But the combination of technique and message is ultimately winning. "Young readers can learn how John and Molly tapped into nature to help solve one of the biggest problems on the farm.snails" VIEW MAGAZINE "A winning doc..with the kind of happy ending that . Recently, I have been thinking about The Biggest Little Farm (Apricot Lane Farms) alongside AppHarvest, the huge Dutch-designed indoor farm in eastern Kentucky. Madman Films 194K subscribers The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and their beloved dog when they make a choice that takes them out of their tiny L.A. apartment and into the. "The Biggest Little Farm" has won several awards at film festivals and will be in theaters this Friday. Life on the farm became increasingly abundant and . I'm Terry Gross. He felt having different types of plants was healthier for the farm. And that forced us to find a solution. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles . The sounds of the farm form the bulk of the auditory delight in The Biggest Little Farm and the accompanying English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track does the release absolute justice. Used to be a film critic, now writes about tech (mostly Apple), and sometimes woodworking. Neon By Andrew Amelinckx Take a broken-down 200-acre property that has been transformed into an incredibly lush and diverse biodynamic farm over eight years and capture it all on film and you get The Biggest Little Farm. And you buy a bull at auction. Used fencing 2. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, my guest will be journalist Rachel Louise Snyder, author of a new book about domestic violence, and Suzanne Dubus, who runs a crisis center for victims of domestic violence, including a program designed to identify when a woman is at risk of being murdered and help prevent that from happening. What were some of the ways they prevented coyotes from getting the chickens. In The Biggest Little Farm, filmmaker-entrepreneur John Chester captures the improbable story of how he and his wife Molly . Gopher Snakes Why did Allen want to have so many different varieties of plants at the farm? Hawks snatched up the gophers that had been mowing down the roots of young trees. Imagine what we could do with that. And they laid a lot of eggs, and you were able to sell those. Documentarian John Chester and his wife Molly work to develop a sustainable farm on 200 acres outside of Los Angeles. So the more we can look into the problem, it connects us to the . When one problem arises when, say, the farm is overrun by snails a solution is presented. And so I thought, there's got to be another way. Its tempting to think of Biggest Little Farm as the real-life equivalent of an epic pastoral storybook tale, but with the kind of happy ending that suggests a blueprint for saving the earth. Molly and John Chester took a massive leap when they decided to leave Los Angeles to start an organic farm. The Biggest Little Farm 4 Olivia 10 4 Huntington Woods MI Yes, about how hard owning a farm is. The Biggest Little Farm -- Overview John, a wildlife videographer, and Molly, a private chef, pack up their life in sunny Santa Monica, CA, embarking upon a grand adventure: to resurrect and transform a defunct 200-hundred acre monoculture farm a bit north of L.A. The best model for growing the church is not a mono-cultural-industrial farm. Used the big dogs as protection. The Disney+ Earth Day special "The Biggest Little Farm: The Return," from National Geographic, is based on the 2018 award-winning feature documentary film that tells the story of John and Molly Chester, who abandon their urban life in Los Angeles to live on a barren farm to grow delicious food in harmony with nature in Ventura County. Why did Allen want to have so many different varieties of plants at the farm? In just one season, 30 ducks ate 100,000 snails that returned nutrients to the soil. It's not the job of a farm to feed the world. . Directed by John Chester. It's the job of a farm to feed its community, and the loss of just that understanding is how we got here. And while, you know, its advocates for change do see some signs of hope, it can be pretty dispiriting. Her name was Rosie, and Rosie became the guardian dog of our flock. That's probably going to give us the best chance at a change. This documentary film traces the challenges John and Molly Chester faced over eight years in establishing what would become Apricot Lane Farms, now a thriving and absolutely gorgeous property set among the rolling hills of Ventura County. And so it really required a commitment to go a lot deeper than we thought we were going to have to go. 1. Spurred by the notion of reviving a long-neglected form of agriculture, they purchased 200 acres of soil-dead land north of Los Angeles. The soil was dead, and the ground was as hard as a rock. 2018Rating: Exempt92 minsUSA. Green grasses flourished. