Yarrow 502 is one of the nine preparations used in Biodynamics and one of the six Biodynamic compost preparations (502-507). Rudolf Steiner said yarrow has a beneficial effect simply by its mere presence, although in the words of one Antipodean biodynamic vineyard consultant, yarrow can be ‘a tough little blighter to get rid of when sown as part of a vineyard cover crop mix’. Steiner said that because yarrow is not actually harmful you should never try to get rid of it.
About Yarrow: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is a member of the daisy (Compositae) family, a hardy, persistent and perennial herb often considered a weed but sometimes sown as a vineyard cover crop. It grows wild and up to waist height in Europe and North America in patches along roadsides and in pastures and meadows. The flowers, small and finely divided, are white, creamy yellow or pink. They form in flat-topped clusters ‘like a differentiated white or pink mirror that faces upwards. The leaves are most beautifully and finely divided, which is why the ancients called yarrow Supercilium veneris, the eyebrow of Venus.’
Despite being a ‘tough little blighter’ yarrow’s roots are shallow, as Proctor points out and ‘mainly at the surface: they are not deeply attached to the earth … Each flower is like a little chalice – a receptacle for receiving the beneficence of the cosmos. This connection with the cosmic forces, one imagines, enables the yarrow to concentrate many trace elements. It is a wonderful example of … plant dynamics. Yarrow has been found to contain a measurable amount of potassium and selenium even when the soil in which it grows lacks these minerals. In 1985 in Reporoa, New Zealand, liquid manure was made from yarrow plants growing on land where soil tests had shown deficiency of potassium and total absence of selenium. Analysis showed the liquid manure to contain measurable amounts of these minerals.’ Hugh Lovel says yarrow 502 is one of the best biodynamic preparations for detoxifying the soil.
A miracle of creation: Steiner called yarrow ‘a miracle of creation … as if some plant-designer had used an ideal model in bringing sulfur into relationship with the other plant substances’, because he saw yarrow’s highly dilute sulphur content combined with potassium in such an ideal way. Yarrow’s strong relationship with potassium is shown by its firm stalks. As a regulator, yarrow draws in fine dilutions of substances from the celestial sphere, using potassium and sulphur to bring cleansing (light) forces to the soil and thus into the organic processes of the farm. While each plant used to make the six Biodynamic compost preparations 502–507 has a good connection with sulphur, as seen by their well-cut and deeply lobed leaves, Steiner said yarrow’s relationship with sulphur is ‘truly exemplary’. Sulphur is what spiritual forces need to be able to carry organic substances like carbon, nitrogen and so on around the farm organism, into the soil, the crops and thus into our food. Steiner said that by using the yarrow preparation in our compost, animals and humans will become more sensitive to their surroundings and ‘any weakness of the astral body’, meaning the spirit’s ability to sense and carry forces, will be rectified.
Making the yarrow 502 compost preparation: The yarrow flowers are collected in sunny weather but only when all the florets in the cluster have opened. The easiest way is to cut individual florets, leaving some stem attached, as it makes handling them a little easier. The hard stems can be clipped off later to prevent them piercing the stag’s bladder they will eventually be placed in. Ideally the flowers are used fresh, but in Europe and most other parts of the wine world – Argentina being an exception – where yarrow flowers between late spring and early summer, the period during which this preparation should hang in its animal sheath in the summer sun will then be too short. Thus the florets will need to be picked in summer or autumn and dried ready for use the following spring.
The florets can be dried on hessian sacks or on slatted trays, or can be hung in bunches in an airy room as for herb teas. Bouchet recommends harvesting the florets when the sidereal moon stands in the fruit–seed/warmth constellations Ram, Lion or Archer and ideally when the summer sun also stands in Lion. From Bouchet’s northern- hemisphere perspective this currently means between 11 August and 15 September. In the southern hemisphere you would, by implication, wait for the sun to stand in either Ram, from 19 April to 12 May, or Archer, from 21 December to 16 January.
Using yarrow ‘in the right way: When Steiner talked of using yarrow ‘in the right way in our compost’ he meant the florets had to be prepared by being stuffed into the bladder of a red deer stag (Cervus elaphus) and remain there for six months. Steiner noted how the stag’s antlers share a similar form to that of the yarrow flower stems, and how, like yarrow, the stag forms a particularly strong connection to the celestial sphere – but through its antlers.
The stag’s antlers are made of bone excreted from its interior, sense antennae extending towards the celestial polethrough which the stag releases excess forces. The antlers also sense forces which radiate into the stag’s metabolic processes and into the bladder. This organ is often emptied when the senses heighten in moments of fear, surprise or ecstasy. The bladder is the focal point for everything the animal senses. Yarrow is used medicinally for bladder and kidney ailments, cleansing and purifying, eliminating salts dissolved in the urine, and above all for nitrogen and potassium.
A replica of the cosmos: The qualities Steiner said he identified in yarrow are ‘especially strongly preserved in the bodies of humans and animals by means of the process that takes place between the kidneys and the bladder. As thin as it may be in terms of substance, in terms of its forces a deer bladder is almost a replica of the cosmos.’
