to fit what we thought worked with rainfall and therefore growth patterns in the spring our sheep choose to lamb generally about mid-winter. And usually about 3 weeks before a reasonable rainfall event that aids in creating the minimal winter growth we experience on our poorly mineralised soils in extremely frosty conditions. (We are a summer growing season here predominantly)

Another thing we have observed is the preponderance or otherwise of the sex of the lambs being born. Last year in a dry very cold winter we had 86% ewe lambs which we always assumed meant a good season. It certainly was not looking like that until October – some three months later! And then we experienced a phenomenal three month growing season until just after Christmas. When we have a preponderance of female offspring it indicates a good season about three months in advance just as a majority of male offspring indicates the opposite.

What was most interesting to observe was that as our deciduous trees came into leaf rather later than usual due to the dry and cold winter they came out with only small leaves. This always indicates the growing season ahead and caused us some consternation as we were now going into a great rainfall and growth period and had had mostly ewe lambs! But we trust these observations that have occurred for some years now and so we knew a hard summer was coming. Which it did. With a vengeance!

What is the relevance of these seemingly random things? 
In the last three months of 2017 we were drowning in grass – as were many in our region. The typical farmer rushed out to buy yet more very expensive livestock to make sure every blade of grass was constantly being mown for fear of wasting grass. We were preparing for the worst as the leaves on our deciduous trees were the smallest they have ever been in our time here and so that must mean something horrible was coming. So we resisted the temptation to increase stock numbers for the short term sake of managing pasture growth optimally, and instead grew much rank feed that is our standing hay stack. And I am very grateful for that.

As the searing heat led on into autumn most of our lambs went into the freezer with some cull ewes and the calf as we looked to the sky for rain. Just recently our replacements went also. We have a few ewes and 2 cows left that are locked in a couple of sacrifice paddocks that are predominantly Bladey Grass, Whiskey Grass, and Darby’s Oats. With supplementary feed (some cattle nuts) for the cows we have feed for approximately 20 days more and in the absence of rain creating some growth we may have to remove them all.

These are tough decisions to make. These ewes and cattle have been bred here and are ‘intelligent’ to our place. They understand our ethos and know how to be in this environment. We never have a need to teach our animals to eat weeds as is a huge trend in grazing around the world as they already know what and when to eat as they learn this from their elders. And they always pick out a smorgasboard as they know how to ensure their own optimum vitality when choice is available.

When I look around our region I sometimes question why I would consider total destocking at this time. I see no-one with the residual feed that we have. Most sheep enterprises and, unbelievably to me, most cattle enterprise are looking basically like bowling greens and our winter has only just started. What frightens me is the damage that has been done to the productive potential of those properties. There is only one thing that grows grass – and that is grass! Nothing else can do it. 

So what happens when we eat the plant down to the crown? We not only get rid of the solar panel that is designed to create a free net energy gain in the presence of water and sunlight, but we also root prune it so that the roots no longer extend into the ground to access moisture, or create organic matter and aeration through their growth. Now we have no ability for water and air to get into the ground when the rains finally come; and no root exudates as a byproduct of photosynthesis to feed the soil foodweb that is designed to support life.

​And then people will blame the drought for their woes. In fact they already are blaming the drought. The dry is not the problem – it is the management – or lack of - that is the problem. Whilst farmers manage only for short-term production to the exclusion of all else they are only hanging more millstones about their neck. I understand that farmers need to make money. But buying livestock at exorbitant prices when the seasons indicators demonstrate that the short term utopia we were experiencing before Christmas was not going to continue; and then holding on against all odds when they could have been off loaded for reasonable money still, in the hope that winter crop could be put in to feed them as there was no pasture left when the seasonal indicators were saying this is not normal. I despair.
 
To me my first priority as a land steward is to grow soil. If I grow soil it grows feed and that grows my animals and we all win.

The attitude that says we must try and grow animals at the expense of our feed and of our soil is nothing but environmental vandalism and a fast-track to bankruptcy and starvation. Every major civilisation that has dominated large tracts of the world has ended when it has destroyed the quality of its soil and the soil’s ability to provide proper nutrition to everything that is dependent upon it – Life!

Kim and I choose a different way. If we grow healthy living soil (and that is our first priority) then it will grow healthy vibrant plant life that will grow healthy vibrant animal life that all serves to nurture us and all of life. 

​It was late one Friday afternoon in October 2004 and I was almost finished work for the week at the office when the phone rang.  It was our real estate agent and he had a property he thought we might be interested in.  “What about Tingha?” he asked, I was unsure as the small village located a short drive from the larger country town we called home was not somewhere we had been considering living.  The agent went on to describe the property, the interesting house and as he listed the features I noticed myself mentally ticking off our wish list.  This property sounded like it was a perfect fit and the price was also in line with our budget.  I arranged a time first thing in the morning to have a look at the property and he gave me directions. 
 
We had been looking for a home out of town on a few acres for many months.   Angus and I had combined two households including two kids and two dogs each and were feeling crowded living in town.  We had found the property search disappointing as it seemed every one was looking to purchase houses on a few acres out of town and the prices were rising ridiculously as a result.  A few months ago we had resigned ourselves to our cramped urban lifestyle for the time being and had continued to save money for our deposit.   
 
