About the film

What happens when the values of the culture you’ve always known no longer align with how you see the world?

"The New Peasants" offers an intimate look into the life of Meg, Patrick, Zephyr, and Woody. A family who, for 20 years, have been transitioning away from modern industrial culture toward a radically simple and beautiful way of life.

Concerns about the industrial food system and environmental crises provided the family’s initial motivation to live differently. The household, meeting 80% of their needs without using money, is nonetheless rich in so many ways. Wealth is found in their cellar of preserved foods, connections with community, saved seeds, homesteading skills and the time to focus on what really matters in life. Yet the decision to live this way has brought profound challenges for their family, in the form of their eldest son’s encounters with the law. These experiences have produced immense grief, but, in the end, also great joy.