Raising $125,000 to shoot a pilot episode on urban agriculture in America

Food Forward goes beyond celebrity chefs, cooking competitions, and recipes to reveal the compelling stories and inspired solutions envisioned by food heroes across America who are striving to create a more just, sustainable and delicious alternative to what we eat and how we produce it.

Written by food journalist Stett Holbrook and produced by a veteran documentary film making team led by Greg Roden, Food Forward is a series of thirteen, 30-minute episodes exploring new ideas of food in America as told by the people who are living them.

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The view of the neighborhood from Novella Carpenter’s “Ghost Farm.” Credit: Jeremy Adam Smith

The Weeds of Ecotopia

By Jeremy Adam Smith
shareable.net
July 20, 2010

Excerpt:

Jeremy Adam Smith: Do you see Ecotopia as a vision that you’re working towards on your farm?

Novella Carpenter: No. The thing is, I’m not part of that. Because that was like my parents’ deal. They were utopians. They were gonna go and live back to the land and all this stuff and I think that’s kind of bullshit. My tendency is to react against that, is to not ever think there’s going to be Utopia. It’s sort of a pessimistic optimism, is what I call it. So, you’re like, “I want to do this thing but everything’s fucked up.” I mean, it’s like that’s what is awesome about Ecotopia, is that everything isn’t fucked up.

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Farmland celebration called Farmchella. It began at 5:45 a.m. with a native American blessing of the land.

Canadian author’s Book Blog features stories from her forthcoming book

Jennifer Cockrall-King is currently at work on a book on global movements in urban agriculture and urban food issues. Insatiable: How Forward-thinking Cities are Feeding Themselves Now and in the Future (working title) will be published by Prometheus Books in late 2011. Visit her website to read engaging stories about her visits to Paris, Cuba and LA doing urban agriculture research.

What became of the South Central Farmers of the Academy Award-nominated documentary, The Garden?

Excerpts from June 13, 2010 entry:

But that’s actually where the story of the South Central Farmers begins again. Many of the farmers have been finding land wherever they can to continue to grow food, create CSA farms and supply their old neighbourhoods with fresh, organic, fruits, veggies and nuts. Two years ago, the group got access to an 85-acre piece of farmland in Buttonwillow, CA.

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