He lives, breathes and eats farming

The documentary “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” airing tonight on KCET’s “Independent Lens” series, opens as a bespectacled farmer named John Peterson kneels down in his field, squeezes a velvety black chunk of mud between his fingers, and eats it. After a few chews and a pensive gaze into the camera, he declares, “The soil tastes good today.”

And so we meet Peterson, a third-generation Illinois farmer who at 19 inherited more than 350 acres of prime farmland, lost it during the farm crisis of the 1980s, then resurrected it into Angelic Organics, one of the country’s most successful organic Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, delivering fresh fruit and vegetables to about 1,200 families. All the while, he endured the wrath of his neighbors, who didn’t understand his penchant for riding his tractor while wearing feather boas and spandex.

The film presents Peterson, 56, as a tireless evangelist for CSAs, in which shareholders pay in advance to cover the costs of running the farm, getting organic produce and a personal relationship with the farmer and their food source in return. But Peterson clearly isn’t your ordinary pitchfork guy, even by the free-spirited standards of the organic food movement. For one thing, his larger goal is to marry art and agriculture. “I feel a little odd having to describe this,” he said by phone from Portland, Ore., where the documentary played for three months and where he promoted his just published “Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.” “But farming is similar to the creative process. Something begins as a seed of an idea, then it starts to express itself and evolve and changes to accommodate whatever new influences come in. Similarly, the farm is a source of life and bounty, it’s a never-ending panorama of things unfolding.”

That passion for art in farm life is what attracted Taggart Siegel, the film’s director, when the two men met through mutual friends. Siegel, 47, was then a 19-year-old art student who visited the farm for an art opening and, as he recalled, “I was overwhelmed by the commune-like situation. There was a textile artist, a gourmet cook, painters, musicians -- it was incredibly inspiring.” Siegel made several short films on the farm, then moved there for a summer, joining happenings such as a summer solstice celebration for which the farm, affectionately called the “Midwest Coast,” was transformed into a giant Atlantic City beach party with volleyball nets and saltwater taffy.

All the while the farm continued to be a legitimate business, with cows and chickens and crops like corn and soybeans. But in 1982, Peterson found himself, like many farmers during that era, in debt and unable to save the majority of the land his grandfather had bought during the Depression. The auction at which his farm equipment is sold is one of the most poignant scenes in the documentary.

These days Peterson has become something of a foodie rock star, with fans such as Alice Waters, Charles Trotter and Nora Pouillon hosting dinners for him. Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl recently moderated a screening and discussion of the film. Peterson, who was not invited to the event, showed up in disguise -- a goatee, a wig and a hat -- and when he jumped up to join the discussion, the audience cheered.

Reached by phone, Reichl said she was slightly embarrassed by Peterson’s antics. But she had high praise for the film. “There’s a wonderful book about the farm crisis of that time by Joel Dyer called ‘Harvest of Rage,’ ” she said. “Dyer talks about how losing a farm isn’t like losing any other business, because you feel like you’ve let down your ancestors but also generations to come. I have never seen anything that explained that as beautifully as this film.”

Nonetheless, Reichl said, she wished the “The Real Dirt” focused more on the political forces that caused the farm debt crisis and less on Peterson’s eccentricities. But Siegel and Peterson said they didn’t want to make an overtly political film. Instead they wanted to tell a personal story, one that had, they thought, universal appeal. Over the years Siegel had accumulated about 130 hours of footage from the farm, and also had access to home movies shot by Peterson’s mother, Anna, who meticulously documented the life of the farm. The film combines that footage with material Siegel shot over the last 25 years, interspersed with Peterson’s own recent documentation.

Siegel’s footage includes a scene in which a truckload of people drive onto the farm screaming “Satan” while throwing firecrackers. Peterson chases after them, and it’s later revealed that vandals burned down one of his buildings, that neighbors called his property “the devil-worship farm” and that they accused Peterson of selling drugs and sacrificing animals.

“It’s very painful in life to deal with a whole community who decided what my life was and who I was,” he said. “I was determined that this film would show the world an accurate portrayal.”

His rural Illinois community still doesn’t quite know what to do with Peterson, but the death threats stopped years ago. Peterson and Siegel are about to embark on a European tour -- the film is opening up the Terra Madre Slow Food gathering in Turin, Italy, and will be released in Germany, France and Spain. In the meantime, Peterson continues to promote the book and the movie. “I think farms are amazing, extraordinary places,” he said, “and I want to share my farm with everyone.”

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‘Independent Lens’

The Real Dirt

on Farmer John

Where: KCET

When: 11:30 tonight

Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)