FREE EVENT BUT SPACE IS LIMITED!

*Located in the Balsamroot Room of The Exploration Center. Movie starts at 6pm sharp. Please give yourself time to park along South Avenue, along Stephens, or in the parking lot of The Exploration Center. Popcorn and hot/cold beverages included in your FREE registration.

MOVIE TITLE: “Grounded In Family: a film highlighting agricultural stress and resiliency in Montana”
Logline, Synopsis, and Discussion

FILM LOGLINE
Grounded in Family tells the story of the Wolery Family who own a multi-generational farm in Rudyard, Montana and balance the stressors of working on a farm with the importance of keeping family safe and granting the next generation the choice to move on or stay with agriculture.

SYNOPSIS
Grounded in Family follows a farm family in Rudyard, Montana as they combat the everyday stress of the agricultural lifestyle through collaborative work. The Wolery family unpacks the tensions of living on a multi-generational farm and the expectations they have for the generations to follow. With each familial role comes the pressure of exploring their place on the farm. The father works the farm full-time and helps to keep the family farm thriving. The mother manages her career off the farm while also working on the farm, and the children learn farming skills and face the choice of either continuing the legacy of the farm or embracing a different career path. This tension of balancing career, family relationships, external stressors, and the arduous nature of farm work are sources of both joy and stress.

The parents do what they can to keep the weight of farming off their children’s backs, and unfortunately it still spills over because the children are raised on a farm and have worked on the farm all their lives. To combat the anxieties of keeping the children safe, the Wolery Farm emphasizes the importance of working together and moving past the stressors that are outside of their control. They maintain their resilience through family, communication, a strong business model, and neighborly connections. With their commitment to farming and to the generations of family that preceded them, the stress seems worth the reward. They posit that we are not alone in stress as many farmers feel, because the people surrounding us have more similar issues to ours than we sometimes presume.