Roberto Romano - UK

I arrived at Clervaux in September 2011 to start my two year BDA biodynamic apprenticeship training after first having visited in May and I am still here. I first started to get interested in organic farming after first having volunteered on organic farms and permaculture gardens and shortly after I began looking for a training in organic farming and came across the biodynamic apprenticeship which I felt significantly surpassed that of the Soil Association for its breadth and interest. 

 My first impression of Tyll was when I arrived at Darlington train station in May 2011 after having contacted Tyll about the possibility of undertaking the BD training a Clervaux even though I had never seen a photo of Tyll I knew that was him as I walked down the platform as he was leaning on a post. After he had shown me around Clervaux and I had spent part of the day working on the land with Dom and Nanda who were the two current apprentices at the time I knew at that moment that this is place and the people who I would like to work with.   

Tyll operated at speed and one of his funniest anecdotes I remembered him recounting on one occasion was about a former apprentice because Tyll felt that he walked home from work faster than the apprentice walked to work. Tyll always wanted to make sure that everything looked just right and took great care not only in the land, but also the fabric of the buildings at the farm but also the Clervaux and Café and Bakery. He really believed in sense of belonging people feel to a community when the placed is looked after to the highest standard possible. Through Tyll’s role as trustee for Ruskin Mill Trust he also held a much wider picture of the whole organisation and our part in it. 

Tyll was a fantastic orator and it was always a pleasure to sit and listen to him at the end of the working day for a study group. Due to the number of years Tyll had been not only practicing biodynamics but also teaching it he was able to very easily articulate ideas that I’m still grappling with. Tyll liked to use Rudolph Haushka’s The Nature of Substance to explain the Biodynamic preparations.  

Tyll felt strongly that the garden always came first and that the real teacher is nature so essentially learning through doing. As Tyll was approaching retirement and also had his first battle with cancer which was during the second year of my apprenticeship I unfortunately didn’t manage to spend much time with Tyll but I had the organising vision that he had established at Clervaux to work from so you could say that I learnt more from Tyll’s footprint than his shadow. Tyll was also very good at using metaphors to more visibly paint an image in your mind. On a practical level I always enjoyed pruning with Tyll as it was one of his favourite tasks as it really demonstrated how effectively we can cultivate nature if you were able to plan several years ahead.  

When I first joined in 2011, Clervaux was still in its nascent form after only having begun in 2009 so even though a lot of the infrastructure in place along with the staff and students there was a lot more change and development to come in various iterations over the years.  The early culture of Clervaux was very caring and inclusive with the whole community coming together for numerous significant events throughout the year that were tied to the land and the seasons. 

Tyll inspired me to continue working in biodynamics because even after Tyll retired from Clervaux in 2013 he remained in Darlington until he passed away so we saw each other on numerous occasions both at Clervaux and our respective homes over the years and we had lots of discussions about biodynamic gardening, politics and more generally about the state of society and natural world. Tyll’s inspiration still lives within me and one of the significant reasons as to why I have continued at Clervaux since I first began working with Tyll.