Warrick Hutchinson speaks about his personal journey with biodynamics, and how he has
applied what he’s learnt in the market garden at Earth Stewards Urban Farm in Hamilton.

Last year, I attended the ‘Practical Biodynamics’ workshop, presented by Bridget Henderson, chairperson of Biodynamics New Zealand, at Earth Stewards organic urban farm in Hamilton. I have since reflected on my interest in gardening and my journey with biodynamics.

I come from a family of gardeners and farmers, always growing our own food. My brothers and I even had a
competition to see who could produce the most vegetables from our 100sqft plots. Knowledge about biodynamics started for me in 1996 when I was involved in starting the Waikato Waldorf School in Hamilton. A gardening curriculum was very important for the new school, and school gardens were established by the students, the gardening teacher and volunteers.

Lectures and workshops on biodynamics were held and the community engaged in stirring and spreading preparation 500 over the property. Enthusiasm for the gardens waxed and waned over the years, with the Enviroschools programme bringing
necessary structure to environmental awareness.

In 2019, I was approached by a parent from the school who envisaged a more commercial organic market garden on the site: a garden focused on feeding our community nourishing, healthy food, nurturing and caring for the soil while also developing and educating our community. As a result, Earth Stewards was formed. The old school gardens which had benefitted from years of preparation 500 applications were developed and expanded. Infrastructure, including a bore and irrigation system, a greenhouse and a tunnel house were built allowing for year-round vegetable production.

Children from Waikato Waldorf School now do their Class three main farming lesson on the farm and older students study composting and how to build bioreactors. Children from Kowhai Tui Childcare have since created a native bush enclave
in the center of the farm. Teaching children the importance of caring for the environment and learning basic gardening skills
is our goal.

(Growers from the Waikato Waldorf community at an educational event hosted by Earth Stewards)

We started organic vegetable production with Organic Farm New Zealand (OFNZ) certification, with the dream of eventual
biodynamic and Demeter certification. We have concentrated on developing the soil biology on the farm following Dr Elaine
Ingham’s Soil Food Web Approach, which aims to improve the ecological function of soils, and by understanding our
whenua.

As I learn more about biodynamics and soil biology, different practices are tried on the farm such as: planting more cover
crops and rotations, minimising tilling, and making our own soil drenches and foliar sprays. These will be monitored for improvement of soil biology with tests and by looking at the soil life under a microscope. My goal is to demonstrate that its possible to grow healthy vegetables to feed our community, to employ staff, and for the garden to be financially sustainable. Understanding more about biodynamics and implementing biodynamic practices on the farm will help achieve this.

NOTE: Warwick Hutchinson is the co-founder of Earth Stewards Urban Farm in Rototuna, Hamilton. Located next to the
Waikato Waldorf School, the farm is a certified organic, nodig, and regenerative market garden focused on producing
nutritious food and providing education to the community. This article was first written and published in Harvests Auturmn/Winter 2026 issue. To enjoy the full issue, become a member of BDNZ, or you can purchase single issues of Harvests Magazine here.