The Real Dirt of Farmer John

I went tonight to see the lecture over The Real Dirt of Farmer John given by John Peterson.  For the most part, we watched a video over the life of Mr. Peterson that lasted an hour and a half long.  Afterwards, Peterson lead a discussion over the movie where he talked more in depth on what he had experienced.  The movie was an in depth video on how Peterson had bought his family farm and the trials that he had to go through.  Those trials consisted of losing his mentors, his grandfather and father, as well as going so far into depth that he had to sell most of his land and all of his farming equipment.

Peterson had been an outcast for most of his life due to the experiences he had during college as well as the people that he had coming around his farm.  He had let anyone that wanted to come and take refuge at his farm come.  This included artists, hippies, and radicals.  This caused many members of the farming community to look down on him and create rumors that caused him to have conflicts with law enforcment.  During this time, Peterson had help film several movies on his farm as well as write his own story line, act in it, and perform in for several different groups of people.  While he could have taken his show big, it was brought to an end when an agricultural group stated that he seemed to "homosexual" to star in the show.  Afterwards, Peterson took several years off by traveling and doing some soul searching.  However, Peterson was able to turn his life around and start farming again.  By doing this, he was able to creat one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture farms.  John Peterson created AngelicOrganics.  Here, he grows organic vegetables and his mother helps him sell them.

Even though he has started his farm back up and has turned out to be very successful, many people in Peterson's community still think that he is a little strange.  Peterson is known for farming and working in different style of costumes.  A clip in the video even showed him eatting dirt and stating that it seem to be really good that day.  While many people don't understand John Peterson, we all have to admit that he has gone through several challenges and has succeeded in turning his life around for the better.