Short documentaries illustrate American horticulture

Everywhere there are lawns. Strips, squares, rectangles, some tidy and trimmed others looking like they've had a bad haircut.

"Gimme Green," a nifty documentary, takes on this icon of landscaping, pointing the finger at its verdant presence in communities across the country, wondering if it is truly worth the time, money and 30,000 tons of pesticides required to keep the residential eye candy green and growing.

The film points out that Americans use roughly 50 percent of household water on yards. What's involved here is potable, usable, water dumped on front yards, only to run off into the gutter and down storm drains.

Directors Isaac Brown and Eric Flagg also suggest that a lawn is not just a lawn but social commentary on the folks who own the lawn, and good neighbors don't let said patch of sod go untended — mow, seed, water and repeat is the standard. Weekly. Frame the green stuff with eye wash, meaning annuals, perennials, and hedges. It's the least you can do. There are property values to consider ... and so on. They also ask if said grass is saturated with pesticides, it may not be the best place to let the kids play or roll around.

There is a connection between "Gimme Green" and "Fridays at the Farm." Both are about what use we make of the land.

Director Richard Hoffman, feeling he and his family are clueless when it comes to understanding where their food comes from decide to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), which proves to be an organic farm in suburban Philadelphia.

Using a digital still camera, Hoffman records some 20,000 images of his family's introduction to a world where from seed to melon, the process of growing the food that lands on their plates is gradually appreciated and understood. Hoffman conveys the joy of working with the earth, nurturing crops, and, along with his wife and children, sitting down and sharing the results. For all concerned it is a transforming experience, one which the film conveys nicely.