Biggest Little Farm – Documentary on Traditional_Regenerative Farming (1)

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Northern Virginia Community College *

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Anthropology

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Jan 9, 2024

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Analia Sanchez, Michael Wagner, John Martinez, Marco Zarate Biggest Little Farm – Documentary on Traditional/Regenerative Farming Background 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. When the barking of their beloved dog Todd leads to an eviction notice from their tiny LA apartment, John and Molly Chester make a choice that takes them out of the city and onto 200 acres in the foothills of Ventura County, naively endeavoring to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature. The land they’ve chosen, however, is utterly depleted of nutrients and suffering from a brutal drought. The film chronicles eight years of daunting work and outsize idealism as they attempt to create the utopia they seek, planting 10,000 orchard trees and over 200 different crops, and bringing in animals of every kind– including an unforgettable pig named Emma and her best friend, Greasy the rooster. When the farm’s ecosystem finally begins to reawaken, so does the Chesters’ hope – but as their plan to create perfect harmony takes a series of wild turns, they realize that to survive they will have to reach a far greater understanding of the intricacies and wisdom of nature, and of life itself. Apricot Lane Farms is a traditional foods farm started by John and Molly Chester, a husband and wife team, who left their jobs in Los Angeles to become farmers and pursue their dream vision of starting Apricot Lane Farms in 2011. Located 40 miles north of Los Angeles, the farm is dedicated to the mission of creating a well-balanced ecosystem and rich soils that produce nutrient-dense foods while treating the environment and the animals with respect. Apricot Lane farm residents include pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, guinea hens, horses, highland cattle, and one brown Swiss dairy cow named “Maggie.” Many of which, you will meet in the Biggest Little Farm. The land consists of Biodynamic Certified avocado and lemon orchards, a vegetable garden, pastures, and over 75 varieties of stone fruit. Biggest Little Farm Worksheet Questions NAME(S): __ _______________________________________________________ 1. How does the farm change from the beginning to the end of the film? When they purchased that piece of land was very dry, degraded, and with a lack of soil and vegetation. In the end, the farm changed a lot The transformation is very evident the soil quality improved. There were a lot of animals and insects that got attracted of because the healthy ecosystem that they built and took care of for many years.

2. What are some of the challenges Molly and John faced as they were building their farm? Some of the challenges were that Molly and John didn't have any experience in farming so learning how to manage that was hard for them. The land that they purchased was dry and degraded, so they had to start from zero to rehabilitate the soil to have healthy plant growth on the farm. Another factor that was a challenge for them was water scarcity, they had to implement an effective water management system that could help the plant growth, etc. Good examples are how snails were eating leaves or birds pecking a fruit. For pest control, Molly and John had to find resources without chemicals to control these. 3. In what ways did nature impede Molly and John’s plan to build a self-sustaining farm? predators and pests, the farm also experienced heavy rains, and maintaining healthy soil was a challenge because of the erosion, etc. 4. Describe some of the ways the farm’s animals, plants, and insects coexisted positively. How did everything work together as a functioning ecosystem? a good example is that animals like chickens, and pigs contributed to the fertility of the soil, and also helped with the pest population because they were eating insects that could damage crops. The farm’s animals, insects, etc. coexisted to make a balance and create an ecosystem that could be sustainable.

5. The film documents the lives of many different animals who live or lived on the farm. Which animals did you find the most interesting? Why? What questions do you have about them? The pigs because they can be so smart because they are an important element for the farm. The question that I have is if pigs are smarter than dogs, and how good are they to connect with other animals? 6. Apricot Lane Farm survived a very big fire, but many neighboring farms did not. What unique features of their farm made their survival possible? the water resources, defensible spaces, and animal grazing management. 7. Would you want to live or work on a farm? Why or why not? I think in my opinion I would like to have a farm when I’m old because I think that would be the way that I get distracted myself, but at the same time is something that I wouldn’t give my full time to dedicate to, so probably I wouldn’t live but I would work some times on it like in my time off or vacation time. 8. What question(s) did you have that the film did not answer and you would like to ask Molly and John?

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At some point, did you not give up when you realized that it was not easy to keep the farm and everything without chemicals and do everything naturally?

Biggest Little Farm – Documentary on Traditional_Regenerative Farming (1)

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