I have watched a lot of documentaries on real food, but none of them has moved me the way that Back to Eden has moved me! Why? I think it’s because of the spiritual component that was woven throughout the entire documentary. All along I have know that there is a spiritual side to this real food thing. I have just not been able to articulate it very well. This film does that!
For those of you who are not very spiritual or ‘religious’ (although I really hate using that term since I don’t feel religious in the traditional sense of the word), I don’t think you should shun this movie. Even though the theme is very heavy on sustainable farming relating to God’s creation and how that relates to scripture, it has extremely practical sustainable farming and gardening techniques.
These techniques utilize composted wood chips as not only a mulch, but also:
- compost
- natural fertilizer
- pest deterrent
- weed prevention
- a means to balance ph levels, and a way to
- reduce water use by up to 90%!
I’ve always used wood chips in my garden, but not in the manner used here. I am completely impressed with the thoughtfulness and success that have been proven with Paul Gautschi‘s gardening methods.
This documentary is a MUST SEE! View it here: Back to Eden
Post links to: Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Seasonal Celebration, Sunday School, Homestead Barnhop, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Hearth and Soul Hop, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Frugal Days,
I loved it, too!
I started to watch it, but didn’t realize how long it was going to be. I was SO impressed with just the first 15 minutes…when I have a couple hours, I plan to watch the whole thing. It made my heart race, because it got me so excited about my garden!
Becky, that comment made me smile ‘cuz it made me excited too. I was thinking, “Now how can I implement some of this for this year?” Let me now what you think when you can watch the whole thing.
I purchased this movie to support Paul’s generous efforts. I am a relative newbie organic gardener (just three years) and have learned how to “grow soil”. This documentary is one of the absolute best I have ever seen. I love the point that anyone with even the smallest plot of land can create an organic garden space to be used now or sometime in the future as a food sovereignty right. I have viewed it several times, taken voracious notes and implementing this not only in the lawn area; but also in raised beds as parts of my suburban lawn may have been treated by lawncare companies in the past and Round-up does not dissipate from the soil as quickly as we have been led to believe.
Chris, I am also concerned about the lawn care past of my property. I do know that my community was once an old farm (and likely not organic). EEK. I have been wanting to contact Paul and ask if he knows how long it will take for the wood chip methods to break down the damage done to the soil.
I will be buying the DVD as well. I am trying to see if my church will do a showing so more people can learn about how to grow their own food with much less effort and healthier for them and the planet. I have plans . . .
This documentary really did move me to want to take more definitive action in my community!
Agree, it was a wonderful documentary. For those that don’t have the 2 hours (almost) to sit at one time, if you remember where you left off, you can ‘pick back up’ again on another session. I watched in 3 sessions.
I definitely need to spend some time watching this. My husband has been trying to restore the freaky sandy soil in our yard with wood chip mulch and this sounds just like what he needs to see. Thanks!
By the way, I linked to this from my blog FB!
Wow, I didn’t hear about this documentary before, but the subject is right up my alley. I always get a little irritated when people who are spiritual/religious don’t take real food seriously (even after being exposed to it). It seems so logical to me that this earth and its resources are precious gifts that we are to take care of. Destroying our health or the environment should be seen as grave sins (in my opinion). Looking forward to checking this out soon! Thanks for posting about it.
Ha, ironically I had a conversation about this with my parents who were visiting over the weekend. They are very ‘religious’ but completely disagree with my food choices etc. They keep telling me that God gave us doctors so we should trust them . . . .REALLY????? That is not logical or Biblical. But that is the mentality that most religious people have bought into. Modern medical practices are nothing more than witch doctors of the past, if you ask me. And it is pushing idolatry to suggest that we should take their potions over real food to heal and nourish us. But that’s just my opinion.
I watched it on Friday. Let me just say, that dude loves him some God! But you know what, as excited as he is about preaching the Word and showing us how God has provided everything we need to grow our own foods, it made me excited too. In fact, i was wishing it wasn’t already so hot down here in SW LA, so I could get another bed in! I already talked with hubs about it and we’re going to do a large(ish) bed in the fall using landfill compost/mulch.
@Paula, it’s true and his love for God and His creation is infectious. It made me excited to get out in the dirt more and expand as well. I have tons of questions for God about gardening, like- “How Safe is it to plant in dead soil that I know was sprayed with chemicals?? Our community was an old conventional farm at one point.:(
The best thing we should have at home is adding the green color to our home. Less green plant can even make any differences to our home. A positive change for sure. May be this can also help us to change this world. To change the place we are living in to a real Eden for all of us.
I loved it so much as well! I have watched it three times and posted it at the top of my blog!
You have me beat Clint. I only watched 1 1/2 times so far! There is so much to learn in it, isn’t there?
Thanks for sharing this, will watch it tonight with hubby. Thanks for sharing this at Natural Mother’s Seasonal Celebration Sunday! x
Thanks for the pointer to this video, I always love watching documentaries especially about food, though good ones are sometimes hard to come by.
I just watched one myself called Dive! (available on Netflix) that was very eye opening.
@Rachel, DIVE sounds familiar. I will have to check it out on Netflix! What I love about Netflix is that many people don’t watch documentaries so they always seem to have those in recent releases whereas not so much for the popular movie titles < –Which I could care less about.
I loved this post. I also have a spiritual connection to sustenance, the cultivation of land, etc but it’s hard to put into words. I shared your blog post on my social media.
Don’t be excited, do it! I dug 6″ into the dirt to remove the grass roots, now pricing dirt and compost to fill it. I’m creating a blog to document my success/failure.
Get off your computer and DO IT!
@Anna, according to the documentary you shouldn’t have to remove the dirt and grass. Just cover it with cardboard/newspaper, then cover with the mulch. I am starting this this fall so it has the winter to compost down. I saw DVD in the spring it was way too late as I only had ‘green’ mulch to work with. The documentary says green mulch will not help your veggies grow. I am working with what I have and trying not to spend a lot of money in the process.
This is a wonderful film! I mulched my garden last spring in a ditch effort to save myself from weeds before a surgery with a long recovery time. I got all my mulching and most of my planting done before hand. I spend most of my early spring and summer on my couch watching my garden grow through a very rough dry summer. My neighbors were all so amazed that I had fresh produce and very few weeds in such a dry summer. I’m glad I watched this film I learned a few extra tips that I will use this season I’m so excited for spring. Thank you for all the wonderful information u have provided.