Christine Moginie
Christine was born in Auckland in 1956, an eldest child. Her parents came from farming and business backgrounds. She had a strong connection to nature, art, storytelling and colour from an early age.
Her interests in spirituality, meditation, philosophy, healing, natural medicine and organic gardening led to kindergarten and art teaching, Steiner adult education, artistic creation, art therapy, biography counselling, biodynamic certificate courses with Lynette West at the Biodynamic Education Centre in 2004, and studies in anthroposophy since 1983.
Christine has organised and led many biodynamic workshops over the years in Australia and New Zealand, collaborating with many leaders in the field. She has also taught workshops in art and Goethean observation. She settled in Mangawhai in 2013.
Andrew Criglington
Brought up on a conventional farm, Andrew had a feeling that things could be better, with more productivity and less damage. He loved the biodynamic idea that most fertility was on the farm, was internal, and didn’t need lots of external inputs. “With no use of chemical fertilisers and poisons, the nontoxic approach was perfect for me,” he says.
He went to university still searching for answers, and found some there. He met an old homeopath who introduced him to homeopathy. Its analytical stance was compatible with his thinking. He trained in commerce and worked in the medical school for years, and ultimately did training in homeopathy.
He developed a homeopathic company and invented many homeopathic complexes, and still runs that business today. “Homeopathy and biodynamics have lots of similarities, so the move from homeopathy to bio dynamics was an easy one,” Andrew says.
Andrew started studying biodynamics and applied it to a farm in Otago. Visitors remarked on how the farm felt so dynamic, and how growth like this felt more reminiscent of the warmer North Island. Now Andrew lives in the city, but his heart remains with the land.
Mark Longworth
Mark is a naturopath, medical herbalist, spagyracist (Alchemy of the plant kingdom), and medical astrologer based in Hawkes Bay. He’s recently finished his position on the committee of the NZAMH (New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists) and is looking to deepen his understanding and implementation of the Biodynamic principles on his journey through learning the art.
Mark graduated Class 12 Taikura Rudolf Steiner School Hastings in 2003 and is presently working on converting over a recently purchased 3 hectares of bare land in Elsthorpe. He has a beautiful blank canvas of grass and grass alone on deep clay. He is looking to transition over to a very broad agroforestry homestead that specialises in growing perennials and also medicinal herbs, mainly for Spagyric (Alchemical) tinctures essences and more. With his spagyrics, he work quite closely with medical astrology, the signs of the zodiac, and the elements, so it was a natural progression for him into Biodynamics.
Mark would very much love to assist the association in growing and promoting awareness about Biodynamics in New Zealand. Mark is at the very beginning of his Biodynamic journey, but am very keen to help where he can; particularly with the making of the preparations and exploring them more deeply in a practical sense
Murray Cook
Murray grew up in Australia’s Central Coast on a lifestyle block with parents (especially a mother), who passionately advocated for organics and instilled a strong belief in natural methods of gardening, and health remedies. It was this start to life that later flowed to pursuing a career in organic winegrowing. Biodynamics was often discussed in the world of wine and it was a brief encounter of some of the methods and lunar calendar workings in Burgundy in 2006 that triggered curiosity into biodynamics. Tasting some of the world’s great wines often revealed biodynamics were behind many of them.
When Murray and his wife, Rachael, purchased their own property in Marlborough in 2017, the land was immediately introduced to the preparations. They planted and established their own small vineyard in 2018, employing biodynamic methods from establishment. Since then, they’ve embarked on making their own 500 and CPP and the compost preparations with the help of the great people in the Marlborough Biodynamic group.
It’s the connectivity to the wonderful people in the BD community that has strengthened the desire to travel down this path.
Jenny Erickson
Jenny grew up on a beef and sheep farm at Karaka, and loved the farm life. She studied at Lincoln College and achieved a B.Hort, Science. Graduating from there went on an OE , and came across the Goetheanum and Biodynamics in Switzerland, and resolved to find out more about this form of agriculture. She particularly liked the holistic side to it all.
Jenny returned to NZ but there was little to chose from, but was lucky enough to find a place up at Kaipara and went to work at the Pearce farm up in South Kaipara heads, and helped them set things up there and to learn more about the practical sides of bio dynamics. In 1982 Jenny moved to USA where she and Steve began Ranui Gardens – a 2 acre piece of land and did market garden/ herb growing. They were the first certified Demeter property in Utah. She served on the USA B.D. Council for a number of years in my early time there. They moved back to NZ in 2003, having bought a property in the Waihi area in 2000. Jenny and Steve have 88 ha and are growing a variety of things; they have a lemon orchard, some avocados, a wide range of veges for self sufficiency, and a small compost operation. They graze the paddocks with organic dairy heifers. Their farm is called Chaos Springs. We have developed a sprayer and mixer for Biodynamic practise applications for all sized operations.
Jenny has been practising Biodynamics for 40 years now and she enjoys the connection one gets from working with nature in this holistic way. Growing nutrient dense food is top priority. But there is always more to learn…!
Biodynamics New Zealand Team
- Toni Weir
secretary@biodynamic.org.nz - Joanne Turner (Demeter Secretary)
demeter@biodynamic.org.nz - Catherine Biss (Office Manager)
office@biodynamic.org.nz / 06-306 8582 - Laura Hett (Marketing)
marketing@biodynamic.org.nz