I received my Bio-Dynamic training at two Camphill Villages (communities
for mentally handicapped people, coming out of the teachings of Rudolf
Steiner, as does B-D) where just such farms as you describe are
maintained very nicely indeed. This is possible because the Camphill
villages have *nothing* to do with the conventional ag marketing or
financing system. They also have plenty of labor available. You
probably know about CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture projects) of
which there are between 500-1,000 in the U.S. Some of these operate as
market gardens, but some are true, old-fashioned farms; again, this
becomes possible only when the market/finance systems are bypassed and
other, more creative possibilities are employed. In the absence of
these kinds of initiatives the farm of Old MacDonald is pretty much
deadibones, more's the pity, because of the misplaced, aberrant
application of linear/industrial thinking to living systems in
agriculture. But just be patient. This is a temporary aberration
because it's so mainfestly unsustainable. Self-sufficient, small family
farms will be back--but only after a good deal of societal upheaval and
suffering.
Woody Wodraska
woodyw@juno.com
"There is no scarcity abiding in Nature.
Any scarcity we see is our own doing."