Into the Soil

Subtitles available in English and Swedish (click the CC button to choose).

Brigid LeFevre runs the community supported agriculture operation ”Förädlad” (roughly ”Enhanced”) in Järna, Sweden. It’s a biodynamic vegetable garden that focuses on fermenting the harvest in order to enrich it with nutritious lactic acid bacteria and to make it keep for a really long time.

Brigid grew up in an anthroposophically inspired Camphill community in Northern Ireland where volunteers lived and worked together with people with special needs. It was a very self-sufficient community with its own weavery and a biodynamic farm. The local store brought in bulk organic produce and each household would weigh and write down their purchases – without any actual exchange of money.

Growing up in a place where food was separated from the economic market has had a big impact on Brigid’s philosophy as a farmer. And really, come to think about it, why is it that the global ups and downs of the economy should determine the operating practices of small scale local farms?

In Brigid’s garden it doesn’t. She grows and ferments vegetables for the members, who subscribe to her jars of delicious sauerkraut, kimchi and all sorts of lacto fermented pickles all year round. The members support this regenerative agriculture operation with money or hands-on help in the garden.

It’s a local, circular economy, which underpins an alive garden, buzzing and chirping, where the goal isn’t to turn a profit, but rather to make the soil more alive with the passing of each season.

You might also enjoy the podcast episode with Brigid, which includes an extended version of the interview from the film.

If you want to learn about food fermenting from Brigid, check out this how-to-video.

Production Facts

A film about regenerative agriculture and lacto fermenting of vegetables, featuring biodynamic farmer Brigid LeFevre.

Documentary film, 30 minutes
Release date: April 20th, 2021
Language: English
Subtitle options: English and Swedish
Directed by: Mattias Olsson
Production company: Campfire Stories
Original soundtrack: Arvid Rask
Sound design: Boris Laible and Jonas Källstrand

Support for this production supplied by the Namaste Foundation.
A huge thank you to all of our Patrons who helped make this film possible!

A Clip from the Film

Here’s an invitation into the Campfire Stories editing room and a sneak peek from the film “Into the Soil”. In this chapter Brigid talks about her philosophy behind lacto fermentation and shares an episode of cheese making gone wrong. Which actually ended up having gone right.

More Links

Here’s our previous film on biodynamic farming (Brigid actually appears a little bit in this one too, right towards the end).
In this clip Brigid talks about why she’s into the biodynamic farming model, and what it means to her.
Here you can see when Brigid received a beautiful visit from a few musically inclined students of the nearby Youth Initiative Program.
Check out the film’s soundtrack composer Arvid Rask’s band Kolonien.