Episode 63: The Biggest Little Farm

On this week's episode of Sunday Morning Matinee, Matt and Adam talk with Nate Stucky, director of the Farminary at Princeton Theological Seminary, about farming, harmony, theology, and the new film The Biggest Little Farm. 

In 2011, Los Angeles couple John and Molly Chester decided to upend their cosmopolitan lifestyle. They bought a piece of dried-out land north out of the city and dedicated themselves to converting it into a fully biodiverse agricultural utopia named Apricot Lane Farms. This move was in accordance with Molly’s long-held dream, but John also happens to be an Emmy Award-winning director and cinematographer, so over the eight years of bringing this farm to life he has been chronicling their story on film, which now comes together as the feature documentary The Biggest Little Farm. Because it’s John and Molly telling their own story, this thing is profoundly personal—it’s not a critical look, it’s a reflective love letter to the dream they had and the way in which it has grown and changed them over time.

In the first segment, Justification by Faith, Matt, Adam, and Nate discuss what lessons for ministry we might take from The Biggest Little Farm. In the second segment, Preaching to the Choir, the discussion turns to the lectionary passages for May 12 and Nate spins some amazing stories about lambs, chickens, and what it means to take a life. Finally, in the last segment, Postludes, Matt and Adam reflect on an early death and how to remember. 

SHOW NOTES: 

Nate Stucky is the Director of the Farminary Project at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of Wrestling with Rest: Inviting Youth to Discover the Gift of Sabbath. 

Celeste Kennel-Shank, "Cultivating Ministers: Farminary Students Get Their Hands Dirty"