About Harvest » Stories

the Sweetness of Life

Nancy O'Mallon — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:30:05 +0000

Video presnented by: Gaining Ground

For more information visit: Grow Chattanooga.com

A Man Of The Soil

Nancy O'Mallon — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:56:32 +0000

This film depicts the passing of history. The legacy of the pioneer farmers, the men of the soil – time is catching up with them also. They are the last of this generation.

The barns depicted here, were built over 100 years ago from the surrounding forests, hand hewn, a piece of working art, never to be replaced.

Film by: Mark Brennan

Teach Pie

Nancy O'Mallon — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:50:20 +0000

The Pie Ranch apprenticeship program gives apprentices the skills needed to become the next generation of successful farmers.

Pie Ranch is an education farm whose mission it is to inspire and connect people to know the source of their food, and to work together to bring greater health to the food system from seed to table.

Pieranch.org
Video by: plusmproductions.com

Cooking with West Hill Primary School

Nancy O'Mallon — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:22:37 +0000

Every term Head Chef Matthew Mason does something different with the children of West Hill Primary to teach them more about food, freshness and seasonality.

Video by: Well Seasoned PR

Oyster Dredging (UNDERWATER)

Nancy O'Mallon — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:44:36 +0000

The documentary series “Willapa Bay Oysters” is exploring the world of oyster farming in Willapa Bay of Washington State, and recently Co-X Entertainment was able to capture images that most of the growers themselves have never seen…

When it comes time to transplant or harvest their “bottom-culture” oysters, the most common methods are to hand pick the oysters into baskets or tubs at low tide, OR at high tide to use a boat with hydraulic booms which raise and lower a “dredge” bag to the bottom of the bay where they collect the oysters.

Oyster growers are very aware of where the bulk of their oysters are on the oyster beds – since prior to “dredging,” they have very often scouted the beds at low tide and then return with the boat at high tide.

However, even though oystermen see the bag drop into the water and can feel the vibrations of when the bags are interacting with the ground beneath them AND even after calculated moves maneuvering around their beds which leads them to see the results of their labor as the bags resurface above water full of oysters (or not), there is always a step they do not get to see which is how the “dredge” bags are performing underwater.

So how do the oysters truly get into the “dredge” bags?

This video takes you underwater with a “GoPro HD Hero” camera so you can experience a whole new view of “oyster dredging” on Willapa Bay.

Video by: Co-X

Grandma’s Biscuits

Nancy O'Mallon — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:48:12 +0000

From the filmmaker: James Parrish

Around the time my wife Katie and I moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1997, I began working on a documentary film project about the Benson Sing, an annual Southern gospel singing in convention in my hometown of Benson, NC that began in 1921. This project grew out of my longtime interests in oral history, music, film, performance, and community. Visits home to work on the project gave me additional opportunities to visit my family.

On one visit home, at Sunday dinner at Grandma Peedins house, I casually asked Grandma Do you remember the first time you made biscuits? (Growing up, we went to Grandma Peedins house almost every Sunday after church, driving 30 minutes up I-95 from Benson to Micro, North Carolina, to visit and eat a huge Sunday dinner with two or three meat dishes, all kind of vegetables harvested from her garden, sweet tea, a couple of desserts and biscuits, always hot, homemade biscuits. From Sunday to Sunday, no matter what was on the table, the one constant was her biscuits.) A natural storyteller, Grandma smiled big and launched into a wonderful story about being 11 years old, the oldest of nine siblings, and being told by her father, a farmer, that she would have to learn how to make the biscuits because her mother was pregnant and soon wouldnt be able to make them.

After she finished I immediately asked her if I could come back one weekend to film her making biscuits and make an audio recording of her story. This is the result of two visits with Grandma to learn how to make those biscuits. (I still can’t make ‘em the way she did, but hey, she’d been making them for 66 years when I filmed her!) For those who want to know: I filmed her making biscuits on Super 8 film (yes, the old home movie format) without sound and recorded the story at a different time using a Tascam DA-P1 digital audiotape recorder and Shure SM57 microphone (she sat with her shoes off and legs curled up in a nice, comfy chair — I positioned the mic on a stand right in front of her).

Mumford Farms

Nancy O'Mallon — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:22:34 +0000

For more info visit: mumfordfarms.com

Notes from the “Mumford Farms” filmmaker:

My first audience for this film was my family – my dad, his five siblings and my fifteen cousins. I wanted the film to begin a conversation about the future of our farm to ensure that when my generation inherited the land, we knew about its history and could learn from the successes and mistakes of previous generations.

But I soon realized Mumford Farms was a story that many farming families could relate to. The average age of a farmer in America right now is 57. Clearly, the question of how we bring a younger generation back to the farms and back to rural America is an issue that many families and farming communities are struggling with.

I also discovered that Mumford Farms spoke to an urban audience as well. Many of those committed to creating a more sustainable future were interested in how food was grown. By revealing the family story behind a corn and soybeans farm, Mumford Farms gave these city-dwellers further insight into the complexities of reshaping our food system.

Over the last year, I’ve completed two film shoots in Indiana, and I am planning to return for a third trip this summer. With the footage from my first two shoots, I edited a 10-minute preview of Mumford Farms, which has screened at theAnthology Film Archives in NYC, the Stanford Alumni Film Festival, Big Vision Empty Wallet’s Earth Day screening, and the Northside Film Festival.

I am fundraising to help cover my next shoot, as well as for the funding I need to edit what I’ve shot into a full-length documentary film.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/492307614/mumford-farms

Terra Summer – Learning Through Food

Nancy O'Mallon — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:34:40 +0000

Chores

Nancy O'Mallon — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:59:38 +0000

Video by Blake Whitman

For more information visit bigpicturefarm.com

Serving Ourselves, Boston’s only organic farm

Nancy O'Mallon — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:54:13 +0000

Boston’s only organic farm produces nearly 30,000 pounds of high-quality food for more than 800 homeless people it serves each day in New England’s largest city. The 4-acre organic vegetable, flower and herb farm at Long Island Shelter also provides hands-on job training, work-readiness skills, life skills and education for homeless individuals as part of the Serving Ourselves Job Training Program.

There are several ways to support both Serving Ourselves Farm and its parent organization, Friends of Boston’s Homeless. For more information about how to donate or volunteer, visit the fobh.org or contact Farm Manager Erica LaFountain at elafountain@bphc.org or 617-534-2526, Extension 46107.