Dateline: 18 March 2017
Paul Gautschi, in his garden.
It’s likely that anyone reading this has come across the well-known documentary Back To Eden featuring Paul Gautschi. I purchased the video myself years ago and have shared it with local friends.
If you haven’t seen the film, it’s a must-watch, particularly for those interested in gardening. It’s available for free on the official Back To Eden website and on YouTube.
After watching the movie, I highly suggest checking out “This Back To Eden Full Tour on YouTube.” Though filmed in July of last year, this three-hour and twenty-minute video offers a captivating look at Paul Gautschi and his garden.
I say “unfortunately” about the length because I could easily listen to Paul Gautschi discuss his garden and other topics for twice as long.
While watching the 2016 YouTube tour, I found myself thinking of Paul Gautschi as a “raconteur,” a skilled and witty storyteller. He’s undoubtedly one of the most engaging and captivating garden storytellers I’ve encountered.
Although he might exaggerate at times and occasionally be inaccurate (Johnny’s Seeds is not associated with Monsanto), his core message about using wood chips as garden mulch is genuinely inspiring, and his success using this method is impossible to ignore.
Beyond that, I admire his independent, contrarian spirit, particularly his belief that we’re often taught falsehoods.
The story goes that Paul Gautschi relocated his family to a 5-acre homestead in Washington state’s Northern Peninsula back in 1979. An experienced arborist, he planted an orchard on the property. Faced with only 14 inches of annual rainfall and a limited water supply from his well, he couldn’t irrigate conventionally.
Paul sought guidance and found inspiration in the surrounding forest. Observing the thriving trees despite the lack of additional water, he realized the layer of pine needles and forest debris helped retain moisture and bolstered plant health. He felt a divine message to replicate this organic mulch system in his orchard.
It’s important to note that Paul Gautschi believes in direct communication with a higher power. While this might not resonate with everyone, he describes seeking answers and receiving them through spontaneous thoughts, rather than an audible voice. This type of communication resonates with me personally as well.
Initially, Paul used sheep manure and hay as mulch in his orchard, later discovering that wood chips were even more effective. It took 17 years of tilling, planting in bare soil, and cultivating with a hoe before he realized he could utilize wood chips in his vegetable garden as well, ultimately leading him to part ways with his trusty TroyBilt tiller.
Now, Paul Gautschi isn’t the first to use wood chips as garden mulch. Lee Reich has been advocating for it since at least 2000, as seen in his book, Weedless Gardening. The concept of ramial wood chips as mulch dates back to at least 1986, and gardening with a thick layer of organic mulch was popularized by Ruth Stout in 1955, though she favored hay. The practice itself isn’t new.
However, when Paul Gautschi felt divinely inspired to employ wood chip mulch, he embraced it fully, achieving remarkable results. Somewhere along the way, the name “Back To Eden” gardening emerged, and the documentary showcasing Paul and his wood-chip-mulched garden resonated with audiences worldwide. Paul attributes his success entirely to divine guidance, creating a compelling narrative.
Despite the title of this essay, “Back To Eden vs. Minibeds-on-Plastic,” I want to emphasize that I find value in the Back To Eden gardening approach and believe it’s worth exploring for all gardeners.
In Part 2 of this series, I’ll share observations about Back To Eden gardening based on an online interview with Paul Gautschi, the aforementioned YouTube tour, and the book, Growing Food God’s Way, which delves into his unique perspective on gardening.
I will then compare and contrast the Back to Eden techniques with my experimental Minibeds-on-Plastic gardening method.
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to go to Part 2 of this series