I finally got around to watching The Real Dirt on Farmer John a couple of weeks ago, which I've been meaning to do since about 2005. It seems to be the documentary of choice among organic foodies. It's about a man in Northern Illinois who attempts to run the family farm after his father dies. Farmer John differs from his father because he goes to college and meets some freethinkers in the '70s, which sparks his interest in community based agriculture and organic farming. He goes into debt like most Midwestern farmers during the farm crisis of the '80s and quits farming a couple of times throughout the film. It's interesting that so much of his life is recorded. His mom started taping when he was young and he kept it up which led to a pretty complete story.
The essence of the film is that Farmer John lives a double life. He's a dedicated farmer who runs one of the most successful community supported agriculture (CSA) programs in America, but he also writes, films, acts, supports artists, and apparently likes to play dress up.
This definitely separates him from his more conservative farmer neighbors who think he is a satan-worshipper. Overall, the film is more of an homage to his awesome mother than anything. It provides a good introduction to how CSA works and I guess the moral is that it's okay to be different, although that sounds really cheesy. (Organic cheesy.)
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