By Melissa Haderlie
Branch Manager, Star Valley Branch Library

While we generally promote reading in these columns this week I am reviewing not a book, but a movie. Movies can spark interest in ideals that lead to further reading, research, personal growth, and development. One movie I really feel encompasses this concept is “The Biggest Little Farm” {Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 2019].

In this documentary, John and Molly Chester ask you to reconsider what is possible in regards to farming and agriculture. Within an 8 year span, they adopted a rescue dog named Todd and traded in their city life to make 200 acres of overused farmland a self-sustaining ecosystem that is also the functioning Apricot Lane Farms in Southern California. The film chronicles this journey and takes the viewer from dreams to business plans, turning those plans into reality, through setbacks, hardships, lessons learned and successes.

I love how this movie draws you in. Through John Chester’s point of view you go from disbelief to awe at how much the Chester’s sacrificed in the beginning. You feel skepticism that they will be able to make their dream come true. You feel the need to root for them, and cry with them. Along the way you meet some of the most wonderful characters, animals and humans.

Even if you have no interest in farming or improving environmental conditions, this movie is for you. I have watched it at least 10 times since the library added it to our collection and love how it is a story of inspiration, encouragement, endurance, perseverance, teamwork, and partnership. I feel uplifted after watching this film and ready to move forward in my own goals and work through any setbacks and problems, trying to look at them from different angles. My favorite quotes from the film come from Molly who says, “You’re gonna get knocked down, just remember to keep getting up and keep moving forward,” and “I didn’t expect the hardships we faced to make the dream seem more alive.”

As I mentioned above, movies like this spark further interests and the library has many books on homesteading, gardening, starting your own business, and goal setting and progression to feed those interests. “The Biggest Little Farm” is available throughout the Lincoln County Library System. Watch it with your family and let it take root in your soul. Review written by Melissa Haderlie, Branch Manager, Star Valley Branch Library.