Steiner said that putting yarrow into the deer bladder ‘significantly enhance[s] its inherent ability to combine sulfur with other substances’. In Steiner-speak sulphur is the element which – by carrying the spiritual force or will – organizes how matter (e.g. the carbon plants absorb from the atmosphere which becomes carbon-rich compost, and the key macro-nutrient potassium) is formed, shaped, sculpted. If any preparation could be considered a microcosm of biodynamics, yarrow is it.
Making the yarrow 502 compost preparation: Stag bladders can be sourced either via local game wardens, hunters or abbatoirs, or even from fresh road kill. Ideally the bladder will come with the male reproductive organs intact, so there is no chance it could have come from a female, and unrinsed. The urine still inside can be kept in a glass container and used later to rinse the bladder before it is stuffed with the yarrow florets. Unless it is to be used fresh, the bladder can be inflated by removing part of the male organ and using the still-attached part of the urinary tract as an entry hole through which air can be blown or pumped. Once inflated the bladder can be tied off with string and hung for drying, and stored until needed for stuffing.
Before being stuffed, any bladders which had been stored dried or frozen will need softening with a dilute and warm rather than freshly boiled tea made from yarrow (the stems and leaves rather than flowers will do for this). The same tea can also be used to moisten the florets to make the stuffing operation less likely to result in a split bladder. Once the bladder is softened it can be rinsed with any saved animal urine. Making a small cut about two fingers wide in the side of the bladder near the urinary tract allows the bladder to be stuffed with the moistened flowers, using a wooden dowel if necessary. Once filled the sheath should have the firm consistency of a softball122 and should have retained its natural spherical form. After filling the sheath the opening is then sewn up and the bladder is ready to be hung outside. It should be waterproof so the flowers inside will not get mouldy in wet weather. Bladders which are too tightly filled and split when they dry out can be patched up with a new piece of bladder skin.
Well hung bladders: In spring the filled bladders are hung in a dry place exposed to the sun (facing the equator) and remain there until autumn when they are buried. The aim is to expose the filled bladders to the same weather conditions as will affect the farm during spring and summer. Reflecting its surroundings during its making allows the yarrow compost preparation to regulate those same surroundings via the compost when this is spread on the soil. Typically bladders are hung in trees, under the eaves of buildings or on purpose-built stands. The bladders must remain intact and should be hung far enough apart so as not to bang against one another (or anything else) in the wind. They must be out of the reach of dogs and other animals, and any bits of fat must be scraped or picked off to discourage pecking from birds. Netting can be used, leaving plenty of space.
Buried bladders: After spending a full summer outside the filled bladders should be taken down in autumn from their hanging place and buried for the duration of winter. This is the period when the earth opens up to celestial forces as it inhales. The bladders should be buried at the same time as the horn manure 500 preparation and in a pit of similar depth, i.e. covered by around 30 to 45 centimetres of soil. The bladders should be a slight distance apart so that each one is both surrounded and covered by soil.
Before backfilling the pit, placing a layer of sacks made from natural (residue-free) fibres over the top of it helps mark the boundary between the covering soil and the bladders when the pit is opened again. Burying each bladder in a small bottomless wooden box surrounded with earth also helps act as a marker. In tropical countries termites will destroy the wood so an unglazed earthenware pot may be used instead. This is buried in a brick-lined hole, again making sure the preparation is surrounded by soil. Protect the yarrow bladders from dogs, badgers, foxes and other large burrowing animals by laying roof slats or metal screening (gauze) over burial pits. The metal should be copper, which enhances yarrow’s relationship to Venus, rather than iron which is related to Mars and which, by being opposite in polarity, will inhibit it. Lining the bottom, sides and top of the pit with freshly cut elder branches deters mice who find the odour repulsive.
Excavation: The filled bladders should be dug up in late spring, or just after Mid-summer Day at the latest. Bouchet suggests a day when the planet Mer- cury stands in the fruit–seed/warmth constellation Ram. The bladder will have almost or completely rotted away but the yarrow flowers should have held the bladder’s shape. Care must therefore be taken to keep the preparation free of excess soil by using a blunt-edged implement like a wooden spatula when scraping away any remaining bladder membrane.
Storing the yarrow 502 compost preparation: The excavated yarrow preparation should be light brown in colour and feathery light in texture.132 Proctor notes that as the yarrow preparation never actually forms into humus – one can still see the structure of the flowers in and its nature is quite loose, it can dry out rather quickly. ‘Dry preparations will lose their strength’, Proctor says, and recommends placing the preparation in a glass jar with a loose-fitting lid and then placing this is in the designated (peat-lined) storage box with the other compost preparations. To help maintain its moisture the preparation can be pressed down a little too firm it in the jar. A teaspoon or two of water can be added if it looks too dry.
Using the yarrow 502 compost preparation: Rudolph Steiner stressed just how strong the ‘radiant energy’ the yarrow preparation gives off will be, even in proportions which are tiny compared to the volumes of compost to be treated. Yarrow, he said, ‘is able to radiate its effects through large masses of manure because its own highly dilute sulfur content is combined with potassium in such an ideal way’.
The contents of a single stag’s bladder should produce enough yarrow preparation to treat 250 hectares of cropland.
Yarrow preparation 502
- promotes adaptability to the site
- has an invigorating effect
- regulates potassium metabolism in the plant
- regulates nitrogen, carbon, sulphur and potassium processes