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. The problem is, how the hell did it actually work? The Biggest Little Farm [Official Trailer] The couple, John and Molly Chester, had been living in Santa Monica doing very LA-ish jobs. The new documentary about their farm, which John directed, is called "The Biggest Little Farm." NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. GROSS: John and Molly Chester spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. The problem is Todd is traumatized and won't stop barking whenever the couple leave the house. We've deforested 46% of the trees. But the Chesters believe sustainable farming practices are interconnected with growing diverse, nutrient-rich food which in turn supports healthier lifestyle practices. . "The Biggest Little Farm" has won several awards at film festivals and will be in theaters this Friday. I hope you'll join us. The Huffington Compost The Biggest Little Farm. But it had been extractive-ly (ph) farmed for 45 years; meaning that in order to grow the food cheaply, they were taking out the nutrients from the soil and not generating them. Give us an idea of some of the early advice he gave you, some of the first things he said you should do. You brought animals. Why Breakout Documentary 'The Biggest Little Farm' Didn't Sell to Netflix, from Poop to Nuts. more. The Biggest Little Farm spans eight years as a married Los Angeles couple cinematographer John Chester and private chef and culinary. Sure. Every Farm and Organization Needs a Community Vision and Mission. I think that charge of a farm to feed the world, you know, comes, like, from post-World War II. The documentary The Biggest Little Farm is about a couple who experienced just that. J CHESTER: In shooting the one coyote, the thing that was weighing on me the most was that I knew this wasn't the only coyote. And it is just absorbing to watch. Our associate producer of digital media is Molly Seavy-Nesper. But it's amazing what happens when you start to think your happiness is in front of you with something. Fortunately, they weren't. Our next guests, John and Molly Chester, are a couple who did just that; they left their home in Los Angeles and started an organic farm. I mean, gophers in small quantities can be good. It expands across Canada on Friday, May 24. The Biggest Little Farm . And then that kind of changes the mix of what's happening. What were you thinking then? A guide to midterm election guides, L.A. city controller race voter guide: Paul Koretz vs. Kenneth Mejia, Your guide to L.A. Community College District Board of Trustees candidates, Endorsement: Retain Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Supreme Court and appeals justices, How Everything Everywhere explores the dimensions of love, With a comeback like no other, Ke Huy Quan can again embrace his dream of acting, The Academy has found its next Oscar host. How was bird population that was eating the fruit trees controlled. the ewes and the lambs. . Topsoil is. THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM . With the help of eccentric biodynamic expert Alan York, cultivated investors, young hirees drawn to the Chesters mission, and old hands from the area, they embarked on turning it into a diverse, nutrient-rich farm capable of growing anything and everything. The worms provided valuable nutrients for the farm. ), at which point patient human observation (ducks eat snails!) Want to read the . And we had to figure out a way to jumpstart that flywheel system of the soil through these regenerative practices. J CHESTER: You know, we grew cover crops. So it was going to be an endless battle of constantly killing coyotes, and I think that's the thing that scared me the most - was that it felt like an incredibly slippery slope. So is The Biggest Little Farm a rousing story . Lamb becomes bloated and has a baby they have to find a. What were you feeling emotionally? The introduction of a rescue dog into their lives its barks turning them into unpopular neighbors triggers an urge to forgo urban living completely and kickstart their longstanding dream of owning a farm. It was chasing rabbits. And you bring chickens. The film premiered on September 1, 2018 at the Telluride Film Festival. DAVIES: Molly Chester, John Chester, thank you so much for spending some time with us. (Ducks eat snails!) So we started to put - we spent probably 600 bucks, 700 bucks on barn owl boxes. You can imagine Farmer Hoggett from Babe looking kindly on this movies hardworking couple and muttering, Thatll do, Chesters. What is the problem with cover crops that help to rebuild the soil? This movie can be streamed on Hulu . I mean, the muse, the Merlin, the - you know, the - this guy Alan York, who's - was an adviser to the project. The Biggest Little Farm. There is ebb and flow and chaos and order and highs and lows. Also tech, gardening, and DIY stuff. But when I asked, why is this coyote in the garden? John's new documentary tells the story of their struggles and successes. All rights reserved. We've doubled CO2 from 260 to 400 parts per million. A few pertinent questions are answered; natural solutions to certain problems (ducks will eat the pestilent snails!) We will talk some more after a short break. The Biggest Little Farm, released this