To honor the 100th anniversary of Biodynamic Agriculture and the 30th year of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), we spoke with some former Hawthorne Valley Farm apprentices to find out about their time at the farm and how that experience has lived with them on their lives' journeys. We hope you enjoy our Apprentice Reflection Series.
Steffen Schneider first came to Hawthorne Valley Farm in 1980 to experience biodynamic farming under the leadership of Christoph Meier. It wasn’t a formal apprenticeship, yet the months he spent here were transformative and helped shape his life’s work both as a farmer and an educator of the next generation of aspiring farmers.
“It was a life changing experience on many levels,” Steffen says. “I met my life partner Rachel on that visit, and I also really fell in love with the place. It was smaller then, but it was summer and just as now there were lots of kids around, teachers were quite involved. I was really struck by the amalgamation of young people, children, teachers, farmers, and a very pioneering spirit.”
Steffen grew up in southwestern Germany and always knew he wanted to pursue agriculture, specifically, biodynamic farming, which he believed was the most sustainable way to cultivate soil fertility and produce high-quality food while honoring our relationship to the earth.
After his summer at Hawthorne Valley Farm, Steffen returned to Germany to finish his studies, married Rachel, and moved to Wisconsin where they started their family and helped establish a biodynamic initiative. But Hawthorne Valley continued to hold a special place in their hearts, and when a herd manager position opened up in 1989, the Schneiders moved back to Harlemville. They have been a part of the fabric of Hawthorne Valley ever since as colleagues, neighbors, school parents and, now, as grandparents.
[gallery size="medium" columns="2" ids="12628,12632"]
Reflecting on his early days at Hawthorne Valley, Steffen remembers the challenges of farming with limited resources. "It seemed like almost every day a piece of farm equipment was breaking, though Christoph was able to fix nearly every emergency with baler twine and two by fours,” he joked. The community was also smaller, and Steffen remembers unloading hay with Almuth Kretz, a teacher at the new Waldorf School. But some things haven’t changed, even as the farm operation has grown to include vegetables, production units, and retail enterprises. The dairy barn and Main House are still operating as they once did, and more importantly, what Steffen sensed as the spirit of the place and its untapped potential has never faded away.
To provide a more well-rounded education for apprentices, Hawthorne Valley Farm also became a founding member of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) in 1994. apprentices were able to visit different kinds of farm operations and also be a part of a larger cohort of like-minded people at a similar stage in their biographies.
Today, Steffen continues to shape the future of agriculture through his work with the Institute of Mindful Agriculture, as the farm manager at Churchtown Dairy, and as a Board member of the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance. Reflecting on the Biodynamic Centennial, and what the next 100 years of agriculture will look like, Steffen is struck by the fact that, at the same time that Rudolf Steiner delivered the eight agricultural lectures that began the movement, he also delivered lectures on karma and cosmology. As someone who has worked closely with the ag lectures for so many years and seen the real-world results of Steiner’s agricultural indications, Steffen is realizing more consciously the importance of looking at Steiner’s Anthroposophy even more closely and connecting that cosmology more intentionally with the practical indications.
“We’ve seen that what Steiner said about education is true and what he has said about agriculture works, so for the second 100 years of biodynamics, I would encourage all of us to take Steiner’s cosmology a lot more seriously and work with it more consciously,” he says. “I believe that will enable us to practice agriculture much more deeply, and maybe even more successfully. It’s all related to how we look at ourselves as developing humans that can always learn a lot more.”
Steffen Schneider first came to Hawthorne Valley Farm in 1980 to experience biodynamic farming under the leadership of Christoph Meier. It wasn’t a formal apprenticeship, yet the months he spent here were transformative and helped shape his life’s work both as a farmer and an educator of the next generation of aspiring farmers.
“It was a life changing experience on many levels,” Steffen says. “I met my life partner Rachel on that visit, and I also really fell in love with the place. It was smaller then, but it was summer and just as now there were lots of kids around, teachers were quite involved. I was really struck by the amalgamation of young people, children, teachers, farmers, and a very pioneering spirit.”
Steffen grew up in southwestern Germany and always knew he wanted to pursue agriculture, specifically, biodynamic farming, which he believed was the most sustainable way to cultivate soil fertility and produce high-quality food while honoring our relationship to the earth.
After his summer at Hawthorne Valley Farm, Steffen returned to Germany to finish his studies, married Rachel, and moved to Wisconsin where they started their family and helped establish a biodynamic initiative. But Hawthorne Valley continued to hold a special place in their hearts, and when a herd manager position opened up in 1989, the Schneiders moved back to Harlemville. They have been a part of the fabric of Hawthorne Valley ever since as colleagues, neighbors, school parents and, now, as grandparents.
[gallery size="medium" columns="2" ids="12628,12632"]
Reflecting on his early days at Hawthorne Valley, Steffen remembers the challenges of farming with limited resources. "It seemed like almost every day a piece of farm equipment was breaking, though Christoph was able to fix nearly every emergency with baler twine and two by fours,” he joked. The community was also smaller, and Steffen remembers unloading hay with Almuth Kretz, a teacher at the new Waldorf School. But some things haven’t changed, even as the farm operation has grown to include vegetables, production units, and retail enterprises. The dairy barn and Main House are still operating as they once did, and more importantly, what Steffen sensed as the spirit of the place and its untapped potential has never faded away.
“What attracted me back then and what brought Rachel and me back was the urgent vision of connecting agriculture to education and the arts,” he says. “The beauty of biodynamics and one of the blind spots of our society is one of the first things Steiner mentions in his 1924 lectures: there is not any field of life that’s not related to agriculture in some way. And Hawthorne Valley is one place where agriculture is staring you in the face.”While farming is a job that requires much attention and many hours, Steffen has equally devoted his life to what he sees as the important task of educating the next generation of farmers. “In my mind, agriculture needs the input and impulse of young people who are really passionate about it and then hopefully devote their lives to it,” he says. During his thirty years as a farmer at Hawthorne Valley, Steffen helped to formalize the apprenticeship program, always making time for morning milkings with apprentices. He valued the opportunity to share his knowledge and create space for meaningful conversations. Steffen also recognized the importance of giving the apprentices the responsibility to make decisions, just as Christoph Meier had done for him.
To provide a more well-rounded education for apprentices, Hawthorne Valley Farm also became a founding member of the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT) in 1994. apprentices were able to visit different kinds of farm operations and also be a part of a larger cohort of like-minded people at a similar stage in their biographies.
Today, Steffen continues to shape the future of agriculture through his work with the Institute of Mindful Agriculture, as the farm manager at Churchtown Dairy, and as a Board member of the Biodynamic Demeter Alliance. Reflecting on the Biodynamic Centennial, and what the next 100 years of agriculture will look like, Steffen is struck by the fact that, at the same time that Rudolf Steiner delivered the eight agricultural lectures that began the movement, he also delivered lectures on karma and cosmology. As someone who has worked closely with the ag lectures for so many years and seen the real-world results of Steiner’s agricultural indications, Steffen is realizing more consciously the importance of looking at Steiner’s Anthroposophy even more closely and connecting that cosmology more intentionally with the practical indications.
“We’ve seen that what Steiner said about education is true and what he has said about agriculture works, so for the second 100 years of biodynamics, I would encourage all of us to take Steiner’s cosmology a lot more seriously and work with it more consciously,” he says. “I believe that will enable us to practice agriculture much more deeply, and maybe even more successfully. It’s all related to how we look at ourselves as developing humans that can always learn a lot more.”
