Wolf-Dieter Storl

Wolf Dieter Storl was born on Oct. 1, 1942, in Saxony, Germany and emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 11 years old. After finishing his undergrad studies at Ohio State University, he received an MA in anthropology and sociology at Kent State University, whereupon he taught there as a full time instructor. In 1970 he went to the University of Vienna for post graduate studies and was an instructor at the Institute for International Studies. In 1974 he received his PhD in Ethnology (magna cum lauda) in Berne, Switzerland, as a Fulbright scholar (American Exchange Scholarship). During his time in Switzerland he met master gardener Manfred Stauffer, student of Rudolf Steiner and learned biodynamic, organic gardening from him. Back in the United States teaching sociology, anthropology and organic gardening at a college in Grants Pass, Oregon, the students and gardeners who had attended his very popular gardening classes asked him for literature. Since there was hardly any literature available, this resulted in the writing of his first book, Culture and Horticulture, in 1978. After years of travel in southern Asia, mainly India, and research among alpine peasants in Switzerland, he settled with his family in the foothills of the Alps in southern Germany, writing books in English and German. Since childhood Storl has had an especially close relation to plants. When he was ten years old he grew the biggest tomatoes in the neighborhood in a small garden behind the house. The neighbors were jealous and one even accused him of secretly using artificial fertilizer. However, this was not the case. It was merely intuitive and empathetic knowledge that ena bled him to provide for the needs of his plants. With his intuitive knowledge for what plants need and like, he had gathered horse droppings at a nearby farm as a treat for his potato plants. Through his anthropological – and specifically ethnobotanical – studies, alongside his own hands on experience over the years, he has grown to have a very profound understanding of the green world around us. Our relationship to the plant world is the theme of most of his books, also herbalism, ethnobotany and cultural lore. He has also written books on the spirituality of India. His discussions and narratives weave together myth and folklore with the natural history of plants. Storl displays an avid interest in world-wide mythology, and his books are also full of interesting cultural lore. He maintains that plants are divine beings and that mythical tales reveal more about their true nature than strict, exclusive science is capable of doing.