PORT ANGELES — Coming to a big screen near you: Food.
Local food, in all its high-definition glory, is the star of the movie premiering Wednesday night in the Port Angeles High School auditorium.
It’s growing green and lush as Eden, hence the title of the documentary about Paul Gautschi and his garden near Gardiner.
The first public screening of “Back to Eden,” a film released via Internet and DVD earlier this year, is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Admission is a suggested $5, though no one will be turned away, said Kim Trenerry, organizer of the event.
Trenerry, the singer-guitarist with Port Angeles’ “progressive jamgrass” band Deadwood Revival, learned last summer about “Back to Eden.”
A friend showed her the website BacktoEdenFilm.com, put online by Pennsylvania-based filmmakers Sarah Zentz and Dana Richardson, and Trenerry was galvanized by Gautschi’s story.
For 32 years, he has been practicing permaculture: a method of mimicking nature instead of using fertilizers and irrigation.
Gautschi covers his ground with compost — largely wood chips — to nourish the soil the way nature does. The result is a pageant: gorgeous yields of apples, carrots, raspberries, potatoes, herbs and more.
After touring the garden, Trenerry got busy planning a public screening of “Back to Eden.”
As a musician herself, she wanted to add song to the party, so she invited Danny Barnes, a nationally known singer-songwriter who lives in Port Hadlock.
Barnes appeared at Trenerry’s “With a Little Help from My Friends” concert Oct. 29 in Port Angeles, and at the Sept. 17 “eTown” radio show recording commemorating the start of the Elwha River dam removals.
At the latter show, Barnes, along with the band Cake and singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson, played for a nearly sold-out throng in the Port Angeles High School auditorium.
This Wednesday, the same auditorium’s doors will open at 6:30 p.m. at 304 E. Park Ave.
Barnes will sing at 7 p.m. and “Back to Eden” will start around 7:30. After the 90-minute film, Barnes will do another set while Gautschi goes out to the lobby to talk with audience members.
Trenerry is bringing in Christopher Wright, a videographer who recently brought his company, Kokopele Productions, to the North Olympic Peninsula, to provide the high-definition film projection.
“It’s going to look amazing,” Trenerry said of the movie.
Gautschi, for his part, hopes filmgoers will see how they can apply what they see on the big screen in their own gardens.
“Growing your own food is simple,” he said, “and not a lot of work.”
Gautschi uses one tool: a rake. He spreads wood chips over the earth. That’s it. No fertilizer. And the chips hold moisture in so well, he said, that he never needs to water.
The proof, Trenerry added, is in the produce — so she’ll auction off baskets of it Wednesday night.
“I’ll have a nice array of what’s in season,” she said.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
To learn more about the movie or to order a DVD, visit BacktoEdenFilm.com.
