Worth Seeing: Fresh (the movie)

By Margaret Gilmour

On Saturday evening I sat in the London Grove Friends Meeting House with a couple friends, and about 15 other locals including two Chester County farmers, and watched Fresh, a film about how sustainable agriculture is working around our country.

It was a hot and sticky evening; everyone used their hand-held fans to stay cool. I loved the wide-opened doors where I could see the barely-lit lawn outside. Before the film started viewers listened to the cicadas singing, while afterwards it was the drops of gentle rain that we heard. (No one missed the smell of popcorn.)

Filmmaker Ana Sofia Joanes released her indie movie to small groups of interested people across the country so that her project would spread by word of mouth, believing that change in the farming industry will come from each of us.

She writes in her article on the Huffington Post:

“Fresh examines the problems and consequences of our current food system, but its focus is on the farmers, thinkers, and business people across America who are coming up with alternatives. And, although, at first glance, it may seem that Fresh is about food and agriculture, it’s really more about adopting a new perspective, a different understanding of our relationship to each other and the world.”

No one in our “movie house” was new to the concept of industrialized agriculture. I’m guessing we were all there for the same reason: to understand how sustainable farming works, and how we can support the movement.

Monsanto wasn’t mentioned once. Instead, a small cast of dynamic characters gave us hope for the future of farming practices and the quality of our food.

We woke at dawn with Joel Salatin, a farmer in Swoope, VA, who, by closely observing the needs of the land and his livestock, created a sustainable, rotational farming system. In his grassy fields the cows graze in one pasture for a few days while the chickens—eating all the bugs and insects they could find—follow close by.

We visited former professional basketball player Will Allen on his 3-acre urban lot where he has become one of the most influential leaders of the food security and urban farming movement (I’ve never seen so many worms or dark, organic soil in my life). Here Allen runs Growing-Power, a not-for-profit that teaches and inspires many city-dwellers how start growing food sustainably.

There are more important players in this film too, including renowned author and educator Michael Pollan. And, of course, the cast wouldn’t be complete without some fat, happy hogs and families sitting down to a homegrown feast.

I’d recommend seeing Fresh if you get a chance—it’s energizing rather than depressing. There are some private screenings still around, but not in Chester County, unless you choose to host a showing on your own. If you do, let us know so we can let help spread the word.

If I could, I’d head out to Milwaukee and visit Allen’s farm and learn more about his organic farming techniques. I’d also bring home a handful of worms for my son who’s having trouble finding some in my compost. (In the movie Allen says he will give you all the worms you want.) Of course the worms would make my son happy–but just imagine what they’d do for my garden.