Getting "Back to Eden"

http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/



"The Dude" and I (I have decided not to use real names here in case for some reason LOTS of people from all around somehow stumble across this bloggy they won't learn too much about me and the tribe... so until further notice, the hubs will be hereinafter known as "The Dude".  Cool?  Good. So, like I said... The Dude and I ... we watched this film last night. I had to tell ya'll about it.

A pal of mine sent me the link to this film on Crackbook and we were immediately in agreement that THIS was how we wanted to start our farm.  THIS is how we need to garden. 

Basically the gist of it is that we work and work and work at bettering the soil because it's too dry and too acidic and too basic and not enough phosphorus and blah blah blah...  but the Earth in and of itself grows.  It lives, survives... THRIVES, and does it wonderfully!  WITHOUT added compost, bloodmeal, frequent waterings (other than naturally provided rainwater) and tilling....

If we were to walk into a forest right now, you and I, we would find WHAT on the ground?  LOTS of stuff, right?  Like what?  Well, fallen pine needles, leaves, grass... and also wood mulch too.  So this dude in this film, Paul, he goes and says that he doesn't till... doesn't compost... doesn't WATER any of this orchards, gardens or ANY of it, other than after the initial planting, I believe.  His reasoning is that wood mulch acts like a sponge or blanket that holds in all the rain water and then creates it's own compost and topsoil underneath. 

NATURALLY.  Without help from any man. 

How AMAZING is that?



By the way... this is Paul. 

Paul Gautschi.   Say "HI", Paul.

So he prunes his trees and takes those cuttings and has them chipped up into the most awesome looking stuff and spreads it over the ground in all of his gardens.  He has layers upon layers of this same material and he just keeps adding to it.  Another thing he does is takes all the green garden waste, i.e. wilted plants, grass clippings, stuff that didn't get used in the kitchen, etc, and feeds those to his chickens.  The chickens are fed awesomely healthy foods rich in all KINDS of vitamins and minerals and then guess what they do?  Yep.  They poop.  Then Paul takes a screen he made and lays it over his wheelbarrow and shovels the dirt/poop from the chicken yard/pen onto the screen.  Then he sifts it.  All that is left on top are rocks and other things that one wouldn't want in their garden and what he was left with in the wheelbarrow was the darkest, richest, healthiest looking topsoil/compost mixture that I have ever seen!



Guess what he does with it?

He does NOT turn it into the existing soil.  That's what you or I would do, right?  Yep.

Well, not Paul. He simply spread on top of the existing ground. 
I remember hearing him state that his only garden tool used was his garden rake.  To spread the wood chips and this soil/compost mixture like stuffidge.

WOW. 



So, what about weeds?  Well, yes, he gets a few here and there but says that it's probably from where others are cultivating and scattering seeds into the wind and they are then blown his way and germinate in his awesome soil.  You can pull them up almost so easy it was like they weren't even rooted in, but they were.  The stuff is so moist and LIGHT that it doesn't dry up and solidify, per se like the plain ol' dirt stuff does.

LIGHT?  Yes, light.  However... not so light to where it will just blow away in the wind.  You can drive over it and everything and it stays in place.  At one point in the video they showed a close-up of his feet walking over the wood chips and The Dude noticed how it sprang back up after he stepped off of it.  Like a sponge that you squeeze and then release.  Can you picture it?  Good.  Just making sure everyone in class was paying attention.

There is so much more that I could say and add but I have forgotten so many of the details.  ((This is one very good reason to have your own Dude.  They remember what we cannot and vice versa.))  Let me state, though, that all I've listed here already?  ...Came from watching less than half the film.  Imagine what I will post next after I finish watching it!!!!  The Dude has already finished it and is so super pumped about getting started on our property.  I am too, of course!  Absosmurfly!

This is a picture of one part of Paul's gardens.



Look.At.That.Topsoil.

Wow.

So, go check out that film and see for yourself.  And just an FYI he quotes a LOT of scripture....

Okay, so go watch it... And buy stock in a good chipper.  ;o)

Well, I'm off to finish watching it....  Until next time!