Local farmer documentary on Omaha screens

October 29th, 2009 at 04:15pm Georgette Braun

The 2005 documentary, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” featuring John Peterson, owner of Angelic Organics in Caldeonia, will be presented Saturday and Tuesday at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater in Omaha, Neb.

The film is one of eight documentaries in the American Stories film series presented with the Nebraska Humanities Council and Federation of State Humanities Councils. It is part of a series presented with the 2009 National Humanities Conference in Omaha. The Illinois Humanities Council submitted the film for consideration.

From a story I wrote in April 2006: Peterson “embraced the ’60s and ’70s, and his friends flocked to the farm with all their flamboyant artistic expressions. Some neighbors thought he was wacky and wrongly believed worse, like he was a drug king and ritualistic killing was going on down on the farm.

“The farm debt crisis of the ’80s cost him all but 22 acres. He was depressed and went to Mexico to find himself. After his return, he started farming organically on the property and now owns and operates ecologically friendly Angelic Organics. It’s a Community Supported Agriculture farm in which about 1,200 consumers, mostly from the Chicago and Rockford areas, are invested in the expenses of producing food.”

Tell here in Comments what you like about going to Angelic Organics.

Jan. 19, 2006

Entry Filed under: films, movies