Gracie's backyard - a film about permaculture farming in the far north with Richard Perkins (stream)

Julia and I watched the movie and made a detailed podcast review of it.   So detailed that it took two podcasts:

https://permies.com/t/88553/podcast-Review-Gracie-Backyard-Part
https://permies.com/t/88819/podcast-Review-Gracie-Backyard-Part

Overall, an excellent movie!

This looks really cool!  Just watched the intro video so far and it hits on some great topics that will be neat to watch in the full film:  getting a fulfilling living from permaculture, showing others how they've been able to make it work, how work and fun and learning can all meld together.

I just watched the trailer and I like that it represents an integrated system - multiple plants, multiple animals, multiple families working together as a "permaculture guild".

I give this film 10 out of 10 acorns. It truly is a lovely and inspiring film. The videography is really well done--each scene is easy to watch and beautiful. It is a film that takes through the lives of the permaculturists working on Ridgedale farm. Not only do we get a view into their methods, but also into their motivations. And, both the methods and motivations are inspiring.

Some of the methods that stood out to me:

Market gardening with a CSA. There was a really cool harvesting tool that smipped and caught the herbs!

Medicinal herbs being dried and stored

Saving a forest--instead of cutting it down--buy building a treehouse in it for people to rent out. That house being rented out a few times would earn them as much as cutting down the forest, and would allow them to keep the forest and develop it into one that is more natural (it was one that had been logged and replanted with a monocrop of spruce some 70 years ago)

Balancing the regenerative aspects of chickens with the need to produce money. They used both broiler tractors and pastured layers. The broilers were the main cash crop, but they were not as beneficial for the pasturland as the layers.

Keyline plowing (my kids and I both would have loved to know more about this) and planting berries and trees in the pastures. I loved his line about how he'd never encountered a farm that couldn't benefit from more trees.

Scything hay by hand and drying it on giant roundwood drying racks

Some of the motivations that inspired me:

Leaving a heritage for the future generations--having a farm that improved rather than degraded the soil, so that it was an inheritance for his child.

Creating a place where children could be free to learn and explore, and find a passion in nature--rather than encouraging the child to get a job outside of farming.

Living with nature and taking part in making the things that were needed to survive--this made life far more meaningful

To make change in the world, instead of just being angry at the wrong

Instead of campaining for another person (and putting the power into their hands), use that power to make your own change on your own land

To learn the skills to make a living off of the land.

I LOVED the diverse perspectives in this video. There was not only Richard--the owner or Ridgdale Farm--but also his interns and workers and his 5 year old daughter. I watched this video with my kids, and they loved seeing her pictching hay, feeding chicks, helping out around the farm. We paused the video a lot to talk about what was happening and why (for those thinking of watching it with kids, know that there is a segment with very respectful chicken harvesting. My son was still very distressed that so many chickens were dying. These are hard topics!)

I feel that there is so much more I wish to say about this film. I enjoyed it so much that I took notes while watching. There's a lot packed into this video! I hope to add more to this review tomorrow. For now, though, it's nearly 1:20am and I must get some sleep!

Watched the trailer.  I will stream this one evening this week, for sure.  Thanks so much for sharing this.  It looks great.

I've watched Perkins' videos on YouTube and they are excellent, too. He talks very honestly about everything, including the personal sacrifices and battles that come with trying to balance something this big with family life etc. I give all my thumbs up for Richard Perkins and Yohanna Amselem (co-owner), and the interns and the vast amount of people that a business of this size needs to thrive. I'm so glad he was able to make it thrive and I have no doubt that it has been an extremely taxing road at times too. Respect.