A Lakota Approach to Biodynamics: Taking Life Seriously

"And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being." —John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks

Devon Strong was a farmer and bison rancher in the Western United States whose utterly unique approach to biodynamic agriculture and animal husbandry, stemming as it did from his profound connection with the spirituality of the (Native North American) Lakota people, was just beginning to draw worldwide interest at the time of his early and unexpected death in late 2015.

A Lakota Approach to Biodynamics includes Devon's unfinished manuscript Taking Life Seriously, all of his published articles, as well as reports and remembrances from both his own family and leading figures of the international biodynamic movement. This book is both Devon’s final word on the legacy of his singular way of relating to land and animals, and a loving tribute to his vision, inspiration, and intentions for the future of agriculture.

"The plants and animals on Earth...cannot be understood in isolation.... It is nonsense to seek within the compass needle itself, the reason why it always points to the north.... Just as we have to look at the whole Earth when we want to explain how a compass needle behaves, so must we also consult the whole universe when it comes to understanding plants." —Rudolf Steiner, Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture (lecture 6)