On August 1, 2006, to raise awareness of local agriculture, The Food Project was lucky enough to show a film at The Somerville Theater called The Real Dirt On Farmer John. We had a very nice turn out. The movie was amazing. The Real Dirt On Farmer John is a touching tale about a man whose family had farmed on his farm for generations and his struggle to keep his career and sanity alive after losing everything he had ever known.

The crowd felt a deep sorrow watching as a farmer grieved over people pouring concrete over his farm to develop it into suburban houses, seeing the story of farmer John’s dying mother, and hearing the story about someone burning down a barn with an artist’s complete life work in it. The audience also felt a great feeling as he started to become successful. People drove over 100 miles just to buy food from his farm. Some of his customers even bought an additional piece of land for him to grow on. We feel that everyone who saw the film took something great away from it. The night was a success in raising the awareness of the importance of community-supported agriculture.