Without this, we lose our own grounding and orientation. Indeed, the culture of today shows strong symptoms of just this lack in nutrition. In his Agriculture Course Rudolf Steiner posed the ideal of the self-contained farm. There should be just the right number and combination of animals to provide manure for fertility, and these animals in turn should be fed from the land. Now, however, feed is regularly brought in for animals, and manure is considered a problem.
Most gardeners have access to only a small plot of land.
The mixed farm is almost extinct. The landscape itself has been so divided, and the economic conditions are such that this seems an impossible ideal for many to strive for. Yet we can seek the essential gesture of such a farm also under other circumstances. It has to do with preservation and recycling of the life-forces with which we are working. Vegetable waste, manure, leaves, food scraps, all contain precious vitality which can be held and put to use for building up the soil if they are handled wisely.