"Growing Legacy"
DOCUMENTARY OVERVIEW:
Running time: 30 minutes
Language: English
Format: HD
Writer & Director: Caroline Taylor
Producers: Evergreen Productions & MCA
Music By: Al Petteway and Amy White
Funding: Charitable Foundations, Crowd Sourcing, County and State Funds, MCA Members
CONTACTS:
Caroline Taylor, Executive Director, Montgomery Countryside Alliance
info@mocoalliance.org
301-461-9831
Pat Ratkowski, Owner, Evergreen Productions
Pat@evgp.net
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Travel in time to the past and future of farming. A short trip from the White House but a world away sits the US’s most successful farm protection effort; the glorious and largely unknown Agricultural Reserve of Montgomery County Maryland. It’s a rare pastoral landscape where visionaries said “No” to sprawl & “Yes” to protecting farms, open spaces, and a fast disappearing way of life. Visit this gem in the short film Growing Legacy. Since we preserve what we love, come with us and fall in love.
LONG SYNOPSIS:
The US's most successful farm protection effort is 20 miles from the White House. This short film profiles the challenges of growing food and cities in harmony, and features some of the stakeholders - including policy makers, farmers, advocates & consumers.
What gave rise to Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve, which encompasses fully 1/3rd of the county’s land? In the early 1980’s, planners in busy Montgomery County, Maryland had a common problem; small family farms were being wiped from the map as the DC suburbs sprawled ever outward. The bold action they took in response has protected 93,000 acres of farms, parkland and open space- called the Agricultural Reserve.
But- growing food and farms on the edge of a major metropolis is not easy. In an area of astronomical land costs, it is difficult for new farmers to even get started. Development interests tend to look at farms as "empty space" upon which to expand. Reliance on antiquated traffic "solutions" leads others to press for highways that would swallow up productive land and open space.
Growing Legacy was crafted primarily as an educational tool; and showcases the Ag Reserve and its farmers, charting the local food system from Farm to Market, Restaurant, and Food Bank. The film outlines the prescient beginnings of the Reserve, promotes its benefits to the region and profiles both farmers and consumers. Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA), a local non-profit committed to the protection of the Reserve, started the Growing Legacy film project to share the Ag Reserve story with local audiences (with an emphasis on local schools), so they might better appreciate the marvel in their own backyard, and become invested in its stewardship; as well as with the world, to educate and inspire, and to prove that you can and must grow cities and farms in harmony. Growing Legacy is a story chronicling the successes and potential of this rich landscape, as well as some of the many ongoing challenges, and attempts to answer the question posed by MCA staffer Kristina Bostick – ‘why does this place matter’?
Montgomery Countryside Alliance spent two years gathering nearly 40 hours of footage and interviews with farmers, county staff and consumers. It follows farmers David Scott, Jr. of Oak Ridge Farm, Lee Langstaff of Shepherd’s Hey Farm, Woody Woodruff of Red Wiggler Community Farm, Tony Cohen of The Button Farm Living History Center, Shawn Eubank and Greg Glenn Jr. of Rocklands Farm, and Shannon Varley of Bella Terra Family Farm. Other interviews include staff from the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and County Ag Services, Ag Reserve founder and Former Planning Board Chair Dr. Royce Hanson and local food consumers including Manna Food Bank and Tony Marciante of Chef Tony’s of Bethesda.
Running time: 30 minutes
Language: English
Format: HD
Writer & Director: Caroline Taylor
Producers: Evergreen Productions & MCA
Music By: Al Petteway and Amy White
Funding: Charitable Foundations, Crowd Sourcing, County and State Funds, MCA Members
CONTACTS:
Caroline Taylor, Executive Director, Montgomery Countryside Alliance
info@mocoalliance.org
301-461-9831
Pat Ratkowski, Owner, Evergreen Productions
Pat@evgp.net
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Travel in time to the past and future of farming. A short trip from the White House but a world away sits the US’s most successful farm protection effort; the glorious and largely unknown Agricultural Reserve of Montgomery County Maryland. It’s a rare pastoral landscape where visionaries said “No” to sprawl & “Yes” to protecting farms, open spaces, and a fast disappearing way of life. Visit this gem in the short film Growing Legacy. Since we preserve what we love, come with us and fall in love.
LONG SYNOPSIS:
The US's most successful farm protection effort is 20 miles from the White House. This short film profiles the challenges of growing food and cities in harmony, and features some of the stakeholders - including policy makers, farmers, advocates & consumers.
What gave rise to Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve, which encompasses fully 1/3rd of the county’s land? In the early 1980’s, planners in busy Montgomery County, Maryland had a common problem; small family farms were being wiped from the map as the DC suburbs sprawled ever outward. The bold action they took in response has protected 93,000 acres of farms, parkland and open space- called the Agricultural Reserve.
But- growing food and farms on the edge of a major metropolis is not easy. In an area of astronomical land costs, it is difficult for new farmers to even get started. Development interests tend to look at farms as "empty space" upon which to expand. Reliance on antiquated traffic "solutions" leads others to press for highways that would swallow up productive land and open space.
Growing Legacy was crafted primarily as an educational tool; and showcases the Ag Reserve and its farmers, charting the local food system from Farm to Market, Restaurant, and Food Bank. The film outlines the prescient beginnings of the Reserve, promotes its benefits to the region and profiles both farmers and consumers. Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA), a local non-profit committed to the protection of the Reserve, started the Growing Legacy film project to share the Ag Reserve story with local audiences (with an emphasis on local schools), so they might better appreciate the marvel in their own backyard, and become invested in its stewardship; as well as with the world, to educate and inspire, and to prove that you can and must grow cities and farms in harmony. Growing Legacy is a story chronicling the successes and potential of this rich landscape, as well as some of the many ongoing challenges, and attempts to answer the question posed by MCA staffer Kristina Bostick – ‘why does this place matter’?
Montgomery Countryside Alliance spent two years gathering nearly 40 hours of footage and interviews with farmers, county staff and consumers. It follows farmers David Scott, Jr. of Oak Ridge Farm, Lee Langstaff of Shepherd’s Hey Farm, Woody Woodruff of Red Wiggler Community Farm, Tony Cohen of The Button Farm Living History Center, Shawn Eubank and Greg Glenn Jr. of Rocklands Farm, and Shannon Varley of Bella Terra Family Farm. Other interviews include staff from the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development and County Ag Services, Ag Reserve founder and Former Planning Board Chair Dr. Royce Hanson and local food consumers including Manna Food Bank and Tony Marciante of Chef Tony’s of Bethesda.
