If you missed the film premiere or would like a re-run, Patagonia Nashville is hosting a special screening of the documentary How to Heal the Planet followed by a Q & A panel!
Before the film, enjoy light bites, local beverages, and a chance to meet the people growing, composting, and fighting for a better food system in Nashville — Brooklyn Heights Community Garden, Old School Farm, Compost Nashville, The Nashville Food Project, and Urban Green Lab will all be in attendance.
How To Heal The Planet is a 25-minute documentary by Davis Watson following Jeffrey Orkin, the Mississippi-born urban farmer behind Greener Roots Farm, whose decade-long journey building a world-class hydroponic operation in Nashville intersects with the chefs and food pioneers who transformed this city's dining scene by connecting it to local farmers. Featuring Margot McCormack, Jeremy Barlow, Tyler Brown, John Dyke, and Vanderbilt professor Amanda Little, author of The Fate of Food.
After the film, there will be a Q&A with the director, and the panel will join for a conversation about food, community, and what it actually takes to build a more equitable and resilient Nashville.
Seats are limited, so be sure to RSVP above!
Davis Watson is a writer, filmmaker, and farmer from Nashville, TN who shifted from journalism to documentary filmmaking. He has written, directed, and produced two feature documentaries- Bairds of Kentucky (USA) and Good Piping (Ireland)- currently streaming on Amazon & Tubi.
Davis's other works include documentaries on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a forgotten town in the copper basin of Appalachia, and an award-winning piece on the largest land haul in the USA.
Over the last decade, Davis has complemented the artistic life with field work as a full time farmer in Tennessee and California, running an organic farm in Malibu, CA the last 6 years.
He continues to work on new film/TV projects, including the new docuseries How To Heal The Planet, and has been building the documentary platform Paradocsical.
Ms. Pearl, community healer and founder, is the heartbeat of Brooklyn Heights Community Garden in Nashville. The visionary. The builder. The nurturer. She’s Montessori-trained, a certified permaculturalist, reflexologist, cosmetologist, life coach, and a poet! She has been featured in The New York Times and has won multiple awards for her powerful community work. Her energy is unmatched and her mantra says it all: “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you must! Just get busy!!!”
She’s also an author, with a new book out, Ms. Pearl’s Garden, available in-store at the screening (get a signed copy!) and online. It’s a wonderful, inspiring read: link here
Brooklyn Heights Community Garden (BHCG) is a non-profit urban farm located on formerly vacant lots in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, a historically Black and low-income neighborhood that experiences food apartheid. The creation of this garden stemmed from a deep need for the community to get back to its roots of connection between its elders and young people, to rebuild and reconstruct self-awareness, self-pride, and self-esteem, and to remind people of all ages how to play in the dirt. They provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs right here in our own neighborhood.
Jeremy Lekich was born and raised in Nashville by two hippy parents who fostered a sense of reverence in him for the more-than-human environment. He received a Bachelor of Science from Warren Wilson College and majored in biology, where he focused on plants and systems design. During this time, he also got a Permaculture Design Certificate and, more importantly, he was introduced to the magic of the forest and all of the wondrous wild edible and medicinal plants that are our neighbors. In 2010, Jeremy founded Nashville Foodscapes and in 2014, he co-founded Compost Nashville.
Compost Nashville began to help Nashville and Franklin residents divert as much food waste from the landfill as possible and to turn that food waste into nutrient-rich soil with which the local community could grow more delicious food. Their carbon negative fleet is diverting millions of pounds of material from landfills, while donating compost to local farms, schools, and community gardens each year. They continue to grow their list of local commercial composting partners and are available for events and more compost for thousands of homes in Middle Tennessee.
Allison Thayer studied English and Latin American Studies at Notre Dame, taught English in Spain on a Fulbright, then spent nearly a decade in corporate strategy before making the leap to sustainable food systems. Since moving to Nashville in 2015 she has planted herself firmly in the local food scene as a CSA customer, Nashville Food Co-Op member, and farm volunteer. At The Nashville Food Project she focuses on community engagement, outreach, and education across the organization's growing, cooking, and food sharing programs.
The Nashville Food Project embraces a vision of vibrant community and food security in which everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system. They believe food can be a powerful tool to foster health, belonging and justice in our community.
Stephanie Roach studied Political Science and Classical Studies at Rhodes College before spending nearly a decade teaching social justice, sustainability, and science programming in Memphis, DC, and Chicago. Those years seeded a passion for environmental conservation and urban resilience that eventually pulled her out of the classroom and into the sustainability space. She co-founded Elemental, a Nashville-based sustainable paper products startup, earned a Master's in Sustainability from Lipscomb in 2024, and is now Director of Collective Action at Urban Green Lab, where she coordinates partnerships and programming for the Nashville Food Waste and Environmental Justice Initiatives.
Urban Green Lab exists to guide communities in sustainable living. They train and educate in places where culture begins to assist Nashville in making decisions that thoughtfully meet the needs of our society today without compromising the ability of others to meet their needs in the future. They envision a Nashville where everyone has access to opportunities for learning about sustainable living.
Nicolette Maio is a private chef, farmer, and forager whose background in integrative nutrition, gastronomy, fermentation, and herbalism inspires unique, wholesome meals to optimize her clients' health. She runs Nico's Wild Kitchen and founded the Forager's Supper Club, a pop-up seasonal dinner series honoring the abundance of the land and the experience of local and wild foods. She offers farm-to-table catering, private cooking, and teaches classes on meal prep, fermentation, canning, foraging, and more. At Old School Farm she is the resident preservation expert, teaching Mission Farmers skills like drying, pickling, fermenting, and canning produce, and creating honey and oil infusions with herbs and spices.
Old School Farm (OSF) is a nonprofit organization that uses therapeutic farming practices for the benefit of vulnerable populations. They currently employ five adults with developmental disabilities, known as “mission farmers,” who grow, harvest & deliver produce to food insecure communities in Nashville through partnerships with local food programs.
John Patrick spent his career as a Program Analyst for the EPA's Office of the Inspector General in Washington DC, co-authoring federal reports on climate change mitigation and the Toxic Substances Control Act, and serving as a grant investigator for the Cumberland River Compact promoting sustainable farming. He has taught Sustainable Food Practices at Lipscomb University and spoken at national conferences, universities, and federal workshops on climate change policy. He holds degrees from the University of Arkansas, Washington University in St. Louis, and Georgetown, and has completed doctoral coursework in Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason. He is currently co-owner of Foggy Hollow Farm, a small organic vegetable, livestock, poultry, and blueberry farm near Joelton, Tennessee.
He and his wife, Rebecca Selove are founding members of the Burns Village Farm, a new co-housing agrihood venture in Middle Tennessee, which centers an intentional community around a working farm.
