AMERICAN SURVIVAL NEWSLETTER

August 2012
by Dana Richardson & Sarah Zentz

Paul Gautschi, a master arborist and world-famous organic gardener, has discovered a secret to gardening... "Go out to where nature has not been disturbed, look at what it is doing and copy it!” This is what Paul did 32 year ago in his orchard and has been reaping the bountiful harvest ever since.Located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, Paul’s home garden and orchard is covered with wood chips. Why? When Paul walked into nature, in his case the forest, he found needles, leaves and branches that had fallen from trees which were decomposing to create the most beautiful, moist, rich top-soil. The epiphany for Paul was that nature was sustaining itself without any work! Here Paul was “slaving” trying to maintain his orchard and garden while in nature everything was taking care of itself. Conventionally, most gardeners and farmers are experiencing labor intensive, complex, and costly (environmentally and economically) methods of food production. Some of the vital issues facing agriculture today include soil preparation, fertilization, irrigation, weed control, pest control, crop rotation, and PH issues. None of these issues exist in the unaltered state of nature or in Paul’s gardens and orchards. As Paul states, “It’s all about the covering.”

In 2011, the full feature documentary, Back to Eden Film, was produced to share Paul’s journey, walking with God and learning how to get back to the simple, productive methods of sustainable provision that were given to man in the garden of Eden. The film is broken into chapters that address how Paul’s methods are void of the issues facing conventional agriculture in America. Paul doesn’t till, fertilize, water, spray, rotate, or mix soil and you don’t need to either!

Watching drought records reach all time highs this summer, the evidence is clear that the water-saving benefit of the methods shared in Back to Eden Film are in high demand! We have received far more desperate emails from gardeners in the mid-West than we have from the rest of the United States. As Fall approaches, we recommend everyone, with or without gardening or farming experience, to follow these simple steps to creating a sustainable organic garden and orchard:

1. Get Connected to Creation
2. Get “The Covering”
3. Apply “The Covering”

The best “covering” material for your garden is whatever is local, organic and readily available to you. For example, leaves, grass, straw, manure and even rocks provide the same benefits Paul experiences with wood chips. A woman in South Africa went into nature and found that sugar cane bark was the best resource for her to use. Further detailed information regarding how to implement a Back to Eden gardening can be accessed at www.backtoedenfilm.com/how_to

Dana Richardson & Sarah Zentz, Producers and Directors of Back to Eden Film, will be submitting articles to feature in the American Survival Newsletter on a quarterly basis. Subscribe to receive the free newsletter here: www.thepowerherbs.com/Books-And-Newsletters/American-Survival-Newsletter-Health-Finance.html