Back to Eden Gardening Foundation

Back to Eden Gardening Foundation

The back to eden gardening method itself is accredited to Paul Gautschi who copied the principals of the forest floor and created gardens that are relatively labour free to keep. The following link describes the method. (click here). The method is simplistic with wonderful results in the quality of produce and far fewer problems than normal gardening. I have this gardening method as an example of Gods grace and use it as an example of the depth that Gods grace covers.

The original blessing for mankind was that God blessed the humans by saying to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it! Be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, and every living thing that crawls on the earth!” (Genesis 1:28)

One of the most direct ways to subdue the earth or master it is to grow things. (Genesis 1:26) So we no longer have the garden of eden but we do have grace in what we do. God already made an example via Eden that could only be passed down through Adam and Eve however Adam was affected by a curse. “The ground is cursed because of you. You’ll eat from it through pain-filled labor for the rest of your life.” (Genesis3:17). The exact curse of the ground was the thistles and thorns the question is although Adam had a hard time because of the thistles and thorns can we follow a way other than Adams?

Adam done what was logical, he had no idea how to copy Eden as there were it seems no forests yet apart from Eden. No shrubs had yet grown in the meadows of the earth and no vegetation had sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there were no human beings to work the ground. Instead, an underground stream would arise out of the earth and water the surface of the ground. (Gen 2:5-6)

So by a water source (not created by rain) he probably tilled the soil, planted seeds, weeded, watered, pest controlled, checked the ph balance, fertilised,... you name it! Sweaty brow time! Meanwhile things grew near water sources including bigger plants. Gardens that took time to grow otherwise known as forests or plant specific habitats grew wether Adam started them or not. Nowadays we have forests that are the closest thing we can have to Eden where we can study how God designed things to work. We just kept doing what Adam does which is good but hard. Not any more. There is and always has been a purpose and plan that was jammed packed with grace and joy from God in order to fulfil one of our first blessings to subdue the earth (hopefully not in an ominous way).

If God made a grace packed way in the foundation of earth then is it hard to believe that we can enter into similar principals in all we do. Not just surviving and pretending that you are content because the Bible says you should be. But enjoying doing what Dad (God) does: making stuff from stuff, gardening, looking after animals, birds, fishing, families, fulfilling our lives and purposes etc. Even the office job if it fulfils our blessing must have the option of the same grace design somehow.

What we do was always designed to be a blessing to us in order to do good. For us to taste it and experience what is good. Not to taste it and experience what is necessary to keep us alive. Life itself is a by-product of living. The back to Eden gardening method is an example of evidence of this grace filled life in one of the most basic forms of work; growing food.

- Owen Ladd -