Disney+ will release an Earth Day special, The Biggest Little Farm: The Return, which follows the lives of John and Molly Chester and their working farm, Apricot Lane Farms.
The new documentary comes a few years after National Geographic’s award-winning feature documentary about the couple abandoning urban lives in Los Angeles to live on a farm and grow food in Ventura County.
After 10 years of tirelessly transforming the land into a functioning farm, it has become a place that reflects the biodiversity of our own earth. It’s a heartwarming film that demonstrates the interconnectedness of nature that farmers depend on in order to grow the most nutrient-dense food.
The Biggest Little Farm: The Return is visually airy, light but also sincere through its incorporation of phone-recorded footage that provides a home video feel, set against the natural tones of John Chester’s narration.
This is the type of thing that elementary school kids will probably watch in their classrooms and possibly again in high school, as it serves as a great introduction to learning about biodiversity and soil.
The film doesn’t shy away from its blend of being educational yet oddly humorous at times, with lines like “their poop is our gold.”
There’s clips where the sounds capture are just awe-inspiring. You can hear every bit of dirt dropping, every bite of grass from the animals.
Not only is a cohesive story shown and told with a satisfying resolution, but different aspects of this lifestyle become additional topics that you may want to explore on your own. This includes seeing weaker animals being fed colostrum by humans, what extractive farming means, as well as purchasing carbon credits and carbon sequestration.
Be sure to watch The Biggest Little Farm: The Return on Disney+ when it is released on Earth Day, April 22nd.
