The Biggest Little Farm, A Film About A Farm That Made Me Cry

On my long flight back to Singapore, I watched a movie called The Biggest Little Farm. It’s about a couple’s journey trying to create a farm that employs natural or regenerative farming. I highly recommend it.

Synopsis

Molly and John Chesters were city dwellers who left everything behind to manage a 200-acre farm. They chose a plot of land 40 miles north of Los Angeles to build their biggest little farm on. The soil was dry, crumbly and hard. It didn’t look promising at all, but it didn’t deter them.

They were single-minded about keeping everything natural – no pesticides and chemicals for the crops, no antibiotics and unsuitable foods for the animals. They only use natural fertilizers and compost.

Together with the help of Alan York, a soil, plant and biodynamic consultant, they created the Apricot Lane Farms with a huge variety of fruit trees and crops and pretty much all the farm animals one can think of. Alan knew that to build a farm with a well-balanced ecosystem, a great diversity of plants and animals is key.

However, for a land that has lost so much of its life over the years, reintroducing all these organisms wasn’t easy. Throughout the years, we watch as the couple encountered problems after problems. For each problem, they found natural ways to combat it, only to have a new problem arise. Eventually, things stabilized and the result is absolutely stunning.

The process was fascinating to watch, and John and Molly’s determination and efforts are very admirable.

Why you should watch it

This movie is more than just a story of how a couple created a successful farm from nothing. As the couple solved their problems on the farm, we get a glimpse of just how intelligent nature is and how little we know about it.

The actions of every animal help the farm in specific ways, and every pest has a natural predator to keep it in check. In nature, this is how healthy ecosystems maintain themselves and stay lush and biodiverse without the need for pesticides or herbicides, and this is what we see slowly happening at the farm.

It’s an important reminder of how out of touch our farming system is with nature.

By separating animals from crops and creating huge monocultural farms, we’ve destroyed the biodiversity in the area. Our current way of farming strips the soil of essential microorganisms and nutrients and leaves the land weakened and malnourished. Imagine this on a global scale. It’s a very depressing thought. Factory farming is even worse.

Through Biggest Little Farm, we see a hopeful demonstration of how we can reverse the damage we’ve inflicted on our environment. There is a better way to feed ourselves, we just have to learn from what has been done at Apricot Lane Farms.

Can you imagine a farm with so much life it looks like a nature reserve? That’s what Apricot Lane Farms reminded me of at end of the movie. Life returned to a once exhausted land, with the efforts of John and Molly and their fabulous team.

I was moved to tears when John held up a handful of dirt towards the end of the movie. The dirt was dark and moist and although I can’t see it, I know it’s brimming with life.

That lump of dirt represented so much for me. I felt sorrow for what we’ve lost because we didn’t know better, but there’s also hope for the future and a lot of reverence for nature. It’s absolutely beautiful and moving.

If you’d like to watch it, here’s the link to get it.

FYI, this is an affiliate link so if you decide to purchase the film through this link, I’ll get a little commission at no cost to you.

Have you watched this film? Would you like to watch it? If you’ve watched it, let me know what you think!