Show Title!/The Farm Connection

So first off…we have a title! After a quick brainstorming session (in which we were determined to finally pick a title…or else!), Lisa and I (but mostly Lisa) came up with what we think is a pretty decent title: Course Work: Dinner Season at Prairie Fruits Farm. So, now that that's out of the way…on to the main blog post!

Having first grown up in northern Illinois, then moving to Urbana-Champaign a few years ago, I've rarely been more than a stone's throw away from the endless corn and soybean fields that cover so much of the state. It's actually a comforting feeling knowing that I can hop in my car and be surrounded by farmland in a matter of minutes. Taking the backroads through farm country has always had an oddly therapeutic effect on me; the seemingly endless rows of crops are more soothing than monotonous.

What's weird is that I've never actually lived on a farm. I've been to a lot of farms, I have plenty of friends who grew up on farms. But lived on a farm? Nope. And, as it turns out, I actually have a pretty weird history with farm life. In fact, my first job was on a llama farm. Yep, you read that correctly…a llama farm.

So, where am I going with this? Well, as a filmmaker, it's important for me to try and identify with a subject in some way. I know that Wes, Leslie and the Prairie Fruits Farm crew all connect with farm life in a much deeper way than thinking of it as just a job. There's an emotional connection that drives their passion for doing what they do. Even though I'm sure I connect with farm life in a much different way, I know that I relate to their passion for their craft. It provides you with a sense of place, a sense of meaning. Lisa and I hope that Course Work will convey that passion - that attention to the farm and their craft, and that sense of place and meaning to the community and abroad.