Getting Ready to Embark Upon the Back to Eden Gardening Method

Years ago, I had watched the Back to Eden Gardening Video.  You can click on the link in the last sentence to watch the video.  In summary, Paul Gautschi explains that when you pick berries in the forest, no one had to water them or tend to them.  God provides.  He explains that there is no one to till the forest ground.  The ground is never bare.  Leaves and decomposing wood cover the soil.

He sought to imitate this in gardening.  It is easy.  No tilling of the soil.  You don't need to water.  You don't need to weed very much.  Any weeds that do grow are easy to pull.  Sounds like a great plan.  Tricia went to visit a couple that has implemented the Back to Eden Gardening method and they are sold on it.  They said gardening has never been easier!  As we get older, we want to do things easier.  I've never owned a tiller and have been turning over our large garden with a shovel, pulling up rows, using a hoe to work the soil, and then a rock rake to smooth out the seed bed.  That's hard work.

I told Tricia if she could find some wood chips, I'd implement this practice.  Well, my wife happened across some trucks in Jennings trimming trees along some power lines and throwing the branches into a wood chipper that blows the wood chips into the back of a truck.  She stopped and asked the men if they needed a place to get rid of the chips.  They sure did!  She gave the men our address.

Saturday morning we were having coffee before going out to milk the cows, and I saw two wood chipper trucks driving past our house slowly as if they were lost.  Tricia ran out the front door, and I ran out the back and out to flag them down.  They meandered their trucks down the driveway, carefully avoiding low-hanging limbs.  When in place, they dumped two big loads of wood chips.

The chips are chopped pretty fine.  I don't know how many yards of chips, but I'd estimate in comparison to loads of dirt we've purchased, that it's about 14 yards.

It's a little hard to see in the photo below, but in the middle left, you can see steam rising from the pile.  It was about 85 degrees outside this morning.  The wood chips were really hot!  We've gotten a load of chips in the past and on cool days, steam would be rising from the pile.  Bacteria is breaking down the wood chips, returning them back to rich soil.

Here is a close-up shot of the wood chips.  It is dense and heavy when in your hand.  It will be perfect for what we're trying to do.

We gave the gentlemen some fresh eggs and they asked if we needed more chips.  "Of course," we said, "We'll take everything you can bring us."  So far three loads have been dumped and more is on the way!  We will explain more about the Back to Eden Gardening once we implement it.  Stay tuned for more posts on this topic.