Celebrating Women in Biodynamics

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance honors the many amazing women in Biodynamic agriculture whose efforts have left a lasting positive legacy on us all. As we collectively cultivate a humanity that is more inclusive and relationship-based, it is essential that we pay attention to our predecessors who quietly held the wisdom while working hard to achieve milestones in the Biodynamic movement that we revere today. Demeter, the Goddess of the Harvest, is our figurehead for a reason. Women have always played a key role in shaping Biodynamics, and they continue to do so today.

Most people have heard of Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of DDT and generated such public outcry that it helped to motivate the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air Act, and a host of other environmental legislation. But the efforts of Marjorie Spock are less widely known. Marjorie’s early efforts to stop the spraying of DDT on Long Island, NY, in the late 1950s were essential in amplifying the impact of Carlson’s work.

At age 18, Marjorie Spock skipped college and traveled to the Goetheranum in Dornach, Switzerland, to study Eurythmy and Anthroposophy with Rudolf Steiner and later traveled with him on his lecture circuit throughout the continent. After many instrumental achievements, Marjorie and her friend Mary (Polly) Richards, by this time both well-known Anthroposophists, started a Biodynamic farm on Long Island, NY, in the 1950s under the guidance of Dr. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (for a more detailed history(link is external).