As far as it being similar to biodynamics: John jeavons leaves out all the spiritual stuff, only uses science and sound theory. He uses
Alan Chadwicks work on moon phases and planting, which is not nearly as mystical as many biodynamic calendars. He does not speak of any horns and burying any animal or animal waste, which as much as I wish I had plenty of fresh cow horns to try it myself I will just have to live within my means until they fall into my lap.
He pushes companion planting, but also states its much easier for the new farmer to follow heavy feeders (i.e corn) with heavy givers (i.e beans) instead of planting everything together at the same time, this also makes harvest much easier, and paying someone to go pick beans and lettuce is much easier when they arent picking through a
polyculture of many species (not trying to say polycultures are not very important and dont still have their place in my garden).
He has simplified the human diet to only need 4000sq ft of soil to grow enough food to feed 1 person for an enire year. 60%
compost crops, 30% calorie crops, and 10% vegetable crops. I am only growing about 40%
compost crops and most of that is fava beans so they are a dual purpous
compost crop. I bring in lots of material from all over the area for compost so I can get elements I dont already naturally have in my soil. That allows me to feed almost 2
people off 5200sq ft