I’ve been inspired by two things recently, urban organic farming and one musician with a love for organic farming and an eclectic spirit.  What has emerged from this is a plan for a documentary film starring Detroit urban farms as the backdrop for an unconventional musician’s tour.

Please read the synopsis for “Going Against the Grain.”  We’ve got just a little over two months before farming season begins to wind down, so we’re moving fast.  It’ll be down and dirty, just need funds for a cinematographer and sound person initially. We’d appreciate any support you can give!

Going Against the Grain.

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In a culture of mass-produced and mass-consumed, one musician strives to grow her music similarly to how a handful of organic mid-western farmers grow their food.   As it turns out, the results are delicious.

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Musician.  Filmmaker.  Farmer.  Three characteristics that generally operate independently of one another, but come together seamlessly in this documentary by Detroit artist and activist, Jessica Ripka.

After releasing her debut album in May of 2010, she embarks to do what most recording artists do: go on tour.  But instead of plotting a route with the typical venues consisting of clubs, and cover charges, she turns to urban farm efforts in Detroit and WWOOF [aka – World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms] – an organization that connects organic farms with willing volunteers from all over the globe.  In a consumers’ culture, based on creating profit margins and industrialized products at the risk of increasing demand beyond the reach of supply, Ripka seeks to highlight her firm belief in sustainable methods for both her music and the future of our food. Also to point out ways in which the music industry increasingly parallels the food industry  – usually with similar unpalatable results.  With 6 weeks, countless farms, a camera and a piano, she strives to not just make her own voice heard, but also the voices of the organic farmers working to restore integrity to their products, their communities and their land.

Farming initiatives in Detroit are nothing new – starting as early as the 18^th and 19^th centuries with ribbon farms running perpendicular to the Detroit River like vertebrae along a spine.  Music is nothing new either – particularly in Motor City where Berry Gordy’s Motown Records’ company rolled out years of successful hit songs like the neighboring automotive assembly lines rolled out years of gleaming successful cars.  But somewhere in between Detroit’s explosive city growth and eventual devastating crash, lie pieces of a lesson that perhaps mass-marketing, mass-producing, mass-anything can be as harmful as it is helpful.  That perhaps in order to sustain an overarching success for ourselves, we need to return to older and simpler methods that inspire and encourage organic growth.  That perhaps, in the words of famous author and farmer Wendell Berry, “When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.” This project seeks to do just that.

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