Or, put another way, someone IS listening to my rants…
Here is a selection of comments both pre– and –post to my views from some terrific bloggers.
From Tom Wark’s FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog
Humor, Wine & The Internet
http://www.fermentation.typepad.com
If anyone wants to know why I’ve always loved the Internet, all you have to do is look at these three quotes, all published in various places on the Internet yesterday. This medium is always source of great humor and fascination for me.
“This is not science. This is hippie, dippy, wacky commune back to the Earth zeitgeist. It reminds me of stoned university students wanting to go back to the 13th century and dance around the maypole during the full moon and then sacrifice an animal at midnight to please the gods.”
Stu Smith of Smith-Madrone Winery commenting in a most colorful way at Peg Melnik’s Blog at the Press Democrat on how he views Biodynamic Farming. I’ll say this for Stu, who has made wonderful wines for years without dancing around a maypole—he sure has a way with words. I’m positive there is a tune around which we can wrap the lyrics “hippie-dippy-wacky” and make a fortune.
And from the peripatetic and omniscient Chowhound blog:
Biodynamic Farming: Stuart Smith (Smith Madrone) vs. Mike Benziger
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/613837
Two well-known vintners on California’s north coast weigh in on biodynamic viticulture.
Here are the pieces that set this off:
- Mike Benziger video http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090407/LIFESTYLE/904079895
- Stuart Smith’s letter to the editor http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/…
From a comment on this blog:
Hey, you gotta love a farming method based on how the Lemurians (ancient humans with jellylike bodies and telekinetic powers) raised their crops on the lost continent of Atlantis. Some of my best friends use biodynamic methods, but they’re a little strange. And that’s putting it very mildly.
If you ever see somebody doing surgery on a roadkill deer, it’s probably a biodynamic farmer. “In terms of its forces a deer bladder is almost a replica of the cosmos. A deer is involved with forces that are quite different from those of a cow, which are all related to the interior. By putting the yarrow into a deer bladder, we significantly enhance its inherent ability to combine sulphur with other substances.” So you pull over to the side of the road, remove the deer’s bladder, stuff it with yarrow flowers, hang it from the eaves all summer, bury it for the winter, then dig it up and put it in your compost pile in the spring so that the compost can “inhale the cosmic energy.”
For more: http://www.sfweekly.com/content/print…
To their credit, the biodynamic types do tend to spend more time paying attention to the food they’re growing than most other folks. And the quality tends to be better as a result. So it doesn’t bother me much that they use astrology to decide when to plant and harvest. If the Scientologists want to grow tomatoes organically and can get Tom Cruise and John Travolta to spend all their waking hours picking hornworms off the plants, I’ll be happy to eat the fruit that’s produced. But please don’t tell me that the tomatoes are better because they’re Thetan-free.
Here’s a commenter from The ZINQUISITION:
http://zinquisition.blogspot.com/2009/04/voice-of-reason-in-these-dark-times.html
Friday, April 17, 2009
A voice of Reason in these dark times…
Huzzah! for Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone Winery!
I just got through reading his letter to the editors of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, somewhat taking them to task for the nonsensical video of Mike Benziger on the PD site touting his Biodynamic philosophy. I’ve clipped the letter he wrote here, as well as provide the link for the PD letters for Fri April 17th…
“…People today make all sorts of assertions with little or no connection to the truth, and biodynamics is no different. Show me the scientific experiments that prove biodynamic soils and vines are healthier and biodynamic wines are better.
… in my opinion, biodynamics is a hoax and deserves the same level of respect we give to witchcraft. On Earth Day or another day, animal sacrifices (a biodynamic farming practice) should not be an acceptable practice of modern day agriculture or our society.”
That’s poetry. And my heart is warmed that people out there are starting to take notice of this mis-represented farming practice which wants everyone to think it naught but “peasant agriculture”…….
A BIG thanks to Mr. Smith for his letter of reason!
Biodynamics is a Hoax 