How studying Biodynamics gave Sparrow wings

Sparrow is apologetic as he jumps on the call. “I had to finish my meeting with the members. We’ve been walking backwards and forwards across the same spot 20 times, trying to stay in the sun!”

It’s mid-December in southern Germany, and the temperature is dropping. It hit –8˚C in November, so before it gets too late, Sparrow is outlining what he plans to buy and sow next year.

Blumenthal has 85 members who all contribute a fee in the German version of a CSA, called ‘Solawi’. An organic farm certified by Bioland and covering 12 hectares, Biohof Blumenthal has a quarter of the land dedicated to fruit and vegetables. But it’s also a listed castle, hotel, restaurant, seminar space, cheese-making venue and garden, with the name ‘Schloss Blumenthal’. There are 47 adults plus 30 children living on site. And different pressures at this time of year.

“For six weeks we’ve been bringing in all the crops that can’t survive out there,” says Sparrow. “It’s frantic, but I like that I can see the harvest stacked in wooden crates. It makes packing boxes through the winter much easier. I also don’t miss harvesting carrots in the mud and wet of the UK.”

The Solawi is eight years old, and was previously run by residents. The realisation that they needed a proper grower led them to Sparrow. That explains their decision to hire him. But what about Sparrow? Wth a secure position working for one of the most famous growers in the UK, Ian Tolhurst, known as ‘Tolly’, what made him leave both job and country?

Main buildings at Schloss Blumenthal, Germany

Really into biodynamics

Sparrow grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. His parents both came from a family of glass blowers and weren’t into growing. There was a coal mine, a chemical factory, a coal power station and canals in the town. “It would have been a thriving place. But when I was growing up, the flats were half-derelict and housed addicts. The industry had gone, and with it the community.”

But his grandparents on both sides of the family grew apple and plum trees, as well as gooseberry bushes and vegetables. He would grow beans up the side of the house – one plant once reached the bathroom window. Sparrow also loved playing guitar and singing. He took a degree in psychology at Huddersfield University. And after graduating, he moved to Garvald West Linton, a residential centre for people with learning disabilities. Garvald has a biodynamic farm attached, and it was there that Sparrow discovered a whole new world.

Yet instead of the natural next step of becoming a grower, he decided to go travelling and hitchhiked to India, spending over five-and-a-half years exploring. “I knew I wanted to be a gardener, but I also knew that would tie me to one place. So I decided to roam a while before setting down roots.” He certainly did that.

“I was running the garden with little experience, five volunteers, and a tractor, all while looking after adults with learning difficulties amidst some questionable politics in the Centre.”

On returning to the UK, Sparrow joined a band playing gigs in Bristol. But “I needed something to keep me busy during the day.” So he applied for an apprenticeship at the Biodynamic Agricultural College. Sparrow could have worked for Andy Dibben at Abbey Home Farm as part of the Soil Association’s apprenticeship scheme, “but I was drawn to biodynamics because it brought spirituality to the land. India had ignited that in me.”

He was taken on by Oaklands Park, a Camphill community in the Forest of Dean. His first job was weeding blackcurrants in the middle of winter on hard, frozen ground. “I thought: ‘this is going to be hard’.” 

It didn’t get any easier. “I was running the garden with little experience, four acres of vegetables, a 50-year-old orchard, five volunteers who didn’t speak much English. All while looking after adults with learning difficulties amidst some questionable politics in the Centre. It was challenging, but I wanted to finish the course.”

What he was learning with the Biodynamic Agricultural College provided the extra motivation. “There were some really good teachers. Jonathan Code on elemental beings wasn’t popular amongst everyone, but I thought it was brilliant. To learn about that living presence within plants and space brought so much depth to what we were doing as growers. It made me have reverence for the sacred space we enter as a grower.

He also loved being asked just to look. “During the course we were taught that observation was our best tool. We were asked to sit in a garden and just see what was in front of us. Then we came back to that space throughout the year. It was about looking, but also developing an awareness of how we were connected with our surroundings.”

“There were hundreds of fruit trees that needed pruning at Oaklands Park. I took time to observe and prune each tree. It was a turning point in my life. 

Learning through discovery

Sparrow at The Oxford Real Farming Conference, 2023

So why, after all that, did he take a job at a stock-free, organic farm, far from what he’d learnt about biodynamics? First, at Growing with Grace, a two-acre growing space under glass near Lancaster. And then Tolhurst Organics?

