The Real Dirt on Farmer John

[Jenise]

Will air nationally on PBS on June 13th at 10:00 PM as part of the series "Independent Lens":

THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN

This unprecedented documentary captures the rise and fall of the Peterson family farm and its resurrection through John's courage to build a new form of community. Against all odds, eccentric Peterson abandons conventional chemical farming and fights local hysteria to build a thriving organic farm and a progressive farm community. THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN is the award-winning true story of third-generation American farmer John Peterson’s hero’s journey of success, tribulation, failure and rebirth, through his childhood in the ‘50s, the tumultuous ‘60s, the hippie-influenced ‘70s, and the farm-crisis ‘80s, culminating in his transformation-based creation of a biodynamic, organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm serving 1500 families in the Chicago area with weekly fresh produce.

[Hoke]

This is great, Jenise!

But it brings to mind something I think also needs to be said:

we need to recognize the restaurateurs (and most of all, of course, the chefs de cuisine) for actually creating the market and driving it, so the organic farmers can be heroic.

Because without the restaurateurs, and those passionate chefs, creating the demand for fresh foods and new tastes and organics and all those other things, I can assure you the produce section in your local grocery store wouldn't be stocking all that stuff that we now take for granted. And there wouldn't BE any Whole Foods or Wild Oats stores around the country. Yeah, there might be a few local struggling co-cops and such, but certainly not to the extent that food stores are not.

The farmers don't create the trends---they simply respond to the demand. It's the restaurateurs that are out ther pushing our taste horizons, waking us up to the idea of food being fresh and wholesome and interesting.

And we don't recognize them nearly enough for it. Or thank them as much as we should.

[Jenise]

Amen, Hoke. Amen.

[Kim Adams]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm on the Farmer John mailing list have not received this info!!! The movie came to Detroit about a year ago and I missed seeing it and have been waiting for its debut on PBS.

[Dale Williams]

I'm going to see this at the Jacob Burns Film Center Wednesday. Farmer John will be present, along with Dan Barber (chef of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, at the center for sustainable agriculture on the Rockefeller estate).

[Jenise]

What a cool setting, Dale, I'm envious. I'm going to have to wait to see it on TV--but I'm thinking of building a dinner evening with friends around it, where all the food would come from local farms. [/list]

[Kim Adams]

If you are a Netflix subscriber, it's available.

I like the idea of the local farm dinner party.

[Jenise]

Netflix? Si! Thanks for mentioning that, Kim--I never think to check there for things like this.