Woodstock VT Film Series: Whitman Brook

Whitman Brook: An Apple Orchard and the Nature of Time

Directed by Ben Silberfarb. 68 minutes. Not rated.
Q&A with filmmaker Ben Silberfarb and Whitman Brook Orchard’s Terry Dorman following the Saturday screening

Showings take place at 3:00PM in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater. Tickets are $15 person/$12 Billings Farm member.

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When Terry Dorman moved to Quechee, Vermont, in 1980, his plan didn’t include rescuing an abandoned, 100-year-old apple orchard. His mind was on the farm he and his wife, Sara, were planning to build, an idea rooted in the loss of his family’s land in Massachusetts decades earlier. But there it was—rows of gnarled, drooping trees in danger of being reclaimed by the forested hillside. So, he began to experiment with restoration pruning and grafting and soon he was in the orchard in every season, in every kind of weather.

Whitman Brook is the story of an orchard, and also its stewards—Terry and the others who work among the trees. It’s the story of love, of loss, and of rejuvenation through the act of caring for a place that will continue long into the future. And it’s a call to pay attention—to the natural world, to the passing of time, and to each other.

This film is about life’s pace. It’s about our place in time, environmental stewardship, and it’s a love story.” ~ Ben Silberfarb, Director