spring in theatres, tells the story of Molly and John Chester and their journey building Apricot Lane Farm, the "most biodiverse farm in the country.". Director: John Chester. Molly Chester's vision to run a traditional foods farm was rooted in her training . Everybody, from the investor to worker, were stakeholders motivated by something deeper and more meaningful than the hard work on a farm. He had been a cameraman and director on various TV shows, and she was a private chef for one-percenters. DAVIES: And then you found a way that the coyotes became helpful. The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and their beloved dog when they make a choice that takes them from their tiny L.A. apartment and into the countryside to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature. - 23913539 And I think it's a really important moment in the film because there's something that happens after that that has a profound effect on the way I look at the coyote's role. John Chester, who was a filmmaker before he tried farming, directed a new documentary called "The Biggest Little Farm," about the obstacles he and Molly, a former private chef, faced and overcame and what their experiences can tell us about the relationship between humans and our environment. And we've done all of that unconsciously. Used the big dogs as protection How was the gopher population brought under control? He's trapped trying to get through a fence, and we can see you level the - looks like a shotgun. This is FRESH AIR. DAVIES: So somehow you managed to find investors and put this thing together and buy a couple hundred acres north of Los Angeles. The Chesters' journey is documented in Nat Geo's "The Biggest Little Farm: The Return," now on Disney+. It sometimes doesn't require as much effort as you think. It had its second screening at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where it . I mean, I don't know if you think about it on these terms, but it this a way to feed the planet and change the way we grow food and eat it? are a joy to behold. It begins opening in theaters Friday. 1. However, making three popular short films about farm animals for Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Shorts the Daytime Emmy-winning "Saving Emma," "Worry for Maggie," and "The Orphan" lured him back.. Watching the Chesters fight past disillusionment to learn the real lessons of harvesting in communion with nature is what gives the movie its rousing, illuminating power. I mean, you bring ducks. And I should just say, for the audience - I mean, this is just a beautifully photographed film. Now, the family returns in a new specialwith a cookbook slated for later this year. Few things have sent up our food-conscious era quite so accurately (or affectionately) as that first-season Portlandia sketch in which a restaurant waiter is given the third degree by concerned patrons over the bona fides of the menus locally raised chicken. 2 yr. ago. But once the Chesters get settled in and realize just how many moving pieces there are on even a small farm, the movie starts to feel more grounded and transparent. tomatoes. Theres been no shortage of activist screeds leading us through the evils, usually corporate in nature, that contaminate our food supply, be it animal treatment, use of chemicals, government policy that cripples small farmers, or the ravages caused by man-made climate change. Online Gardening School Affiliate Program, Using fabric row cover as a pest protection, Organic method for controlling fruit flies, Using Bird Netting to protect your crops from birds, A Miner Problem Dealing with Leaf Miners in your garden, A Garden Hack How to make your bird netting glide, https://homegrown-adventuresinmygarden.blogspot.ca/2014/05/sowing-more-spinach-my-carrot-saga.html, https://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/haloxyfop-methylparathion/metaldehyde-ext.html, https://blogs.extension.org/gardenprofessors/2012/05/10/upon-further-reviewiron-phosphate-for-slugs-and-snails/, 5 Methods for Solving a Snail Problem iSeeiDoiMake, Growing your own Lettuce - Our Stoney Acres. I'd ask them, who owned the land before they did? While still dealing with the snails, what is the next problem they need to face from Mother Nature? Harry Potter: Who Each Main Character Should Have Ended Up With, Irreducible, Irreplaceable, and Non-Repeatable: DFF42 Day 5, Criterion Reminds Us Exactly Why BULL DURHAM Really is a Classic. 