The Biggest Little Farm Screening and Q&A with Farmer John Chester

Thank you so much for participating in The Biggest Little Farm Film Screening presented by the City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment and Sustainable Works.

We had an amazing online Q&A with Emmy-winning director John Chester who has been a filmmaker and television director for the last 25 years. His latest project The Biggest Little Farm, is a feature-length film that chronicles the epic 8-year story of Apricot Lane Farms, the regenerative farm he and his wife Molly started in 2011. The Q&A was led by Laura Avery, retired Santa Monica Farmers Market Supervisor and Soil Health Advocate. Over 600 viewers tuned in to watch the virtual screening and 153 people tuned in to the Q&A and left chat comments such as “Beautiful movie, touching. Just what we all needed.”  and “The story was incredibly powerful, but the storytelling was uniquely beautiful as well. What an incredible piece of art.” 

As always, our goal is to educate and follow that education up with action. Here are the action items we offered at the film screening. Please make a commitment to do something and share it with us; Post on Sustainable Works Facebook Wall, Tweet with our handle @sustainablework, connect at #sustainablesm or send us an email gina.garcia@sustainableworks.org

Take Action
1. Inspire others, share the message and lessons of The Biggest Little Farm with others
2. Visit a working farm to learn more about farming practices and traditions that are essential in helping us understand the food choices we make and how we fit into the natural ecosystem, Apricot Farms offers tours (when it becomes safe to do so)
3. Take it a step further and learn to farm! Get your hands dirty and learn from farmers who are working with the land in a way that inspires you. You can volunteer at farms all over the world through the organization Worldwide Opportunities in Organic Farming (WWOOF).
4. Support local farmers by shopping at local farmer’s markets https://www.smgov.net/portals/farmersmarket/
5. Compost! It’s a way to cycle nutrients back into the soil, instead of throwing them into the trash and filling up our landfills. https://www.smgov.net/Departments/PublicWorks/ContentRecycling.aspx?id=16222
6. Learn about Regenerative agriculture, it improves the land and resources agriculture uses, rather than destroying the land or depleting the resources. The Rodale Institute, or Kiss the Ground.
7. Write to my legislators to get a better Farm Bill and to support small farmers rather than industrial agriculture.

Connect with Apricot Lane Farms