A talk he gave at the Oxford Real Farming Conference hints at why. It covered the biodynamic preparations, but plant-based versions. “There wasn’t a lot of love for it. People were resistant to what I was saying. But biodynamics can be treated too religiously. There’s a pursuit of knowledge that Steiner was trying to get at – open-ended and exploratory. I enjoyed the experiments being carried out by Enzo Nastati. I thought he was absolutely crazy, but it was refreshing to see someone pushing boundaries. I also enjoyed spending time with Mark Moodie who, as I sipped herbal tea by the fire, would talk about archangels and other far-out things”.

“Tolly had seen a lot of middle-class boys coming through who’d got what they wanted and then bought some land for themselves”

So in the spirit of exploration rather than following a set philosophy, Sparrow applied for an interview at Tolhurst. “Tolly gave me the job straight away. He saw I was a working-class lad like him; that I had a desire to learn.”

It almost didn’t happen because Sparrow’s partner became pregnant shortly after he started. “Tolly was convinced I’d leave, that I wouldn’t be able to handle the work combined with a new family.” But he had no plans to give up such an opportunity. Working with one of the most famous UK growers on 17 acres, with agroforestry, cover cropping and, let’s not forget, lots of woodchip, was not something to be missed. ‘Tolly spent plenty of time training me up, and I learnt so much.”

But then it was time to leave. “Four years under Tolly? Well, I surprised most people in sticking it out that long. But I needed to go out on my own, and do things my own way.”

A different environment for organics

It was what Sparrow describes as “a leap of faith.” A risk, a foolhardy step? His partner is German. “I wanted to go there more than she did. I could have easily got a job in England. But everything made me come here. The standard of living is higher. Healthcare, schools are better, and rivers are clean. They have stronger environmental policies. And money gets reinvested in society.”

The organic scene is more organised as well. Sparrow can buy seedlings for 10 cents per plant, which saves on greenhouse space, water, and labour. “In England, everything is from seed. Here I get them the week I want them and fit them straight into the planting machine”. It means he can cover a 50-metre bed with three rows in ten minutes – he has fsix 50-metre by 50-metre blocks containing 33 beds on each. His tractor, made by Fendt, is prized among growers. It has a long-axle front so the steerage hoe can attach in the middle, enabling him to see directly down onto the crops being hoed. But there’s also space on the back too. “I can be power harrowing one area, then do a bit of spontaneous hoeing on the way back across a field.” That means just one person is needed, which cuts labour costs in half and means he can do it when he wants.

Locals were bemused: ‘why are we getting kale in summer?’ they asked

The bigger challenge has been a different type of customer. “Germans like lots of kohlrabi, white cabbage, lambs lettuce, chicory and radicchio. They prefer curly kale cut in one piece rather than leaves pulled as in the UK.” His normal practice of sowing this brassica in February left locals bemused: ‘Why are we getting kale in summer?’ they asked. 

There are other cultural differences. “I haven’t used a single plastic bag. In the UK everyone told me organic produce had to go in plastic bags.” If he has loose leaves, he puts a rubber band around them. “Germans are really keen on recycling. If I gave them single-use plastic bags, I would lose customers.” His delivery boxes are made of folding plastic that get returned every week.

An exciting year lies ahead

Yet already, Sparrow has turned the business around. The number of members had dropped to 56 when he arrived, but he’s brought it back up to 85 in less than a year. That’s despite charging more: “the first thing I did was put prices up”. Income comes from a monthly contribution paid by members for the year, currently €85 a month per person. Once a year, members vote anonymously for how much they can contribute. Those who are better off pay more, and it’s less for those who can’t afford it. “This is the most socially responsible system I’ve ever come across”.

For 2026, Sparrow is targeting 120 members. Those extra funds will pay for an additional member of staff, in addition to occasional comms work contributed by his partner, one person packing on two mornings a week and a seasonal worker.

He has more plans: a European version of the Organic Growers Gathering at Blumenthal plus the fifth instalment of the UK version in 2026 – despite Tolly’s land no longer being available, and a drop in numbers this year. With so much going on, you wonder when he’ll get time to rest. And if and when his love for biodynamics will reappear. Surely in a country where Steiner has had such an influence, and with the joy that Sparrow got from studying at the Biodynamic Agricultural College, it will also form a part of the coming year.