4.8. When they find the orphan lamb, they decide they will bottle feed it or see if it can work it out on its own. Covering the intersection of movies, politics, and current events. John Chester, who was a filmmaker before he tried farming, directed a new documentary called "The Biggest Little Farm," about the obstacles he and Molly, a former private chef, faced and. J CHESTER: Well, the coyotes ate about 350 of our chickens. Pretty neat. Summaries. (20) $2.00. I was going to have to obliterate every coyote that crossed our path. THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM: Apricot Lane Farms, Moorpark, California "It's so good for surrender, for (people with) control personalities," Molly told LA TIMES reporter Bonnie McCarthey. Start studying The Biggest Little Farm Quiz 2. (Its not some guy on a yacht in Miami saying hes organic?) But the truth is, once you absorb back-to-the-earth porn as lovingly crafted as The Biggest Little Farm, you might just turn into one of those market gadflies who wants nothing but the most authentic story behind that dewy stone fruit or mocha brown egg. But what we've lost are - we've lost the connection to the lore. The cover crops helped to hold in the moisture? The Biggest Little Farm packs into a generous 91 minutes, almost eight years of painstakingly captured documentary footage at the farm. Zip. And, knock on wood, we've not lost any chickens since then. They brought in the ducks to eat the snails. What was the role of cover crops on the farm? A testament to the immense complexity of nature, The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and a dog on an odyssey to bring harmony to both their lives and the land. This documentary tells the story of two newbie farmers and their rescue dog as they leave Los Angeles behind to build a farm that will work in harmony with nature in Moorpark, California. DAVIES: Right. It just shields all of the realities. John's a cinematographer working in Hollywood, while Molly's interested in cooking. What were some of the ways they prevented coyotes from getting the chickens. No Looking at the baby animals The parts where animals died, except when the ducks ate the snails. And there's a guy who's sort of at the heart of this story. Enter Molly and John Chester, the couple behind the Biggest Little Farm, a Hulu documentary that chronicles how they brought new life to a dead farm using regenerative agriculture techniques.. We're speaking with Molly and John Chester, whose seven-year effort to clear land and create a 200-acre organic farm is the subject of the new documentary "The Biggest Little Farm." From more obvious problems such as resurrecting dead soil, to coyotes killing their chickens and even more unforeseen issues like a snail infestation. 91 % Rotten. While you were still struggling to get the fruit crops going, you were - you had a lot of chickens. J CHESTER: I think the other way to ask that question is, if we don't start working with our land in a more regenerative way, can the planet feed us? And they eat the roots of the tree and kill them, right? The Biggest Little Farm: Trailer 1. The coyote also happens to eat gophers and rabbits, another pest on the farm. Copyright 2019 NPR. "It's a bit of a zen practice." The 30 . Problem: The snails were eating the crops at the farm. Documentary Independent Synopsis The Biggest Little Farm chronicles the eight-year quest of John and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Our goal is to feed, you know, the area around us. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Curing and Storing Onions for 10 months or more! Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. The Biggest Little Farm [Official Trailer] Watch on Not only does this documentary reveal the guts it takes to be a farmer, but it also brings to life NRDC's vision for a healthy,. Documentarian John Chester and his wife Molly work to develop a sustainable farm on 200 acres outside of Los Angeles. What Do John Waters and Ubuntu Philosophy Have In Common? This is FRESH AIR. . The Biggest Little Farm is an example of the critical partnership between food production and nature being reasserted and reestablished. all together in 16, and that's just one pasture. The Biggest Little Farm will make anyone want to rush out and thank a farmer for all their hard work as soon as the credits are done rolling. narration, and the many lyrical images of the Chesters and their employee backlit by honeyed sunlight, are all a bit much at times: more selling than telling. "The Biggest Little Farm" is a documentary in which a married couple with successful careers chucks it all to start a traditional-foods farm, an idea that sounds so annoyingly precious it. I mean, not - our way specifically is not the way for every farm, but there's farms that are working in a regenerative way that are economically sustainable - absolutely. And now DAVIES: That the coyotes can't get the chickens, it goes for the gophers, which is a big help to you. The snails love cover crop. It's not looking at the whole system. When the barking of their beloved dog Todd leads . J CHESTER: We thought it was beautiful at the time. And yes, is it economically possible? And the challenges they faced were many. And we're speaking with John and Molly Chester, whose remarkable effort to create a 200-acre biodynamic farm battling droughts, pests and fire is the subject of the new documentary directed by John called "The Biggest Little Farm.". They thought big, reviving an irrigation pond, building a worm compost facility, setting up a multi-fruit orchard, and bringing in a pregnant sow named Emma the movies marquee animal star whose litter they expected to be six but that turned out to be 17. A Sun should be the golden standard