Cascine Orsine, the biodynamic company of Pavia

A few kilometers from Milan, just outside Pavia, here is the Cascine Orsine farm that emerges as a green oasis in the equally lush area of ​​the Ticino river, rich in forests and water meadows.

Here, from the perspective of Steiner's biodynamic agriculture theorized in the early 1900s, the company-organism reality carries on values ​​and principles.

The consideration that the vitality of soils and their fertility is something that does not end in a season, but that is part of a circle, a circle that draws a line that starts from the cosmos and reaches the earth, with everything that grows there above, it is the basis of biodynamic production and the principles that Cascine Orsine has been pursuing for some time now.

Moreover, the term itself "biodynamic" means, precisely, "bio" life, which originates from the activity of forces, "dynamic" .

The rules of the cosmos and the Steiner school

According to Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy, even the farmer is a fundamental part of this process of the creation of the world, which is not only made of matter, but also of spirit.

Thus a precise schedule for sowing is followed, air, soil and water are respected, as well as seeds, animals and organic material, and everyone is equally involved in the same important process.

For this reason, in a company like the Cascine Orsine, in the morning we meet all together, for a brief briefing before starting the day, so that everyone knows what the other person is doing, discusses the problems to be solved in the daily and the work is distributed.

The biodynamic community and company is managed differently from the traditional one and wants to demonstrate to other realities, with which the comparison is often opened, that biodynamic agriculture is a possible path .

The products of this agriculture, as well as being able to become part of the biodynamic diet that everyone chooses to follow, are sold in the small shop adjacent to the farmhouse or cooked in the courses and dishes of the refreshment point.

The product of the biodynamic company

Among the fundamental principles enunciated by Steiner, there is precisely the fact that the quality of food itself depends on the health and natural wealth of the land that is cultivated : vegetable gardens, fields and pallets that receive nitrates and chemical or synthetic substances lose their reactive strength and they get sick, so the products fall.

The natural and biodynamic preparations represent one of the foundations of the biodynamic agricultural method, which contribute to enriching the local humus present and the organic substance of a myriad of organisms useful to the earth.

Biodynamic agriculture operates within the framework of the legislation established for organic farming. However the disciplinary that regulates biodynamic production has specific and well-defined peculiarities.

The biodynamic process is ultimately complex and at the same time extraordinarily simple and the final product is the result of this process which tends to the well-being and balance of all its elements .

For further information: in the article published in 2002 in the journal "Science" (vol. 296 no.5573, pages 1694-1697), we read that it has been shown that, by cultivating with biological and biodynamic methods, the soil improves its structure and increases its biological activity due to the increase in microbial biomass, mycorrhizae, and earthworms.