By Create From Scratch Staff
The Organic Life, a film created by Casey Beck, chronicles a year in the life of Beck’s husband: organic farmer, Austin Blair. Blair works with Paul Wirtz on the Paul’s Produce 15-acre farm in Sonoma, CA. The film starts off by saying it is a story of love for the earth- and it is just that.
The Organic Life, a film created by Casey Beck, chronicles a year in the life of Beck’s husband: organic farmer, Austin Blair. Blair works with Paul Wirtz on the Paul’s Produce 15-acre farm in Sonoma, CA. The film starts off by saying it is a story of love for the earth- and it is just that.
Throughout the film, we are taken through the different seasons on a living, breathing farm.
It’s no secret that organic fruit and vegetables are more expensive. Beck and Blair discuss why this is how it should be so. For many, it can be hard to justify buying a tomato at the farmer’s market for more than double what you would spend at a grocery store. The problem is that we are being told that the tomato that was picked before it was ripe and was transported cross-country is equal to the tomato that was picked within a couple of days less than 50 miles away (or so). It turns out that all tomatoes are not created equally.
Blair describes these as ‘seemingly similar’ products. Tomatoes are a good example because Big Ag has figured out how to make perfect looking tomatoes- however, these are grown for travel and the taste is incomparable to a fresh tomato from a local farm.
Another point of the film comes in a very simple comment from Beck while she and Blair are out picking tomatoes. Beck asks her husband: “How do you know if they are ripe?” I wouldn’t really know the answer either but that question hit me as something we should all know. But this is not common knowledge to most Americans anymore. Farm life may seem simple (not easy, but simple), but the knowledge Blair is learning is invaluable. Austin Blair realizes what many 30-somethings have forgotten: the importance of culture and tradition.
We know that no one is getting rich growing vegetables. But how amazing is it that Austin Blair can grow corn from a seed, mill the corn and make tortillas to eat along with his fresh eggs and veggies from his backyard?
Casey Beck says "the goal of the movie is not necessarily to change people’s minds. Food Inc. did a great job with that goal." Instead, Beck’s mission for the film was for people to realize that there is a person growing your food.
Casey Beck asks us to think of some simple questions:
Where does your food come from?
What is the value that went into making your food?
Every single organic carrot and lettuce head has been grown, by a person, with care and thought.
It’s no secret that organic fruit and vegetables are more expensive. Beck and Blair discuss why this is how it should be so. For many, it can be hard to justify buying a tomato at the farmer’s market for more than double what you would spend at a grocery store. The problem is that we are being told that the tomato that was picked before it was ripe and was transported cross-country is equal to the tomato that was picked within a couple of days less than 50 miles away (or so). It turns out that all tomatoes are not created equally.
Blair describes these as ‘seemingly similar’ products. Tomatoes are a good example because Big Ag has figured out how to make perfect looking tomatoes- however, these are grown for travel and the taste is incomparable to a fresh tomato from a local farm.
Another point of the film comes in a very simple comment from Beck while she and Blair are out picking tomatoes. Beck asks her husband: “How do you know if they are ripe?” I wouldn’t really know the answer either but that question hit me as something we should all know. But this is not common knowledge to most Americans anymore. Farm life may seem simple (not easy, but simple), but the knowledge Blair is learning is invaluable. Austin Blair realizes what many 30-somethings have forgotten: the importance of culture and tradition.
We know that no one is getting rich growing vegetables. But how amazing is it that Austin Blair can grow corn from a seed, mill the corn and make tortillas to eat along with his fresh eggs and veggies from his backyard?
Casey Beck says "the goal of the movie is not necessarily to change people’s minds. Food Inc. did a great job with that goal." Instead, Beck’s mission for the film was for people to realize that there is a person growing your food.
Casey Beck asks us to think of some simple questions:
Where does your food come from?
What is the value that went into making your food?
Every single organic carrot and lettuce head has been grown, by a person, with care and thought.