for slow-burn dramas. The ducks were moved into the orchards where there was a massive snail problem - the snails were attacking the trees. Playing: Starts May 10, Arclight Hollywood; the Landmark, West L.A. Get our L.A. Life on the Biggest Little Farm: behind the scenes of a biodynamic blockbuster . The Biggest Little Farm; Short Films; Press; See the Movie. How was the gopher population brought under control? More. And so he was looking at - what do we need to take out, to put in what should more naturally grow in this region? Did either of you have any experience farming? And then there's a fourth one. A notable amount of stunning nature footagelike a window into an oft' hidden worldis punctuated by a masterfully written script that perfectly highlights the sorts of lessons one can get from living mindfully. JOHN CHESTER: I grew up - in my 20s, I worked on a couple of family farms, but they were, you know, industrial, sort of commercial monocrop operations, growing corn and soy for, essentially, Perdue chickens, but no understanding of soil or the importance of biodiversity or how the whole ecosystem went together; in fact, it was all about suppressing, you know, the ecosystem and controlling it and fighting it. 10. Powered by Mai Theme, Growing Tomato Heaven!! The chicken coop in The Biggest Little Farm When 18 inches of rain comes after a long dry spell, over 100 million gallons of water are sequestered in the Chesters' irrigation system. What did they do to control the snail population? Firstly, birds steal the fruit, then snails devour the life-giving leaves and gophers gobbled up the roots of the trees. Nature is - they're simple opportunists, and you just need to make it slightly harder on one side so that they go the other direction. DAVIES: You had all kinds of problems with pests helping themselves to the crops that you were raising, including these delicious, you know, fruit trees that you had - among them gophers, which were attracted by the cover soil that you'd put there, which holds nutrients and holds water. John and Caya the sheepherder dog in "The Biggest Little Farm." (Neon/LD Entertainment) But It's Never Perfect for Humans. Molly and John Chester spoke with FRESH AIR's Dave Davies. And we finally found one of our guardian dogs didn't eat chickens. Organic church growth in the household of faith has much more in common with the traditional family farm than it has with the highly programmed institutional church that services religious consumers. And we've stopped innovating, you know. as John and Molly reckon with droughts, predatory coyotes, invasive snails, and toxic algae blooming in their pond. 10 reviews. and returns the farm to fertile glory. She had come out with a cookbook, Back to Butter , and really believed that the quality of food depended . And no, its not Chris Rock, At Art + Film gala, LACMA celebrates coming unstuck, with new building 50% done, Review: The Novelists Film is another exquisite tale of cinema from Hong Sang-soo. . And we grew cover crop, and we created the worst gopher problem in probably Ventura County. (Every environmental doc, after all, is inherently a food doc.). Thats why Biggest Little Farm, with its lush tour of transformed land and photogenic fauna, is so appealing as a chronicle of dedicated do-gooders who actually did good (and shot every frame of it). Both deeply personal and remarkably objective, "The Biggest Little Farm" offers a firsthand account of the ups and downs of married duo John and Molly Chester's trial-and-error attempt to start a. But you bring animals. So we tried to fight the gopher problem with manpower, you know, and spent, you know, thousands and thousands of dollars trapping gophers. And I think this film is as inspirational as that can be discouraging, in a way. However, it doesn't mention God as the Creator. The Biggest Little Farm is a 2018 American documentary film, directed by John Chester. And looking back, it totally was a desert. J CHESTER: The only one. . THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM, a documentary, follows a couple, John and Molly Chester, who live in a little condo in Santa Monica. And it felt so magical at that time. They're tilling your soil. Hawks and Eagles started to hunt the birds. So we were really creating new problems with every solution. An organic, biodiverse farm based upon regenerative principles, thriving in harmony with nature. that's up that way. Problem: There were dogs in a hoarding situation (over 200 dogs) Solution: The couple adopted . They helped prevent erosion, retained water, and improved the soils. 5 methods for dealing with a Snail Problem Non-organic chemical snail baits Hand picking Removing cover Beer/Lemonade traps Organic Snail baits So let's chat about each method for snail control: Conventional Snail Baits The first and probably most common method is using commercial slug/snail baits. Early optimism quickly gave way to the vicissitudes of depending on Mother Nature, and it's at this point that "Biggest Little Farm" reaps its real rewards.
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