We are a team of game changers, doing our best to turn the tables in the favor of a better tomorrow, today.
Joe Rignola
Joe is a filmmaker, best-selling author and co-founder of Rebel Health Tribe. In 2008 he began his own journey back to health after dealing with several debilitating health issues. Suffering severe side effects from being on depression and anxiety medication, he finally decided that there had to be a better way. He completely changed his diet and lifestyle and slowly began to take control of his well being. Greater health emerged along with a profound sense of gratitude. How walked away from a successful business and went back to school for health and nutrition so he could help other do the same.
Rebel Health Tribe, which was founded in 2014, has quickly become an industry leader in collaborative online-based education and information sharing – featuring dozens of the world’s foremost experts and natural health practitioners.
Jessica Smith
Jessica is a Certified Ecological Farmer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. With a B.S. in Sustainable Living and Living Soils, she combines her passions to encourage the earth and its inhabitants back into a state of balance and vitality. She teaches Nutrient Dense Gardening and Wildlife Habitat Restoration in hopes to improve soil health, ecosystem health, environmental health, and human health.
She works with community organizations, schools, farmers, individuals, and online to help spread the message of growing food for better health and a better planet.
We are making a documentary that will inspire and activate the multitude to join in and be the change we wish to see in the world.
It is a documentary about you, me, and the current state of our planet – but most importantly it is about solutions – the solution – Grow Food. It may sound strange, but it turns out the solution to most of our environmental and health problems is right beneath our feet – soil.
Did you know that a large portion of the CO2 in the atmosphere actually came from the soil?
Did you know that plants grown and managed in a biologically conscious way can put that very carbon back into the soil?!
By growing healthy food, which creates healthy soil, we are able to decrease carbon in the atmosphere! What happens when plants and microbes build healthy soil? We have more resilient food systems, cleaner water, cleaner air, a better world. Not to mention less toxins in our food and environment! One simple act for so many benefits on so many levels! Of course we want to share this with everyone and shout it from the rooftops!
Jim Adams – Lawn Island Farms
Jim quit his job to do something with more meaning and benefit to the world. He had no land, so he put up flyers looking to farm on local lawns and thus Lawn Island Farms was born fresh in 2017. As a new farmer, especially in suburbia, he has faced challenges and pulled through. He wants people in the area to have access to locally grown food and wants to empower others to get involved in this movement, regardless of if you have any land.
Patty Gentry – Early Girl Farm
Patty, a former chef, started Early Girl Farm in New York to bring the farmer’s market to the kitchen door. She delivers her passion through flavor to local chefs who care about quality. Her practices on the farm not only produce nutrient rich and flavorful crops, they also are healing the land and improving the health of the ecosystem around her. She chose farming because there is more than meets the eye to the food on your plate.
Doug DeCandia – Westchester Food Bank and Westchester Chapter Leader of the Bionutrient Food Association
Doug went to school for Sustainable Agriculture and has been sharing it with others ever since. He wanted to make sure people could have access to clean and fresh food, no matter their income. He has been managing and growing food through 5 different garden sites and distributing nutrient-rich food through the local food bank and is going strong. He teaches and works with youth and community members to increase food security in his local area.
Dan Kittredge – Kittredge Farm and Founder of the Bionutrient Food Association
Dan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association. Raised by parents who are prominent leaders in the organic food movement, Dan has been an organic farmer since childhood. His experience managing organic farms and developing sustainable agriculture techniques has connected him to farmers in Central America, Russia, India and the U.S.
Will Allen – Founder of Growing Power
Will is a pioneer in the urban agriculture realm, increasing food security and a better future to those who have been involved in his multitude of food producing projects. His goal is to grow food, to grow minds, and to grow community. He has done and continues doing this in his area and many locations around the world.
How It Began
This project sprouted from a seed planted during a course Joe and I put together called the Nourishing Backyard Garden Formula. While filming the course, it became apparent that there was more than a course here – there was a message – there was a movement.
Me, being a soil nerd seeking to save the planet and Joe, a film-maker seeking to spread a message of hope and both of us being in the same place at the same time – Joe said “Let’s make a movie” – I said “I AM IN!”
Thus, Grow Food was born.
The Process So Far
We were ignited to really dive into this project with the interviews we had on our Garden Series Webinar and we began making the connections and setting up plans. We found three awesome farmers in New York that we really connected with and believed in their practices. Our first farmer, Patty, has a very successful farm that caters to restaurants, as she is a chef herself.
Our second farmer, Doug, gardens at a youth correctional center and school for the deaf and blind as a program through the food bank to provide quality food to those in need.
Our third farmer, Jim, was just starting since he quit his job to start farming on vacant lawns on Long Island. Throughout the growing season we kept visiting Jim to see how he was doing and offer our support.
We then went on road trips to visit Will Allen at Growing Power in Wisconsin and Dan Kittredge, founder of the Bionutrient Food Association, in Massacheussetts.
The Garden Series
Jessica and Joe Interviewing Dan
Joe, Will and Jessica
Coming Soon
We completed the filming process in the Fall of 2017 and are currently in post-production and pre-launch mode this Winter. We launched a successful Kickstarter in December 2017 and received the funds we needed to complete the core of our project, as well as sound, music, graphics, editing, marketing, and social media. Check out our Kickstarter video below.
The process is coming along and we are so excited to launch the film this Spring 2018 and get people pumped about Growing Food in the new year! Make sure to sign-up to be one of the first to view the film for free!
Our current food supply is laden with toxic chemicals. The nutrition content of our fruits and vegetables have been on a steady decline – some up to 70% drop since the 1920’s.
Why?
Because conventional agricultural practices are an extractive process mining the land without returning life to it. Our water is polluted from synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and agricultural runoff. The CO2 level in the atmosphere is on the rise. Clean freshwater is becoming scarce and extreme weather events more common.
Why?
Because conventional agriculture exposes the soil to the elements, decreasing fertility and water holding capacity. Nature did not intend the soil to be bare. That is why there are weeds – Nature’s bandage.
The average farmer in America is 55.9 years old according to U.S. News. This way of life is being replaced by machines damaging the land at the expense of food quality and the environment.
We need to revitalize our soils by working with Nature and take our food production into our own hands for the benefit of our health, our planet’s health, and the health of our future generations.
We truly believe that with a shift from degenerative to regenerative food production systems, we have the power to reverse climate change, increase food availability, and decrease chronic diseases.
Are you in? Let’s Grow Food!
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