Stella Natura 2009 Authors and Artists
About the Authors
met Biodynamics, Camphill, and Anthroposophy while travelling by bicycle in the UK after living in Northern California for two years, where he worked at various times as an environmental educator, bicycle mechanic, tutor, and truck driver for a local organic school lunch program. He is currently a third year apprentice in the new North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program offered at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills. He is also active in the local anthroposophical youth initiative – Youth Engaged in Anthroposophical Approaches to Healing the World (YEAAHWorld!). He holds a B.S. in Biology from Brown University and his favorite BD Prep is 505 – Oak Bark.
is co-founder and Program Associate for the Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium (SARC) at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. The SARC provides education, demonstrations and resources on sustainable food and agricultural systems. Hunter received his MS in Agriculture (Soil Science specialization) from Cal Poly. Currently, he is primary coordinator of SARC programs, and a part-time lecturer in the College of Agriculture. He also serves as co-editor for Applied Biodynamics, a quarterly publication of the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics in Woolwine, VA (www.jpibiodynamics.org).
was born in 1987 in Germany and graduated from a Gymnasium (secondary school) in 2007. He spent a year of service in Camphill Village Kimberton Hills from 2007–2008 before going to University in Germany to study English and Political Science. He hopes to become a journalist.
a biologist and educator, is the founding director of The Nature Institute in rural upstate New York (http://www.natureinstitute.org). He is keenly interested in the interconnected nature of things and carries out holistic studies of plants and animals. Craig also critically examines new developments in genetics and biotechnology from a contextual perspective. His newest book, co-authored with his Nature Institute colleague Steve Talbott, is entitled Beyond Biotechnology: The Barren Promise of Genetic Engineering. He is also the author of The Giraffe's Long Neck: From Evolutionary Fable to Whole Organism and Genetics and the Manipulation of Life: The Forgotten Factor of Context.
works in the Forest of Dean in the UK, with the intention of bringing scientific rigor to the evaluation of potentised preparations, the use of peppers, and planting timed to coincide with with celestial configurations. To this end he created the Considera website – http://www.considera.org.
did his agricultural apprenticeship in his home country, Germany, and then studied in Witzenhausen at the only University at that time with a professor for organic farming. He graduated as an agrarian engineer, having done his thesis on The Effect of the Biodynamic Preparations on Peas. He has worked for twenty years with Demeter in Bavaria as an advisor for biodynamic farms, and since 1994 he has been the manager of the Demeter consulting organization there.
received her B.S. in Agriculture Business Management from Cal Poly and M.S. in Agribusiness from Arizona State. Using the Biodynamic® method, she farms grapes, almonds, citrus and row crops on her family's eighty-acre farm in Fresno, CA. Ms. Nonini is President of the Board of the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics; President of the Board of the newly formed Biodynamic Trade Association; serves on the California Raisin Marketing Board, and is Secretary of the (federal) Raisin Advisory Committee. Ms. Nonini's website can be visited at www.marianfarmsbiodynamic.com.
is a founder and faculty member of Rudolf Steiner College, where she has taught child development and American Studies for over thirty years. She is also the founding teacher for Cedar Springs Waldorf School. She lectures nationally on Waldorf education and parenting, threshold work and the spiritual feminine. She created the children's book Mia's Apple Tree. She and her husband have six children and sixteen grandchildren and love flying the plane they made together. Their ranch is in the Sierra foothills where they raise biodynamic beef and have many retreats for school children and community groups. They are known for their gala international Thanksgivings. (Nancy has a BS in Agriculture from the University of Arizona.)
teaches English and American literature at Saint Michael's College in Vermont. She attended the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, where she first studied and fell in love with poetry as a way to deepen our connection to nature. After completing a PhD in English at Columbia University, she left the city behind. She writes about the importance of poetic language in developing the capacities called for in Goethe's science. Her course, "Nature, Perception and Imagination," attempts to reunite scientific and artistic visions of the natural world through Goethe's approach.
was born and raised in California. He returned to the west coast in 2004 to live in Camphill Communities California. Previously, he lived for thirty-one years in the Kimberton anthroposophical community. After joining the Anthroposophical Society in 1971, in the mid-70s he became part of the group that built up the life of the local branch of the Anthroposophical Society in Southeast Pennsylvania. He is an experienced biodynamic gardener and teaches gardening as a vocational instructor. He has worked with and advocated for children and adults with disabilities in different contexts, including Camphill communities. He has been an adult educator for over twenty years. He practiced law for twenty years. He is a founder director of the New Century Bank in the Kimberton area, a socially responsible community bank. He is a member of the School for Spiritual Science. He is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Villanova University School of Law.
began gardening at an early age at his family home in Connecticut. Prior to completing a degree in Sustainable Agriculture from Prescott College in Arizona, he began saving seeds. A hobby was born in 1996 in Vermont, when Tom began sharing these seeds with others through a small seed flyer. High Mowing Organic Seeds has since expanded into one of the leading organic seed companies in the U.S., supplying both home gardeners and commercial growers. Tom's vision has always been to create a company that would help support the re-building of healthy food systems, first in Vermont, followed by the rest of the U.S. He has also taught numerous workshops on many agricultural topics such as agricultural education, economics, community-supported agriculture, genetic engineering, plant breeding and more. In addition, he has served on the board of several agricultural organizations. He lives on fifty acres in Vermont, with his wife Heather, and their two girls, Ruby and Cora.
gardened biodynamically in New York, Switzerland, England, California and Pennsylvania. Since 1973 she has been a co-worker in Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, and since 1978 she has been editing this Calendar. She teaches anthroposophy and is an active member of the Anthroposophical Society. As a member of its Agriculture Section she is taking a leading role, in collaboration with the Biodynamic Association, in establishing a North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program.
About the Artists
our cover artist, resides in Chester County, PA, where he paints en plein air. The task of landscape painting is to bring about a harmonious relationship between earth and sky, light and matter, outer perception and inner experience.
has been illustrating ever since she can remember. She has illustrated a children's book, Dance of the Elves, and a cookbook called The Community Cooks. Elizabeth currently teaches sixth grade at the Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, New Hampshire. For further information and permission for reprinting the illustrations, contact Elizabeth at (603)654-3724.
Now Available
9" x 12" wall calendar
Beautifully illustrated
40 pages, 4-color cover
$14.95 retail; ISBN
978-0-9795530-2-8