Fortunately, we were the first people to inspect “The Oasis” that Saturday.  We knew instantly we had found our new home.  As it had been some time since we had talked finance with the bank I told the agent we were keen to purchase the property and would like a couple of days to confirm finance was still good to go.   The agent held the property for us even though both of the other parties who had inspected the property later that same day were also keen to purchase it.  We ended up having exactly the right amount of funds saved for the deposit and with our finance approved the sale went ahead easily. 
 
After using visioning as a tool for many years now I have learnt that surrendering and trusting the process is essential.  When you are desperately searching or trying too hard your energy does not create, it reacts.  When we relax, surrender and trust the process the vision unfolds often in even better ways than we could imagine.  I have also found that creating a vision helps you to identify opportunities you may otherwise miss as you have spent the time clarifying what it is that you want to be, do and have.  With out this clarity you can easily miss an opportunity.  With out our vision for our ideal home that we had created months earlier we could have easily failed to inspect “The Oasis” and missed the opportunity simply because it was in an area we had not been considering.  Yes, sure another property may have still come along that was perfect, but how would we even know it was perfect or a better choice with out the clarity provided by our vision?
 
We have continued to use visioning as a tool in our lives at The Oasis to great effect.  I was inspired to create a new vision when I completed Holistic Management training and our temporary holistic goal was born.  The simple process of clarifying and writing these vision statements is profound.  Earlier this year we realised that we needed to create a new vision.  The instant we reviewed the previous version we knew that its time was done.  We had outgrown it and felt as though it was actually constraining us and not opening us up to the infinite potential and possibilities we wanted beyond our own land.  Your vision statement is incredibly powerful and will inspire you and motivate you. 
 
Your vision is a powerful tool that can be used in so many ways.  You can create a vision for your life, for your permaculture design, for your farm, for your family, for your business, for an organisation.  If you have ever worked in an organisation with out a clearly defined vision you will have felt the lack of direction, the inefficiency and the frustration as you spend time on activities that are pointless due to the lack of cohesion that abounds in these environments. 
 
If you don’t know what you want, chances are someone else will. 
Are you happy spending your life creating other people’s visions or would you like to spend your life fulfilling your own vision?  
Have you contemplated what it is that would make you fulfilled? 
What do you want your life to contribute to the world? 
How do you want to live? 
How do you want your days to be?   
 
I have created a visioning e-course which is free for a limited time in my online store on The Rural Woman marketplace.  This course is designed for you to work at your own pace and includes a short video where I explain the visioning process, a visioning audio exercise and a number of other activities you can pick and choose from (or have fun with them all if you choose!) to help you explore and then create your vision.  This course can be applied to any number of visioning purposes including your life, permaculture design, farm & business.   As 2017 is drawing to a close and we are on the cusp of a brand new year it is as good a time as any to work on your vision.  
 
If you have any questions on visioning as a tool or if you have an awesome story to share about how visioning has helped you to create your life on your terms please drop us a line we love to hear from our readers. 

This weekend we documented our grazing management by making a short video which can be viewed via our Facebook page.  Take a virtual tour of our paddocks and see how Angus manages our livestock to regenerate land, raise happy, healthy sheep and grow healthy biodynamic lamb for us to enjoy.  The video can be found by following this link:

https://www.facebook.com/211015928994422/videos/1238921712870500/

Enjoy :)

By Angus Deans

Wow! What a turn around in seasonal conditions! In April we were experiencing here at “The Oasis” the worst hot dry spell in our tenure of this beautiful property. We had experienced such intense heat and an almost complete lack of rainfall since the end of January that meant we had completed a full rotation without growth and were now heading into dangerous territory as we were grazing harder than ever before. Our young stock had all gone as well as some older ewes and the few remaining ewes were endangered – literally! Two days shy of being put in the freezer we picked up useful rain that offered a lifeline for them!
 So what has happened since? Rain and yet more rain and still it continues. For readers from southern Australia that may not be that unusual with your winter rainfall dominance. But for us in a predominantly summer rainfall zone this is somewhat unusual. However, of even more interest has been the response of our property to this amazing wet winter.

 Typically we do not experience growth in winter which is due to a number of factors. The most limiting is the fact that our granite soils were actually sluiced for alluvial tin about 100 years ago which means that any accumulated fertility of the ages was washed away and so the process has had to start again – this time in the complete absence of both trees and shrubs which help produce leaf litter and cycling of deep minerals. The other effect they have that has been absent is their ability to mollify temperature extremes, and so we have suffered at the hands of those.

 These temperature extremes are such that in winter we can experience -15 degree frosts followed by up to 20 degree days with plant sap thus rising and freezing and so totally smashing any growth possibility. This has largely been our experience here although it is changing. Typically we do not experience winter growth of any pasture plants or weeds! This is a factor of poor soil nutrient status and climate.

