“We are documentary filmmakers, and passionate organic gardeners.
We produced/directed the documentary BACK TO EDEN that ignited a global gardening movement called, “Back to Eden Gardening.” Back to Eden Gardening is a wood chip mulch gardening technique that empowers people worldwide to grow food with less work.
Growing our own food is perhaps the most important skill set our generation can practice to improve our physical and mental health, as well as the health of the environment. In the midst of a global pandemic growing your own food is a necessary action to maintain food security. During quarantine, we are blessed to have grown all of our own produce in our garden.
We are based in Los Angeles, California, and are growing an abundance of food in an urban garden. Our backyard and front yard gardens are less than ⅛ of an acre. Since we have limited space we focus on creating rich soil. When your soil is full of nutrients, you are able to grow a high quantity of nutrient-rich food in a small garden plot.
We only grow heirloom plants in our organic garden. Our climate in Southern California allows us to grow a wide variety of plants from cold crops to subtropical fruits year-round. We are successfully growing everything from apples to zucchini including but not limited to oranges, grapes, lemons, limes, pears, peaches, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, peas, beans, carrots, beets, kale, lettuce, swiss chard, tomatoes, berries, and herbs. We are also growing a handful of exotic plants including kiwi, coffee, goji berries, bananas, pistachios, and passion fruit.
We believe the best practices for soil and pest management are to mimic nature. Specifically, we add organic matter (compost, composted animal manure, and wood chips) to the top of the soil without tilling or digging. This transforms any soil type into rich aerated soil that is full of minerals and beneficial microorganisms. As far as pest management, we focus on improving the health of the plants as the top way to naturally control pests. We do not use pesticides. For bad infestations, we have used neem oil and diatomaceous earth to help restore balance to the ecosystem.
Since cross-pollination can present a challenge in our limited space, we save our own seed from whatever plants we can every year that we know have not been cross-pollinated.
The experience of eating food that you grew from seed is an indescribable pleasure. There is nothing more life-giving and life-changing than sharing food you grew with your friends and family. We’ve had such an abundance of produce that we have been able to give lots of it away to our local community.
Our documentary, Back to Eden, is streaming for FREE in perpetuity online. Since the film’s release in 2011, the documentary has been viewed MILLIONS of times in 194 countries. The film has taught people worldwide how to grow their own food with less work. Every year we provide grants to non-profit organizations and organize screening events at schools, libraries, and community gardens in hope of positively impacting the world.
You can grow your own food no matter where you live, how little space you have, or the condition of your soil! Using the Back to Eden Gardening technique you can reduce the amount of input, labor, water, and money you put into growing your own food.“
