Five of our estate ranches (Blue Heron, McNab, Butler, Chalfont and Ledford) are certified Biodynamic® by Demeter, and our status is reviewed annually to ensure that each ranch adheres to the Demeter Farm Standard. The principle of Biodynamic farming is the simplest way to understand what it is: a living organism that is self-contained, self-sustaining, and aligns beneficially with the nature’s key cycles.
Being self-contained and self-sustaining can be better understood by thinking of how farms functioned centuries ago. A family farm would often exist in isolation, requiring people, animals and plants to sustain one another. These systems function together to create a single living organism: the farm as a whole. We farm our Biodynamic ranches striving to achieve this ideal with as few external inputs as possible. Biodynamic farming is a holistic view of agriculture with high awareness of the interconnectivity between earth, plants, animals, humans, the moon and planets.
We consult various Biodynamic® calendars that recommend dates for sowing, cultivation and harvesting based on the movements of the moon and planets.
