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.
Simon Neal
Simon grew up in Marlborough with a background in farming, which led to working in viticulture after leaving College. After several years, and gaining a tertiary qualification, this employment in the wine industry led to his introduction to Organic/Biodynamic farming when he took up a role with Huia Vineyards in the Summer of 2011/2012 and also a preparations workshop at Seresin Raupo Vineyard. From this moment on, he maintained a curiosity in biodynamics, and began organically growing the home garden.
Simon’s desire to work with Biodynamics took a major leap forward after a very inspiring pre-Christmas biodynamic gathering in December 2020 at Seresin with Su Hoskin and James Milton. In February 2021, Simon moved to Central Otago where I took up a role of Assistant Vineyard Manager with Burn Cottage Vineyards – a long standing producer of fine wines fully involved in biodynamic farming practice.
Now working with Peregrine Wines in their Bendigo vineyards who are just starting down a journey of Biodynamics, he looks forward to being involved in this journey in seasons to come. Simon also now actively applies biodynamic practices in the home garden, and he hope to improve on this with time.
With a diversity of experience, the heart, passion and drive for taking biodynamics forward and natural farming systems he is over the moon to be nominated to sit on the council of Biodynamics NZ and loves nothing more than helping others see the light of working with nature rather than against it.
I have three children; a Step daughter 25, and two boys 11 and 13 and happily married to my wife Vicky of 15years.
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.
Jan Koberstein
Jan grew up in Hamilton, with life revolving around staying at home, and watching her mum cook, and her dad in the huge vege garden that fed our big family. It was only natural that she would have a vege garden when she had her 2 children.
Jan was very interested in natural medicine, organic food, gardening, and was first introduced to biodynamics 23 years ago when her kids joined Tauranga Rudolf Steiner kindergarten.
They did what most parents do, and got involved in everything on offer. Biodynamics went straight to her soul, so hungrily learnt, and practiced on our lifestyle block, living my dream, growing all sorts of food crops for the farmers market, even became OFNZ certified.
In 2009, she completed the Certificate in Applied Organic and Biodynamics at Taruna with John Redoubt and Anne Dodds. Jan got a deeper understanding of the living soil that sustains everything and everybody. She thought she’d end up growing Biodynamic food on a bigger scale, but that was not meant to be. They moved to Kapiti so our kids could finish their Waldorf education.
15 yrs ago her late husband and Jan changed course, got into business manufacturing/retail of metal plant supports, and simple cloche systems for home gardeners. They have always had time for home food gardening. The last couple years she has got back into refreshing her biodynamic learning and practices, and is part of the vibrant Kapiti Biodynamic gardening group. Jan now has a 1/2 acre property, full of Biodynamically grown food, in rural Otaki area.
Biodynamics New Zealand Team
- Laura Hett (Marketing)
marketing@biodynamic.org.nz - Catherine Biss (Office Manager)
office@biodynamic.org.nz / 06-306 8582 - Joanne Turner (Demeter Secretary)
demeter@biodynamic.org.nz