I’ll Write Wherever I Can…

Peter Beard

Peter Beard was the last of his kind. A handsome playboy and heir to a railroad fortune, he could have stayed in New York and ridden on his charm, wealth and good looks for his whole life. Yet Beard had a yearning for adventure, and a photographic ability quite unrivalled in the 20th Century. At the age of 18 he visited Kenya for the first time, and five years later began working at Tsavo National Park, where he photographed the mass demise of 35,000 elephants across the great plains of the park. Inspired and enthralled, Beard purchased a ranch nearby which would become his life-long home base. Beard photographed the Kenyan world around him, the wild-life, the landscapes, his domestic existence and his guests from the high societies of the east coast. A keen diarist, each photograph became a unique work as Beard incorporated his drawings, collages from his journals and paintings in blood, both animal and his own. It is as if in each work he attempts to display the magnitude and variety of his life, a life in the wilderness and a life lived wildly.

Saturday 3rd October

The Moon continues through Gemini as it wanes towards its last quarter. Some biodynamic gardeners choose copper tools, following ideas developed by Viktor Schauberger. As these tools move through the earth, they can leave minute traces of copper, an element plants need in small amounts for healthy growth and which advocates believe supports soil fertility and water balance. Copper also finds a place in the preparation of biodynamic sprays: its ability to conduct heat allows rainwater in a suitable stirring vessel to be gently warmed from below. Once the preparation is added, the water is stirred rhythmically, forming a deep vortex before each change of direction breaks it into swirling chaos. Through this process, known as dynamisation, horn manure preparation 500 is readied for the soil, or horn silica preparation 501 for the plants, each applied at its appropriate time. These preparations lie at the heart of biodynamic practice, a little agricultural alchemy expressing our intention to restore vitality and give something back to the earth that sustains us.