Evolution of Organic: A Film and Discussion

From film­mak­er Mark Kitchell (Berke­ley in the Six­ties, A Fierce Green Fire) comes a new film: Evo­lu­tion of Organ­ic. Nar­rat­ed by Frances McDor­mand, It’s the sto­ry of organ­ic agri­cul­ture, told by those who built the move­ment. A mot­ley crew of back-to- the-lan­ders, spir­i­tu­al seek­ers and farm­ers’ sons and daugh­ters reject chem­i­cal farm­ing and set out to explore organ­ic alternatives.

It’s a heart­felt jour­ney of change, from a small band of rebels to a cul­tur­al trans­for­ma­tion in the way we grow and eat food. By now organ­ic has gone main­stream, split into an indus­try ori­ent­ed toward bring­ing organ­ic to all peo­ple and a move­ment that has real­ized a vision of sus­tain­able agri­cul­ture. It’s the most pop­u­lar and suc­cess­ful out­growth of the envi­ron­men­tal impulse of the last fifty years.

Join us at the San Juan Island Grange Thurs­day, March 22nd for a screen­ing of this film, which is get­ting an enthu­si­as­tic recep­tion at fes­ti­vals! The evening will take place at the SJI Grange, 152 1st St, begin­ning at 5:30 PM with a potluck, fol­lowed by an intro­duc­to­ry dis­cus­sion of the evo­lu­tion of Organ­ic farm­ing in the San Juans fea­tur­ing tales of the ear­li­er days by such folks as Bruce Gre­go­ry and Colleen Howe-Gre­go­ry of Mitchell Bay Farm. The film will begin at 7:00pm. Please join us when you can, drop-ins are very welcome!

Mark Kitchell, Direc­tor, Pro­duc­er, and Writer of “Evo­lu­tion of Organ­ic,” is best known for “Berke­ley in the Six­ties,” which was nom­i­nat­ed for an Acad­e­my Award, won oth­er top hon­ors, and has become a well-loved clas­sic, one of the defin­ing doc­u­men­taries about the protest move­ments of the 1960s.

More recent­ly he made “A Fierce Green Fire,” which is a big-pic­ture syn­the­sis of envi­ron­men­tal activism span­ning fifty years from con­ser­va­tion to cli­mate change.

It too was a big suc­cess, cul­mi­nat­ing in nation­al broad­cast on Amer­i­can Mas­ters on Earth Day 2014. So “Evo­lu­tion of Organ­ic” is his third film about social change move­ments in America.

Bruce Gre­go­ry and Colleen Howe-Gre­go­ry oper­ate a small diverse cer­ti­fied organ­ic farm on San Juan Island, Mitchell Bay Farm, rais­ing lamb, fruit crops, hon­ey and var­i­ous oth­er crops.

Bruce also does farm and for­est resource plan­ning for the San Juan Islands Con­ser­va­tion Dis­trict. Colleen has been farm­ing on San Juan island since 1973.

“Evo­lu­tion of Organ­ic: A Film and Dis­cus­sion” is part of the Grange Lec­ture Series, which strives to fos­ter social and polit­i­cal engage­ment, dis­cus­sion, and to main­tain our his­tor­i­cal Hall as a home for cel­e­bra­tions and programs.

The San Juan Island Grange has been a com­mu­ni­ty of grow­ers, mak­ers, and keep­ers since 1931.

The Grange is non­par­ti­san, and so is this event. All are wel­come, includ­ing kids!

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.