生物动力法，巫术式的科学

 Biodynamic，the Realm of Voodoo Science

 

One of the last series of lectures that the Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner gave in 1924 was to a group of German farmers. They were worried about the effects on their land, livestock and crops resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

奥地利哲学家鲁道夫·斯坦纳（Rudolph Steiner）曾经在1924年做过一个系列的演讲，这是他生前做的最后几个演讲之一。这个演讲面向德国的一批农民，这些农民们担心使用化学肥料、除草剂和杀虫剂会给他们的土地、牲畜和庄稼造成不良的后果。

Those eight lectures Steiner delivered at a conference in Koberwitz, a year before his death, formed the basis of what we know today as the biodynamic movement. His thesis was that farmers must return to pre-industrial methods to grow their crops and tend their soil. A return to peasant farming, as it were. Farmers, advised Steiner, should adjust their activities to the rhythms of Nature and become aware of the cycles of the moon and planets and their link to the health of all living things on earth. ‘In Nature,’ he wrote, ‘and actually throughout the universe, everything is in mutual interaction with everything else. In this materialistic age of ours, we follow up only on the coarser kinds of interplay…’

斯坦纳去逝前一年在Koberwitz会议上所做的这个系列演讲共分8个讲座，这8个讲座构成了我们今天所了解的生物动力运动的基本原理。他的论点是，农民们必须回归到工业化之前的农业方法来耕地和种植他们的庄稼。可以说是要回归到原来的农耕方式。斯坦纳建议，农民们应该依据自然的规律来调整他们的农事活动，察觉太阳和月亮的周期，以及这些周期与地球上所有生物的健康状态的关联。他写到：“在自然界，实际上在整个宇宙，每一种生物都与另外的生物相互作用，在我们现在这个唯物主义时代，我们遵循的却仅是粗糙的相互作用的规律。”

 

The aim of biodynamics, as Steiner expressed it, is to create a healthy soil ecosystem by choosing to use natural compost over chemical products and to plant and harvest by the phases of the moon. Organic farming just shuns chemical products while biodynamic growing takes a more holistic approach, treating the soil itself as a living organism.

正如斯坦纳所表达的，生物动力法旨在通过选择自然的肥料，不使用任何化学物品，根据月亮周期来种植和收割，来创造一个健康的土壤生态系统。有机种植仅仅是避免了使用化学物品，而生物动力法种植采取的是一种更加整体的研究方法，把土壤当成是一个有生命力的活体来对待。

No sector has embraced Steiner’s vision more enthusiastically than the wine industry. By 2011 (the latest figures available) some 642,000 acres of wines worldwide were cultivated according to organic farming regulations. While this is a mere 4 per cent of global grape-growing, the increase in organically-managed vineyards since 2004 has been three-fold, which suggest even more growth in the future. The largest vineyard surfaces farmed organically are in Spain, France and Italy. Soon China will join the list.

没有任何一个行业像酿酒行业那样踊跃地拥抱斯坦纳的观点。根据能得到的最新数据，2011年，全球有642,000英亩的葡萄园是依据有机种植法耕种，这虽然在全球的葡萄种植面积上来说只占了4%，但自从2004年以来，有机种植的葡萄园面积已经增加了3倍，这暗示着未来会增加更多。拥有最大有机种植葡萄园面积的国家是西班牙、法国和意大利，不久中国也将加入这一行列。

It is Steiner’s concept of composting that makes non-believers roll their eyes. He devised plant-based sprays against infections that are made up of composted material found around the farm. The compost is diluted with water to make a kind of herbal tea. But here’s where we enter the realm of voodoo science: the compost’s effectiveness is enhanced by the addition of fresh cow manure that has been packed into a cow’s horn and buried in the vineyard at the fall equinox and dug up in the spring. The fermented material from the cow’s horn is then mixed with water and sprayed over the vineyard. The recipe is one hornful per hectare (2.47 acres).  Steiner explained it this way: ‘…by burying the cow horn with the manure in it, we preserve in the horn the etheric and astral forces that the horn was accustomed to reflect when it was on the cow. Because the cow horn is now outwardly surrounded by the Earth, all the Earth’s etherizing and astralizing rays stream into its inner cavity.’ The result is the fermented manure is transformed into ‘an extremely concentrated, enlivening and fertilizing force.’ Cue the eye rolling.