 Interestingly we have experienced limited winter growth through the last two winters now – with this winter being better than last. This has created its own problems however – particularly this year when we started winter with a complete absence of green in the surrounding landscape. Because we have grown pasture through the winter we have been feeding the neighbourhood’s rabbits and so have not benefited fully from the growth potential we could have achieved. Because we maintain roughage it is not possible to shoot the rabbits and so we have decided to rabbit fence our boundary which is occurring as possible around other commitments and a very boggy landscape.

 The bogginess is really what prompts me to write this article though. For approximately six weeks now we have been “overflowing” with water. Our property is to all intents and purposes flat with a slight fall to the creek. Our soil has been filled with water to above ground level for the last six weeks! Whilst this water can move through the soil it does not run off both because of the flatness but also the amount of herbage we always maintain – so water movement through our landscape is very slow. I am intensely proud of this but the sheep do not like having constantly wet feet – and so relish the paddocks with rock in them!  

 I would typically have expected to have lost most of our pastures as a result of this waterlogging – or at the very least have expected them to have become all yellow as a result of lack of oxygen in the root zone. But this has not been the case. Our pastures have maintained a beautiful healthy green colour and keep growing! This is what has prompted me to write. For I hear stories of crops being lost due to water logging and I question whether they are being lost DUE to waterlogging or whether they are being lost due to poor soil structure and then waterlogging?

 Because if waterlogging is merely a factor of a full soil profile then our pastures should be dying. But they are not! They are thriving! Is this merely because we are Biodynamic? Because Biodynamics supports right functioning of the farm organism in spite of Nature’s sometimes adversity? Or is it because our Love for our property is sufficient to carry it through this time that could easily be viewed as adverse? But that Love is also an aspect of Biodynamics anyway – not necessarily separate from.
 Now I am not comparing our experience with farms that are inundated with river flooding – but rather with those claiming to have waterlogged soils that have hastened development of disease that is affecting their crops or that have had crops die merely as a result of wet feet. And I wonder why they should be so affected when we are not.

 I feel that our experience is merely indicating the difference between a landscape imbued with Life Force Energy and the resulting resilience that is thus supported; and a landscape that is bereft of life force energy.

It is the time of year where my favourite planning tools arrive in the post and I begin reflecting on the year that has been and think about what I want to create next year.
 
Our biodynamic journey is supported by the biodynamic calendar.   The biodynamic calendar is the basis we use for planning our biodynamic gardening and farming practices.  We consult with it regularly to guide us regarding the best timing for planting, weeding etc as the calendar shows us whether it is a fruit, leaf, flower or root day.  It also provides an explanation as to the best times in the month and year for various biodynamic practices.  I find it simple to check the calendar and plan ahead when planting the seasons vegetables out and carrying out cultural practices according to the calendar. 
 
This kind of planning can turn many people away from biodynamics as it may seem too complicated or they may wonder how on earth they would ever be able to fit with this schedule.  We were fortunate to be introduced to biodynamics with the philosophy that people only fail at biodynamics by not doing it.  We take the approach that spreading the preparations when you can even if its not perfectly timed with the calendar is better than not doing it at all.  I have heard it said by an experienced biodynamic farmer that the best time to spread the preparations is between the 1st of January and the 31st of December!  So when possible we use the calendar to guide us with timings and when not possible we just do it. 
 
If you wish to purchase a biodynamic calendar visit Biodynamic Agriculture Australia at 
http://biodynamics.net.au/products/astro-calendar/
 
A few years ago I discovered some amazing yearly planning workbooks designed for women to create their lives and businesses.   Leonie Dawson the creator of these planners explains that many people never write their goals down.  I believe writing goals down gives them a physical form and helps them to become reality.  Leonie claims that of those people who write down their goals only a small portion of them actually review their goals. The most successful business people write down their goals and review them regularly. 
 
The workbooks are a fun and colourful way of writing down your goals and reviewing your progress.   Part of this yearly planning process is reflecting on the year that has been and the joys and lessons it has brought.  This is so important as if we stay too focused on the future we don’t stop to celebrate our achievements or notice and enjoy the present moment. 
 
I have definitely seen massive results in my life through using the workbooks.  I have enjoyed sharing the workbooks with friends and we now have a group of women using them and we are able to support each other and hold each other accountable.  Women have found that using these planners gives you permission to dream and believe it is possible to create a life you love. 
 
Travelling along the path of goal setting and taking action it can sometimes see you fall into the trap of keeping crazy busy doing all the things on your lists.  Remember to plan to leave empty space in your life to just BE.  Yes, reflect on where you have been, plan for tomorrow but not at the expense of not enjoying today and being grateful for exactly where you are right now. 

Any plan you create should be an evolving document which you review and update regularly.  See the plan as something that evolves with you and remember to surrender to the flow of life not fight against it.  For we all know the best adventures we have are often created when we surrender to the moment and allow things to unfold. 
 
If you would like to check out the gorgeous life and business planners (which by the way do encourage you to plan in self care retreats to just BE) here is a link. https://jlk86341.isrefer.com/go/2016wbeb/kimdeans/

By Angus Deans