A Rich Harvest

Sowing the seeds of community in Ventura

VC Reporter 8/12/2010

Community is often compared to growing things — we speak of its roots and branches, its fruits and its cultivation. Yet the metaphor has seldom been more apt than in a visionary program to cultivate cherry tomatoes on public land for the benefit of senior citizens, documented in the short film Seeds of Life.

Produced locally under the aegis of the Ventura Film Society (VFS), the documentary tells the tale of last year’s unprecedented alliance, between the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging (VCAAA) and the Ventura County Probation Agency, to grow the fruit on a quarter-acre of fallow land adjacent to the juvenile justice center, for the support of VCAAA’s Senior Nutrition Program. The agencies were joined in the effort by Oxnard City Corps, and generously supported by Coast Water Solutions, Rio Mesa Farms and Seminis.

“Everybody did a little bit, and a great thing was achieved here,” notes Coast’s Brian Meyer in the film. Before the project was through, more than 25,000 tomatoes were delivered to some 3,000 seniors at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks and other meal programs throughout the county.

In community outreach and collaboration, the film itself reflects the spirit of the project it documents, VFS utilized an Arts LIVE grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation (in partnership with the James Irvine Foundation’s Communities Advancing the Arts) to mentor media team members from Oxnard City Corps. The City Corps filmmakers, led by Aracely Juarez, executed the film’s every aspect, from writing through production and editorial.

While the effort was overseen by VFS’s Lorenzo DeStefano and associates, the final film remained the work of the young filmmakers.

“The inspiration for the project was the desire to put our concept of Neighborhood Cinema to the test,” DeStefano explained. “That concept is just a bunch of words until you put it into play.” He explains that the Arts LIVE grant was designed “to serve the underserved,” and youth and seniors were seen as foremost among that group — an ethic perfectly reflected in the VCAAA’s tomato project. “We’re very proud of what was accomplished, in both projects. We call it ‘The Little Tomato Film That Could.’ ”

“The fact that so many agencies were able to come together,” notes VCAAA’s director, Victoria Jump, “and were excited about the concept of using youth to help feed senior citizens, is really inspiring.” Resuming under larger auspices this year, the project is slated to grow from a quarter-acre to a full three acres, with an anticipated yield in excess of a quarter of a million tomatoes. “Who would think that a group of five people could impact 3,000 people?” asks Oxnard City Corps group leader Alex Ultreras. “I didn’t think that, but I do now.”

The finished film is currently showing on Ventura’s community-access CAPS-TV, and is slated to screen at upcoming Ventura Film Society events. “Anyone can host a film festival, anyone can show a bunch of films — that part is a joke,” DeStefano concludes. “What makes us different is in asking the question, ‘What are we going to do to truly belong to the community?’ Showing films is not enough. It’s equally important to participate, to take action, locally.”