斯坦纳的堆制肥料法让那些不相信生物动力法的人大跌眼镜。斯坦纳发明了以植物为原料的喷雾剂，喷洒在葡萄园周边以防细菌感染，这些喷雾的组成成分是在葡萄园里面可以找到的混合物。把这些混合物用水稀释，以制做成一种草本茶。但是，让我们进入这种“巫术式的科学”领域，来看看它具体是怎么样的：把新鲜的牛粪塞进牛角里，然后在秋分时期埋进葡萄园，再在春天时挖出来。这种混合物肥料的效果因为添加了埋在地里的牛角里的牛粪而得到加强。把挖出来后的牛角里的发酵牛粪加进水，然后喷洒在葡萄园里，用料大概是一公顷的葡萄藤喷洒一牛角的量（一公顷等于2.47英亩）。斯坦纳这样解释说，把牛粪塞进牛角再埋进土里，我们在牛角里就保存了以太体和星体的能量，这些能量是当牛角还在牛身体上时会习惯于反映出来的能量。因为牛角被地球“包裹”着，所有地球上的以太体和星体的能量会照射进这个牛角的内部小洞里。结果就是，牛角里的发酵牛粪被转变成为一种“超级浓缩、生机勃勃、富含无比能量的肥料”。眼珠子别掉下来吧。

The question is, of course, does biodynamics work? Does it make for a more balanced vineyard and for wines that taste better than those that have been produced using chemical products?  In February of this year I attended Millesime Bio in Montpellier, France. In three hangar-like halls, 800 biodynamic and organic wineries were showing their products. One of the wineries was Domaine Cazes of Rivesaltes in the Languedoc-Roussillon. The proprietor, Emanuel Cazes, toured me around his vineyard and showed me the constituents of the ‘tea’ he sprays over his vineyard soil – nettles, horsetail and willow leaves which he steeped in boiling water and mixed with the cow dung. Other producers, he told me, use yarrow, chamomile, oak bark, dandelion and valerian - all of which were prescribed by Rudolph Steiner. Cazes says that after fifteen years of practicing biodynamic farming the pH of his wines is lower (pH is the measure of the degree of relative acidity as opposed to the relative alkalinity of any liquid. It’s measured from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral and 2 being lemon juice. Wines with a low pH - between 3 and 3.4 - will taste tart and crisp). And as a result of the application of the sprays, the roots of Cazes’ vines, he says, are deeper which means he is able to extract more trace minerals from the soil, making for more complex flavours in his wines.

当然，问题是，生物动力法有用吗？生物动力法是否有助于葡萄园的生态环境变得更平衡？生物动力法酿造的酒是否比在种植中使用了化学物品酿造出来的酒更好喝？在今年2月，我参加了在法国蒙彼利埃（Montpellier）举办的有机葡萄酒展览会（Millesime Bio）。三个犹如飞机库那么大的展览厅里，有800多家使用生物动力法和有机种植法的酒厂在展出他们的产品。其中有一家来自法国南部朗格多克·鲁西荣的酒庄，叫Domaine Cazes of Rivesaltes，庄主Emanuel Cazes带我参观了他的葡萄园，并向我展示了他制做的喷酒在葡萄园里的“草本茶”的成分，有荨麻、马尾草、柳树叶。他把这些成分浸泡在在煮开的水里，然后和牛粪混合在一起。Emanuel Cazes告诉我说，有些酿酒商则使用蓍草、洋甘菊、栎树皮、蒲公英、缬草，所有这些都是由鲁道夫·斯坦纳开出的方子。Cazes说，经过15年的生物动力法种植实践之后，他酿造出来的酒的PH值变得更低了。（备注：PH值是用来衡量相对酸度值，与溶液的相对碱度形成对比。PH值的测量值在0-14之间，7表示中性，柠檬汁的PH值是2。PH值在3-3.4之间的葡萄酒喝起来酸度明显，新鲜爽脆。）Cazes说，使用了这些“草本茶”喷洒葡萄园之后，他的葡萄藤的根扎得更深了，这表示葡萄藤可以从土壤里萃取更多的矿物质元素，从而使得葡萄酒的风味更加复杂。

Certainly, the concept of biodynamics is in sync with our contemporary concern with the environment as well as the romantic notion of a return to a simpler way of farming. But if you put two glasses of wine in front of me – one made without recourse to sulphur products, and one made the ‘traditional’ way – I don’t think I could tell the difference. Yet for all its hocus-pocus I would like to think that biodynamic winemaking works. And for producers who want to convert their vineyards to biodynamic, it takes three years to get certification, as long as the wind doesn’t carry chemical sprays from your neighbour’s farm. From then on it’s a leap of faith.

当然，生物动力法的概念和我们当代人对于环境的关心相关，也是一种回归简单农耕方式种植的浪漫想法。但是如果你把两杯不同的葡萄酒放在我面前，一杯是不使用二氧化硫，一杯是使用这种“传统”的方法酿造，我认为我分辨不出来其中的不同。然而对于生物动力法的所有“魔法”，我认为生物动力法种植是有效的。对于那些想转为生物动力法种植的酿酒商，他们需要3年才能拿到生物动力法认证，等到相邻的葡萄园不再将带有化学喷雾的空气吹至自己的葡萄园。从那时起，这就是一种信仰。