Planting by moonlight may not be such a loony idea (From Worcester News)

Planting by moonlight may not be such a loony idea

12:37pm Monday 26th September 2011 in Mike Pryce By Mike Pryce

SEBASTIAN Parsons – and I’m sure he won’t mind me saying this – has got a slightly wild look about him. With long black hair, chiselled features and a handshake that could probably crush a rock, you could easily see him tearing across the Texas plains on a pinto pony with Geronimo’s Apache war braves. Seeing as he lives at Hartlebury, near Stourport-on- Severn, that might be a bit far fetched, but not by much.

The native American indians, because of their lifestyle, were in very close touch with nature and in another century and on another continent so is Sebastian.

He may not be into dancing in the buff under a full moon but the lunar cycles do play a very important part in his way of thinking and doing things. For Sebastian is a leading figure in the biodynamic agriculture movement.

More catchily known as “moon phase gardening”.

You’ve heard of organic. Well, biodynamic not only embraces organic, but also biodiversity and astronomy. Food is grown, harvested and sometimes even consumed in accordance with lunar cycles.

Cynics may dismiss this as pie in the sky but that becomes more difficult when you talk to advocates such as Sebastian, who is chairman of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association.

He can cite examples, seen through his own eyes, of biodynamic and non-biodynamic crops grown side by side in the same field. The biodynamic crop flourished compared with its nonbio counter part.

The principles are not new, for the basics of biodynamism were outlined by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner in a series of lectures in 1924. Transferred into the area of food production, it means the best days for harvesting, planting and sowing depend on whether the moon is in the ascendant (when a plant’s sap rises) or descendant (when the strength is in the roots).

When the moon is ascending, the upper plant is filled with vitality, which makes, in biodynamic terms, a perfect time to harvest. The other two weeks of the lunar cycle, when the strength is in the roots, are ideal to lift root vegetables.

All this might seem rather out of left field for the mainstream but Sebastian maintains the proof is in the eating.

He said: “You really can tell the difference in the taste of biodynamic produce.”

He then went on to advocate the following highly innovative philosophy with a very rational basis: “In the years after the Second World War, the British consumed a lot of processed food.

“We had to. Times were difficult and it was necessary to feed the nation. But what it did was to create a generation with dulled palates.

“People seem to have lost the sensitivity to distinguish quality.

In some areas of food and drink it has survived. In wine, for example, much is made of wine tasting, with experts able to note subtle differences between products. But would you ever think of carrot tasting or potato tasting? Yet you could and if you did you would notice the quality of biodynamically produced items.

“We just seem to have lost the value of food and the ability to appreciate it.”

All this is no recent conversion for Sebastian, because his family go way back, four generations in fact, when it comes to what is these days called a “holistic” approach to food.

He said: “Essentially it is about working with nature and not against it and making the most of the land with the minimum cost impact. Biodynamics produces stronger food which not only tastes better but requires a healthier digestion to process, which in turn makes you fitter. It is a strategy for saving the world.”

All of which he puts into practice on a 200-acre farm at Stock Wood, near Inkberrow, where 200 sheep, 25 head of cattle and 30 acres of cereals are all developed as biodynamically as possible.

The location is also the headquarters of Elysia, the British company for the Dr Hauschka organic beauty brand, of which Sebsatian is managing director and which is used by many top celebrities. The whole location is a hot spot of greener thinking in the Worcestershire countryside.

Next month sees the annual Biodynamic Food Fortnight, which runs from October 2-17 and naturally includes the next full moon on October 12. The occasion will see a nationwide push to educate the public about biodynamic farming and the benefits of its produce.

In more recent years, the whole organic philosophy has faced an uphill struggle as the recession sent food shoppers looking for cheaper alternatives, but that has not deterred Sebastian Parsons one iota and he remains a committed prophet of the holistic approach.

Finally, there is an old American indian saying that goes: “When a man moves away from nature his heart becomes hard.”

So maybe we’re going in the wrong direction.