This summer, the Accokeek Foundation Center for Agricultural and Environmental Stewardship will launch a film series that spotlights seven remarkable stories of sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation.
FRESH is a film that documents the search for sustainable alternatives to industrial agriculture.
Each of these free events will be held at the Accokeek Foundation Education Center in Piscataway Park—a lush landscape through which flows the stream of environmental history. Indeed, the documentaries selected for this series explore both our present and our past, from an investigation into the New Food Revolution that is sweeping much of the nation to a look at the factors that led to the formation of the Great Plains Dust Bowl in the early twentieth century.
The stories that are told in each of these moving films have the power to change the way we think about and act in the natural world around us. There is no better place to experience these stories than the picturesque setting of the Accokeek Foundation.
Established in 1957 as a land trust to protect the view from Mount Vernon, the Accokeek Foundation stewards 200 acres of Piscataway Park. Evidence of human interaction with this land dates back thousands of years. This land now serves as an outdoor classroom where the Foundation demonstrates and educates about land conservation, historic preservation, sustainable agriculture, and environmental stewardship. It is the Foundation’s mission to preserve and protect the historical sites and relics, trees, plants, and wildlife in this area of great natural beauty along the Maryland shore of the historic Potomac River.
Each Film Series event will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month from May through October. No film will be shown in August. Light refreshments will be available, but we encourage our guests to bring a picnic dinner.
Calendar:
“The Last Boat Out” weaves together the tales of a battered Chesapeake Bay and a family of watermen struggling to preserve their way of life. Narrated by actor and activist Sam Waterston, the film is a story of human determination and hope in the face of past mistakes. For more information about the PBS documentary series about the Chesapeake Bay, visit www.LastBoatOut.com or contact Laura Seltzer at 202-210-4689.
“The Plow That Broke the Plains” is a 1936 film that explores the factors that led to the formation of the Great Plains Dust Bowl. “The River,” from the following year, documents the growth of trade and travel along—and subsequent weakening of—the Mississippi River.
“FRESH” celebrates the farmers, thinkers, and business people who are reinventing America’s food system. The film confronts food contamination, environmental pollution, and rising human obesity on its search for healthier and more sustainable alternatives to industrial agriculture.
“Homecoming” is a film that documents the story of African American farmers in the twentieth century. Drawing on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, the film documents the tradition and decline of black farmers and explores the bittersweet legacy of land farmed and lost.
“The Greenhorns” explores the lives of America’s young farming community—it’s spirit, practices, and needs. In broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, the film emboldens and entices those who are considering a career in agriculture.
“What’s On Your Plate?” is a film that follows two eleven-year-olds as they explore their place in the food chain. With the camera as their companion, Sadie and Safiyah talk to friends, farmers, and more on their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.
For more information about this series, contact the Center for Agricultural and Environmental Stewardship at 301-283-2113 or caes@accokeek.org.
About the Accokeek Foundation: The Accokeek Foundation is an educational non-profit and one of the nation’s oldest land trusts. The Foundation stewards 200 acres of Piscataway Park on the shore of the Potomac River in Accokeek, Maryland. The site’s National Colonial Farm is a living history museum that works to preserve heirloom crops and heritage breed animals. The Foundation’s Center for Agricultural and Environmental Stewardship and Ecosystem Farm emphasize the future of agriculture as we instruct farmers in sustainability. The park’s grounds and trails are open to the public year ‘round.