Meet the Celestial Planting Calendar Team
Rosemary Tayler - Editor
Rosemary has lived in the Ottawa area for over 30 years. She has a background in biochemistry, marine biology (MSc) and alternative medicine, in particular, homeopathy. In fact, she ran a school and clinic for ten years. She also has a deep personal interest in studying astrology and has a broad knowledge of celestial elements. From 2000 to 2015 she devoted time to establishing community gardens, composting and organizing local food markets in Ottawa, Ontario.
Rosemary enjoys travelling across Ontario and visiting the Maritime provinces where she mentors and gives workshops to farmers and gardeners on biodynamics and how to work with the planting calendar. One of her passions and gifts is reaching out to experts in their fields of knowledge and inviting them to make contributions to our planting calendar by way of writing articles or having them on hand to advise and make recommendations.
Gary P. Caton - Astronomer, Writer, Forecaster
Growing up in a rural setting outside Leesburg, Virginia, Gary developed passions for gardening and farming early in life and has lived on working farms. In 1993 Gary was initiated into the planetary mysteries by seeing alignments in a dream. His deep love of nature fuels his enthusiasm for stargazing and astrophotography and considers himself to be a trans-disciplinary astrologer.
Gary claims it has been a true joy combining his lifelong passion for learning with the tasks of completing the calculations and contributing to the forecasts for this calendar.
Based on more than two decades of experience, he incorporates several new elements into this planting calendar, including consideration of the sextile aspect and a look at the deeper mysteries of the retrograde loops of Venus and Mars.
All of Gary Caton's articles can be found HERE.
Gary currently lives in North Carolina and travels across the United States giving lectures and seminars. He is the host of a popular Hermetic Astrology Podcast and a number of other venues. For more information on Gary visit www.dreamastrologer.com
Hugh Courtney - Writer, Mentor, Researcher
In addition to contributing articles, Hugh Courtney has taken on the advisory role of forecasting favourable and unfavorable times for this calendar. He has devoted more than 40 years to perfecting the art of making biodynamic preparations. Taking a cue from his own mentor, Josephine Porter, who declared, “These preparations are no secret, I will teach anyone who wants to learn how to make them,” he has mentored hundreds of people on the finer points of making quality preparations.
Thanks to Hugh, we are the only planting calendar that is providing recommendations for when to apply biodynamic preparations and sequential sprays. Hugh also helps us calculate the times for increased yield, nutritional quality and disease resistance according to George Schmidt.
All of Hugh Courtney's articles can be found HERE.
Ever concerned about keeping this special art form alive into the future, in 2009, Hugh founded Earth Legacy Agriculture, LLC to provide quality preparations for discerning practitioners. For more information visit www.earthlegacyagriculture.com
Kathryn Aunger - Administration & Graphic Design
For over 30 years, Kathryn worked in sales and marketing for several major corporations. She was introduced to graphic design and layout while working on marketing and advertising campaigns for key accounts. It is these skills that Kathryn brings to the Celestial Planting Calendar as the graphic and layout person. Kathryn is also the webmaster, social media, bookkeeper and customer service person.
In 2006, Kathryn left the corporate world and purchased a farm in Eastern Ontario with her son. Together they moved quickly into biodynamic practices. As a First Nations family, the concepts of whole farm integration and working with the elements and the life force that runs through all things made perfect sense to them.
For more information on Kathryn's farm (Earth Haven Farm) visit www.earthhaven.ca
