Real Food on the Farm:
Nutritionally Vital Foods that Promote Health and Healing, 2006
On-Farm Workshop at S&S Homestead Farm
Real Food and Health
Roy Ozanne, MD, HMD, Holistic Physician
Today serious degenerative diseases such as obesity, childhood diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, ADD, and depression are becoming commonplace. This is largely due to industrialized agriculture and processes that poison our biosphere. Suppressing such diseases by synthetic medicines and surgical procedures addresses only the symptoms and cannot restore vital health. Nutritionally vital diets deal with the underlying causes and thereby play an essential role in restoring health. This lecture will present Roy’s 30 years of experience as a practicing physician in dealing with illness and disease through radically improved diets. Roy’s work builds upon the research of Dr. Weston A. Price.
Real Nutrition
Lynn Parr, R.N., Nutritional Consultant and Chapter Leader, Weston A. Price Foundation
What are the biological laws and physiological principles governing a diet that will sustain vital and healthy bodies? Lynn will explain the digestive processes by which biodynamically grown and properly processed vegetables and animal-derived foods are assimilated to achieve optimal levels of health and well-being. Topics will include the function of the digestive tract; metabolic processes transferring nutrients via the bloodstream to the skeleton, muscles, organs and brain; the special role of enzymes and beneficial bacteria; and “food myths” regarding cholesterol and saturated fats.
Preserving Food Vitality through Lacto-Fermentation
Elizabeth Simpson, S&S Homestead Farm; Co-Director, S&S Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Traditional cultures preserved food by processes of lacto-fermentation. Biodynamic food preparation, like biodynamic farming and gardening, enhances natural microbial action and has benefits far beyond food preservation. Lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhance flavor and digestibility, increase vitamin content, promote the growth of healthy flora in the intestine, and provide antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic enzymes. Culturing dairy products increases beneficial bacteria and protein content. This session will demonstrate processing raw milk into butter, yogurt, cheese and whey, and various vegetables into pickles, as well as feature an array of some fifty seasonal foods available on the farm during the month of May.
Growing Vital Food on the Farm and in the Garden
Henning Sehmsdorf, S&S Homestead Farm; Director, S&S Center for Sustainable Agriculture
S&S Homestead Farm raises foods in accordance with biodynamic processes intended to bring vital life force to the soil and everything that grows in it. This life force is comparable to what in Polynesian tradition is known as mana, in India as prana, and in China as chi. It follows that in contrast to conventionally produced and processed foods, biodynamically grown foods are rich in vital energy and not just in chemically identifiable nutrients. The ideal unit in which to practice Biodynamics is a garden or small farm where plant and animal organisms above and below the ground support each other in a self-renewing whole. This tour of the farm’s gardens, orchard, fields and animal pastures will demonstrate biodynamic management involving intuitive and meditative practices as much as scientific observation and practical applications.