(Find GOOD FOOD on Facebook here. )
This film focuses on numerous farmers and ranchers from the state of Washington and is excellent and optimistic about the future.
If you saw it last spring you'll remember Hilario and his peppers (and peanuts!), Doc and Connie Hatfield of Oregon Country Beef, lifelong farmer Billy Allstot and Stephanie Blackstead showing off their innovative greenhouse in Tonasket, WA, and
- Brooke and Sam Lucy of Bluebird Grain Farms in the Methow Valley who plant, harvest and sell organic grain on land they have recovered from years of disuse.
- The Hatfields, family ranchers in eastern Oregon who founded Country Natural Beef, who who show how proper grazing of cattle can actually improve the environment.
- Hilario Alvarez, who came to the U.S. as a farm worker decades ago, showing off the innumerable varieties of colorful peppers that brighten his fields and farmers markets.
- George and Eiko Vojkovich of Skagit River Ranch and their daughter who raise chickens, pigs and beef. (the ranch is a member of the Island Grown Farmer's Cooperative - Look in our own San Juan Community Co Op freezer for their pork, bacon and sausages).
- Seth Caswell, chef of Emmer & Rye in Seattle, who sources from individual farmers.
- Burgerville, a successful family oriented Oregon and Washington burger chain which sources locally, is committed to fair labor practices, and offers grass fed beef and seasonal shakes.
"Good Food picks up where Broken Limbs andThe Omnivore's Dilemma leave off: with a vision as to how small farmers are already transforming the American diet as well as rural regions of America. Using case studies from Washington and Oregon, the film shows that real, local, fairly produced food is not a hope or a dream, but a reality...I used the film in my Food and the Environment class at the University of Washington and the students loved it...It may even propel some viewers to consider a career in agriculture, an unthinkable prospect for more than a generation."Michael Kucher, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies, University ofWashington
Also, Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young's production company Moving Images is co-sponsoring the following workshop:
Farm Bill Workshop & Kick-off the formation of the Seattle Farm Bill Action Group!
Sunday August 8, 4-6:30 pm
Guest speakers Ben Burkett and John Fawcett-Long will help participants understand the basics of the Farm Bill, its impacts on farmers, communities and consumers in WA state, and the struggles to improve the Farm Bill in 2008, including what lessons we can learn from these past efforts to be more effective in 2012.
About the speakers: Ben Burkett is a 4th generation Mississippi Farmer, President of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the National Family Farm Coalition, and involved in the international movement of farmers and farmworkers, La Via Campesina.
John Fawcett-Long has been a long-time advocate organizer for a sustainable and justice food and farming system. He was raised on a farm in southwestern Minnesota and moved to Seattle in the mid-80s, working as Director of the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and on the Steering Committee of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. He's co-founder of the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network. John served as a key grassroots food and farming organizer in 1999 re: World Trade Organization's meetings in Seattle.
Free!
Potluck following- please bring something to share if you are able!
Location: New Hope Baptist Church
116 21st Ave. - between Fir & Yesler in the Central District of Seattle
FOR A CLIP OF GOOD FOOD, GO HERE.
