This weekend I got dirty at 3rd i’s Green Eye event by visiting a couple urban veggie gardens on a tour with MyFarm, and watching a film about that stuff that makes them grow – Dirt! – all hosted by Artists Television Access in San Francisco.

A documentary on the living, breathing skin that coats our planet, Dirt! the Movie promotes the value of that stuff beneath our feet.  Dirt sustains us, feeds us and shelters us, yet we undervalue and mistreat it.  Directors Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow remind us that the mistreatment of dirt is the root of all our problems – from deforestation and conflicts over fertile land, to sterile fields and shrinking fish populations – and that the nourishment of dirt is a huge part of the solution.

New Village author James Jiler is featured in the film for doing just that!  His horticultural training program for prisoners on Rikers Island connects inmates with nature, and plants the seeds needed to restore cultural value of this essential resource for life. Read about this successful in-prison Greenhouse and post-release GreenTeam program in the book Doing Time in the Garden.

For a clip of the film, and information on how you can get involved, visit DirtTheMovie.org

photo credit:  http://www.shelbycountyswcd.org/

— Amanda Bensel