During the summer of l972, while in Zimbabwe, Barbara had the good fortune of studying under the mentorship of Swami Nisreyasananda before the great wave of Gurus swept across America. This was her first contact with the immense body of Ayurvedic knowledge passed down from the Rishis of India. This study was furthered
In the l990s with an Ayurvedic course under the tutelage of Dr. Robert Svoboda.
Barbara obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Wildlife Biology from the University of British Columbia where she did research on The Vancouver Island Wolf and received a National Research Council Grant to enter a Doctoral Program at the University of Victoria. After teaching introductory Biology courses and doing personal research on “the holes in Science” she left school to nurse her dying father then moved
to Esalen Institute and became immersed in the Human Potential Movement. She became a Mother to two sons, moved to and then left an 80 acre homestead in the wilds of northern British Columbia, eventually settling with her family in the Kootenay River Valley where Aurora Farm was conceived as an agricultural individuality.
Barbara brought her study of Rudolf Steiner’s work to fruition when she established the first Biodynamic Seed Company in North America in 1991. Medicinal tea and herbal remedies rounded out the Aurora Farm catalog. It was here at Aurora where many apprentices were taught the Art and Craft of BD agriculture and Nathan and William were brought up with nature at their back door and in their bellies. Barbara is a Reiki Master/Teacher of the Usui Tradition. Her Reiki teacher is Steven McFadden and she offers Reiki I, II, and III teachings. Barbara has traveled extensively in Southern Africa and the U.K.
All these gardens have been learning experiences and now his major project is writing a book, Deep Gardening: Soul Lessons from 17 Gardens.
Between gardens and farms Woody worked as a psychologist/counselor in community mental health facilities and as a teacher of so-called mentally handicapped people; some of this work was in three communities: Camphill Villages in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, and the Claymont School for Continuous Education, where he gardened and studied the agricultural and spiritual works of Rudolf Steiner and George Gurdjieff. In these communities Woody came to know the joys of working with chickens, pigs and cows, and the magic available to the gardener in greenhouses.
Always for Woody the question has been how to accomplish right livelihood in Nature, how to grow food, in beauty and abundance, all with grace and in harmony with Devas and Nature Spirits.
"Progressively," Woody says, "we have dealt in lighter and lighter produce, going from weighty bushels of tomatoes to lightweight seeds to information, which doesn't weigh anything. Nor does inspiration which we try to put first. Inspire, motivate, then inform. We teach about compost, seed saving, soil, food, and Nature. First we have to learn to be gardeners, then we can do gardening."
* * *
For
15 months in 2005-2006 Barbara and Woody mentored at a Waldorf
Kindergarten startup in Bellevue, Idaho. Working with the Nature
Spirits and Aurora Farm seeds a gem of a biodynamic garden was
co-created there in celebration of education and nutrition.
We are currently finding a home for the Aurora Farm Family Foundation to continue planting seeds for the future. Seeds of knowledge, hope and nutritious food for generations to come.
Click here for the Foundation mission statement and here for our vision of the Foundation's new home.
We are currently finding a home for the Aurora Farm Family Foundation to continue planting seeds for the future. Seeds of knowledge, hope and nutritious food for generations to come.
Click here for the Foundation mission statement and here for our vision of the Foundation's new home.