Cape Girardeau

Peter Whisnant called at 620 and we met him at the entrance of the Drury Inn. 

The sun was not up yet, and the darkness of the night faded more with each passing minute. We drove through some country roads, gracious for Peter's generosity to meet us and lead us to the farm, as we would have been almost certainly lost otherwise. At a big old barn, we set up the camera and got in his car. The roomy white SUV was filled with guns, and Peter spoke often of hunting. It's good to have guns in case of coyotes he said.

Peter, at 28 years of age and 6ft. 5, is the president of Rain Crow Ranch, one of the largest grass-fed beef producers in America. We spent an hour at one of their ten source farms where we took some footage of cattle on green pastures, and interviewed Peter in an old barn with a beautiful soft light. He talked about the importance of selling produce to chefs who understand how to use the whole animal, chefs like John Griffiths at Wash U. They've been buying all of their ground beef from Rain Crow Ranch, a mutually beneficial relationship. After the interview, we took a trip to the company's nearby processing plant in Jackson. There we saw some of the rooms where cattle move from being cattle to being meat. We also saw the vast maps and calendars of a company with a growing business and increasing logistical complexities. Soon thereafter, we parted ways and thanked Peter. 

We drove north to St. Louis and had lunch at Schlafly's, which was much more crowded than it had been Wednesday afternoon. The food was good, and we ate mostly in silence, as endings tend to be times of rest and reflection.

Across the street, we emptied out the rental car, organized clothes and gear, and vacuumed out the dirt and crumbs that had accumulated over the 10 days. Andy asked if it had been a good start. Yes, I said, definitely.

We dropped off the rental and returned to Lambert hours before departure.

 

Lincoln to Cape Girardeau

The 10th and final screening of our Missouri screening series was hosted by Dr. Bruce Shanks at Lincoln University. 

About 60 people joined us for a somewhat impromptu screening, as Dr. Shanks was kind enough to host us with only a few days notice. Considering the short noticed we were excited by the turnout. We lost a decent amount of people when the class period transitioned mid-film, but still had about 40 for the post-screening conversation. 

Bruce, who has a good calm energy, talked modestly about his farm, which is a cow calf operation that exclusively sells cows into pasture-based grass finishing operations. He's also got some sheep.

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A Long Day's Night

Thursday was the longest day of the trip. 

At dawn we headed to Todd Geisert's farm. 

He's a naturally talkative fellow, who's got a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the work he does. So it was a bit odd for the first part of the shoot, when we ask folks to work and pretend like we're not there. He often wanted to explain things as he walked by them, from the highway signs that are repurposed as shelters for pigs, to the solar pump that helps bring water from the nearby creek up into the pasture. It was a cloudless morning sky, which meant that we didn't have much time until the harsh light of mid-morning would make most of our shots harsh with long shadows. We walked through the mud of the just rained on soil, rain that has brought a collective sigh of relief to farmers throughout Missouri this week. 

He fed his hogs and whistled as he worked, often looking like a shepherd of pigs, walking along as his pigs followed behind anticipating feed shortly. 

We flipped a couple 5 gallon buckets over, backed an old truck out of the wood barn and started the interview. Todd seemed a bit anxious at first, but settled down as the conversation shifted into familiar topics. He talked about the farm stand that is open when the sun is up, and that admirably works well on the honor system, as people take vegetables, meat and eggs for themselves in a lockbox that is welded on. He talked about the impact of the drought, about cycles of crops and animals that ultimately takes care of the farm. Finally, he said that he's not the type to go to church, but that when he's walking through his fields in the moments before the sunrise, that's kind of like his church, and he sorts some things out. 

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Full Circle

We arrived in St. Louis this morning, a week after we left lambert airport heading west. 

already on our statewide journey, we've had the good fortune to learn from farmers all across the state, and to listen to the eager and youthful people who will one day lead our nation's agriculture. 

our world is often more interconnected than we realize, with the decisions we make impacting others we may or may not know, whether we are aware or not. two professions that seem to be most obviously connected are that of the farmer and the chef. 

chef john griffiths is a young man in charge of food services at a very large and influential university, wash u. and it's incredibly inspiring to see that he is so passionate about supporting local agriculture. his grandmother has a farm in michigan and so he's always been very passionate about and aware of food, and the labor that goes into it's production. 

a few years back, Bon appetit management company, the food service provider at wash u- decided to source all of their hamburger from Rain Crow Ranch, a local grass-based system in Doniphan, Missouri. immediately, students began to respond to the taste, and as we saw, there was a long line for those burgers at lunch. chef john likes to order meat locally because he can put a name and a face with the people who raised it, there's more accountability, more trust that develops over the years. 

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