Month: June 2019

John and Molly Chester on their farm, and bad dog.

The Biggest Little Farm

Film review by Marlene Ardoin

This film is about a couple, John Chester and his wife Molly, who are idealistic environmental filmmakers, who decide to put their money where their mouths are.

As the film opens, they are newly married living in a rental home with an unruly dog, who is responsible for forcing them to make a change.

They film their journey of going from renters to the owners of their own farm, Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, California.

Their dream is to have an organic farm that produces all their own organic food, as well as extra to sell to others in their community.

The farm they purchase has dead soil and a dry reservoir, when they arrive.

And, they have zero experience in farming, let alone raising animals.

At the very beginning, their unruly dog is calling all the shots.

But, they are very determined idealists.

They decide to bring in experienced help, who turns out to have similar grandiose, idealistic leanings.

Their mentor’s favorite quote is “no time to do things right, but plenty of time to do things over.”

Watching this film is like watching a caterpillar transform into a gorgeous butterfly.

They do have enormous problems to overcome, which is what makes this film so fascinating.

They slowly, over a ten year period, proceed to develop a designer farm based on the philosophy of the interdependent diversity of nature.

For example, at one point they have an infestation of garden snails, which can mean death to organic produce.

They discovered that if they let their ducks loose on the problem, the problem would be history.

Another example, coyotes were picking off their free range chickens one to ten at a time.

Because this is an organic farm, we are shocked to see them struggle with the idea of shooting the coyotes.

Two Great Pyrenees puppies for the farm.

First, they get two Great Pyrenees puppies to guard their sheep.

Then, they assign one of the dogs to the chickens, end of problem.

The coyotes could now properly concentrate on the gopher problem.

And at this point, they discover that they needed more coyotes.

During the ten year farming period, the bees came back, the drought happened, the fires happened, and the floods happened in California.

But, the diversity setup of their farm handled each environmental event with ease.

John and Molly mature before the viewers eyes.

Character, strength and wisdom are developed with each and every problem.

The final reward is the birth of their own son.

And, the viewer gets to decide if small organic farming is the solution to the world’s food problems.

I would recommend seeing this film, just because their farm is “so damn pretty.”

The prettiest, biggest, little farm.

The biggest Little Farm Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Little_Farm

The Biggest Little Farm Official Trailer | Released April 5, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QHbYqz2ln8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nbU6Z5n6JI

Q&A for THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM with John & Molly Chester 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuVhi1BnRg8

John, Molly and their son on their farm.

6/25/2019 # The Biggest Little Farm

Ashley Bratcher (Abby Johnson) comforts young girls, who just had abortions in “Unplanned.”

UNPLANNED

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

I had no illusion that this film was propaganda for Pro Life, but it exposes the dirty little secrets of Planned Parenthood.

In the process, the film “Unplanned” reveals truths that even a Pro Choicer needs to know.

It tells the story of Abby Johnson, who had the distinction of being the youngest director of a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Johnson’s only qualifications appear to be that she volunteered and had two abortions at the clinic, prior to being hired.

After seeing “Unplanned”, I have come to the conclusion that Planned Parenthood should not be giving any abortions of any kind on their premises.

All abortions belong in a real hospital, in case there are any complications, like a perforated uterus, and especially if you are a teen too young to know what to do.

Planned Parenthood needs to do what they do best, which is counseling families on birth control with condoms, birth control pills and other methods.

They do not have the facility to perform medical procedures.

The film illustrates how greed seems to have replaced Planned Parenthood’s original non-profit goals.

“In their 2014 Annual Report, PPFA reported seeing over 2.5 million patients in over 4 million clinical visits and performing a total of nearly 9.5 million discrete services including 324,000 abortions.

Its combined annual revenue in US is $1.3 billion, including approximately $530 million in government funding such as Medicaid reimbursements.”

Abortions are Planned Parenthood’s bread and butter.

On the positive side, Planned Parenthood had a female director who was willing to give another woman a chance at a very high profile job.

Abby Johnson was being groomed for a management position, but she was seeing the gift through rose-colored glasses.

Abby eventually sees that something was rotten in Denmark. Innocent teens should not be sent home to abort alone with a few pills and ibuprofen.

This is cruelty. Rather, it should be done in a hospital with staff and compassionate attendants nearby.

As far as abortion goes, I still believe that sometimes it is necessary, but with reasonable limits imposed.

How does a 14 year old get pregnant in the first place? Some parents should be held to the fire.

Are they giving their children too much freedom, or not enough protection?

“Unplanned” is very graphic. In fact, some males can be seen running out of the theater, especially if they are guilty of taking advantage of a young girl’s innocence.

Criminalizing abortion is not the answer. Young girls in trouble are not murderers for getting an abortion.

Why should a rapist receive a lighter sentence than a young girl, who gets an abortion?

Society is the real culprit. We live in a society that preys upon young people sexually and financially.

This is a society that no longer makes having children a priority.

And to compound that, ninety-nine percent of young people cannot afford to have a family, let alone marry.

And, when did education get so expensive?

If a young person wants to better themselves, they are forced to start their lives with a ton of educational debt.

Marriage and having a family keep getting delayed longer and longer.

“Unplanned” shames and questions our values and priorities as a society.

See this film at your own risk. It is highly recommended for young men and women, who are just starting out in life.