Evolution of Organic: A Film and Discussion Coming to San Juan Grange

Thursday, March 22, 5:30 p.m., San Juan Grange

— from Glenn Hendrick for San Juan Grange —

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 22 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 p.m. 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 p.m. 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.

For more information on the film, and to see a preview, please visit evolutionoforganic.com/.