SEARCH
FOR THE HOLY GRAIN
Interview
with a friend
Friend:
Koen,
that looks like a really interesting bread that you made, can you
tell me more about it and what you are doing?
Koen:”You
know how so many people today suffer from allergies, struggle with
weight issues and that they can't eat bread anymore?
That
is because the grain is severely degenerated, because of modern
farming techniques, and this has been going on for more than a
hundred years!
What
I do is to make bread that is made from grains that are not
degenerated, that are uncorrupted. Grains that have been cultivate
from wild grasses”.
Friend:
“What do you mean by degenerated?”
Koen:”Plants,
and human beings for that matter, take not only nutrition from the
soil, but also from the light of the sun and many other cosmic
forces. By feeding the plant chemical fertilizer we kind of cut off
the connection between the plant and the earthly and heavenly forces,
the plant becomes weak and lazy.
Chemical
fertilizer has increased the yield of wheat by 8 or twelve fold. But
it also increased the carbohydrate content, at the expense of other
nutrients like protein, minerals, vitamins, Omega3 oils, etc.
So
modern wheat has less protein, and gluten is part of the protein. To
still make decent bread out of it a gluten was developed that is
extra powerful, more stretchable.
Add
to this the fact that at the same time chemical fertilizer came in
use, also compressed ,monoculture yeast was used to leaven the bread
much faster. That left no time for the bacteria to pre-digest the
gluten and other important nutrients.
So
now you understand why degenerated grain and bread with yeast can
make it hard to digest”.
Friend:”Where
did you find this grain and how did this all get started?”
Koen:”Well
you brought me over to Mr. and Mrs.Rossi's house. And Mr. Rossi was a
retired science teacher, and a home bread baker. So we started
talking about bread. I told what I knew and he said I should really
teach a class. I had developed my own natural leaven in the 1980's
when I had my bakery in Holland. So I wanted to teach that bread,
which was inspired by Hugo Erbe, who had made a leaven based on the
honey/salt recipe with the addition of pea flour. When I did some
research on Hugo Erbe, I also discovered that he had been working on
the regeneration of the grain, starting from wild grasses. That
seemed pretty incredible to me. I started to ask around if anybody in
this country was growing the Erbe grain. I got in touch with all the
experts in bio-dynamic farming. They knew about it, but no one was
growing it. Finally I was directed to Caroline Gordon who was a
German baker in Harlemville NY.
She
said I should contact her old neighbor at the Keyserlingk Institute
in Southern Germany. They themselves did not have the grain, but Hugo
Erbe had had his farm right in their neigborhood, and there may be a
breeder who might still have this grain. Mind you Hugo Erbe died in
1965, but there had been some efforts to grow his miracle grain. He
accomplished everything and more that modern farming is trying to
accomplish, not with chemical methods but through spiritual science.
You have to read about it in “Hugo Erbe's New Bio-Dynamic
Preparations”, available from the Bio-Dynamic Farming Association.
I
decided I had to go to Germany, and look for it in person. I went to
the Keyserlingk Institute, which very graciously gave me hospitality,
and one day researcher Udo took me to this breeder. This man had
devoted his life to this grain, but he was frustrated that no one
really wanted to work with it, probably because it took real
dedication, because otherwise it had the tendency to return to its
wild origin. The grains were all neatly organized in boxes maybe not
touched in several years
Both
Udo and I looked at it and immediately we felt an emotional shock
looking at the beauty of this grain and felt that this was the real
thing. I took some of the spelt and Udo took most of the other
grains. We planted in the fall, he in Germany I in Harlemville NY. We
both saw that the germination rate was nearly perfect, even after all
those years, a sign of strong Life Forces.
It
will take a few years to increase it to have enough for bread baking,
this is why I really need to go back, besides I found out a few other
farmers may be growing it in Northern Italy and Southern Germany.
In
the mean time I have made some wonderful breads from rye and spelt
which are not as degenerated as modern wheat. And I get great
results, hard to tell even the difference in rising power compared
with bakers yeast. I believe I am ready to try croissants with my
leaven.”
Friend:”What
is your ultimate goal?”
Koen:”You
see there is a much greater issue behind the gluten allergies. This
is basically the breakdown of our immune system and can lead way
beyond to hardly being able to digest any food, not just wheat.
What
is going on is the withdrawal of the Life Forces, because of that
disconnect between the earthly and cosmic forces, because of modern
farming techniques. You can't just increase yield 8 or twelve times
and not see any consequences. World hunger is not as severe a crisis
as it was, but now we are overfed and under nourished.
What
is needed in the world is a different attitude towards life, an
attitude of dedication. I like to say production invites corruption.
We need to develop a spiritual science, as Austrian philosopher
Rudolf Steiner has urged us to do back in the 1920's. Almost 100
years have past since then. If we cannot return to the spiritual
path, to go with God, Vaya Con Dios, then we are doomed to fail. I
really like this beautiful prayer by Adam Bittleston, where he says:
“As
we go out into the world as we have made it,
Everywhere
there speaks to us forgetfulness of the Spirit
If
human work were to be without love the earth would become a bleak and
barren desert.
Through
forgetfulness of the Spirit, Love ebbs away.
Bring
to mind in us o Christ,
Inspirer
of true human love
How
we have come to the earth from the fields of Light
From
the heights of the spirit.
May
remembrance of God grow strong in our souls
Overcoming
the mists which hide the meaning in the work of each day.”
My
work has just begun, I have to do much research and testing, visit
farmers, breeders and bakers over in Europe, so that bread can be the
healthy staff of life again, and people can eat Life Giving healthy
bread. To support this project is to support the continuation of
healthy life on earth.
Thank
you for your support!
