Culture and Horticulture

Culture and Horticulture by Wolf D. Storl, a respected elder in the practice of permaculture, explores how food is grown holistically and beautifully by traditional communities around the world. It shows readers how to apply their ancient wisdom to our own gardens.

Various studies have shown that small organic farms and home gardens are capable of producing more food per acre with less fossil energy than large-scale commercial agricultural installations, which depend on machines and toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

With interest in natural, sustainable, organic, and local food at an all-time high, people are looking beyond their farmers markets and CSA cooperatives to more hyperlocal ways of growing healthy, delicious produce in urban gardens and their own backyards. Culture and Horticulture details time-tested methods that are as effective today as they were hundreds of years ago.

On a practical level, the book serves as a manual for creating and maintaining a bountiful harvest. It explains how to build the soil to maintain fertility, produce compost, plant and tend various fruit and vegetable plants, rotate crops, and practice companion planting. It also covers how to set up a favourable microclimate, manage so-called weeds and pests, harvest at the right time, and store vegetables and herbs. Special emphasis is given to the art and science of composting, with compost being the "heart" of any self-sufficient garden and a model for the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

At the same time, the reader is introduced to the wider aspects of horticulture, including its historical, philosophical, and cosmological contexts and social relevance. Gardening is a cultural activity shaped by people's thoughts, wishes, needs, and cultural traditions.

The author, an anthropologist by profession, has investigated the gardening practices of indigenous people worldwide and has worked for many years on biodynamic farms and in his own food garden. He introduces readers to Rudolf Steiner's vision of the garden as an organic unit, embedded in the context of terrestrial and cosmic forces. Storl explains the importance of cosmic rhythms (solar, lunar, and planetary), the role of biodynamic herbal preparations as "medicines" for the garden organism, and the so-called "etheric" and "astral" forces.

The book presents a vision of the garden as seen through the eyes of "Goethean science," a magical place where alchemical transformations of material substances take place.