Just got done watching a feature on one of the off-digital channels. The feature is called "The Real Dirt on Farmer John." It is a feature about a movie about a Wisconsin Farmer by the name of John Peterson. His farm handed down to him from his hard-working father (whom bought the some 220 acres of land from poor sharecroppers during the depression).
It follows the life of John Peterson...from little boy helping his dad on the farm, after his father dies too soon, and through the turbulant 1960's (John became a "hippie farmer" going to Beloit college and turning his farm into a commune of sorts), during the terrible years of the 1980's where he lost everything...including most of his farm land.
It's a very tender portrait of a man caught in changing times... trying his best to eek out his life and his love for the land of his family. Very touching and amazing!
I found myself crying at how the "old timers" had tears in their eyes as they talk about the loss of the family farms and the "laying of the concrete in the ground..." the way the urban sprawl has taken away all the farmland they used to own.
One lady says it well: "They don't seem to really care about where their food is going to come from."
I highly suggest seeing it.... here is the site again:
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