Conductors In This Symphonic Poem We Call A Farm

Brook LeVan is the co-founder and executive director of Sustainable Settings, an entrepreneurial non-profit organization that inspires people and communities to embrace integrated solutions for sustainable development. Sustainable Settings owns and operates a 244-acre working ranch and Whole Systems Learning Center in Carbondale, Colorado.

Brook has an impressive and varied background as an artist, Fulbright Scholar, university faculty member and world traveler. He’s a certified Permaculture designer and has consulted, practiced and taught sustainable design, green building, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, wetland creation and art and design.

I first met Brook last summer, when I was taking a permaculture design course held at Sustainable Settings. While I loved the permaculture training and learned a ton of useful information, my mind really exploded when Brook gave us an introduction to biodynamic agriculture, first introduced by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s. I was so inspired and intrigued by this approach of working with cosmic and spiritual forces to heal and regenerate the land that I returned to Sustainable Settings for a biodynamic preparation-making workshop in September.

While Brook considers himself to be a “master of nothing,” I think of him as a master alchemist, regenerative wizard and pioneer. We had a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation, covering:

• Brook's transition from artist in the art world to artist of the land;

• Art as a mechanism for social change and personal evolution, and art and life as one;

• Unsubscribing from the Western paradigm and opening to an indigenous worldview;

• Using the physical to ask the metaphysical questions – and the ritual potential in all activities;

• Moving beyond the “compaction between our ears” and opening to the recognition that everything is alive and speaking to us;

• The ancient and new frontier of “vertical” agriculture – taking into account cosmic forces;

• How to reestablish holy order and intimacy as stewards of the earth;

• The importance of nutrient density on the spiritual and etheric levels;

• And much more!

Find out more about Brook’s work and biodynamic agriculture:

Sustainable Settings

Build Soil or Die

Biodynamic Source

Biodynamic Botanicals

Enzo Nastati’s YouTube channel, and his teaching on The 13 Holy Nights (in Italian but translated into English)

Find out about Emily’s astrology readings and online classes: EmbodiedAquarian.com