Instagram story viewer> @molly.chester> Posts

Molly Chester

@molly.chester

19.2K

followers

476

following

Founder of Apricot Lane Farms 🌱🌳
Home of The Biggest Little Farm 🐷🥑🐓
Wife of John & Mom of Beaudie
Inspired by Traditional Foods

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

(John here) BIG NEWS! The Biggest Little Farm Series, the official sequel to our original documentary, premieres FREE on Sunday, November 8 at 8am EST, only on @YouTube!🐷 Comment “PREVIEW” for advance access before the premiere.

People often ask us what happened after the film ended. The truth is, nature never stopped challenging our sometimes embarrassing attempts to coexist with her. The Series shares the intense setbacks, but also the improbable moments of wonder that kept restoring our hope. I’ve come to believe that if more people understood how nature endures, adapts, and recovers, we might see a little less gloom and a lot more possibility for the future. That’s why, thanks to our presenting sponsor @artemisrisingfoundation, we’re sharing it free with the whole world.

Is there reason for hope? I think if you watch #TheBiggestLittleFarmSeries, you can judge for yourself... and I promise where it leads, no one could have expected.

Original Song: “Dear” by @alexsomersmusic from the unreleased soundtrack “The Biggest Little Farm Series” drops November 8, 2026. by @molly.chester

10k

3k

15 days ago

Big Changes! After spending 14 years building one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in Southern California, we have decided to embark on our next BIG DREAM. And you can follow that journey with us right here @TheBiggestLittleFarm. While it’s not easy to leave this amazing community of humans, plants and animals, we depart Apricot Lane Farms knowing it will continue under a passionate team.

SO WHERE ARE WE GOING? Within the next year we’ll be moving to a small mountain town in Oregon. We’re excited to pull from all the lessons we’ve learned over the years and focus them on a more personal, off the grid, solar powered, homesteading and rewilding project of our very own.

And the last bit of BIG NEWS is that the OFFICIAL SEQUEL to the original film is coming in 2026 as an epic doc series! The Biggest Little Farm Series follows the final few years of our Apricot Lane farming journey. And this is where we’ll announce the Series launch dates for 2026, sneak peeks and more.

TAG A FRIEND in the comments for a special “secret” message that reveals more!

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us on this incredible journey! Let’s stay connected for MORE!
Love, John & Molly by @molly.chester

10k

1k

a year ago

Introducing "The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from The Biggest Little Farm”! It’s officially available for pre-order wherever books are sold, and will be hitting shelves October 2022. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to share this piece of my heart with you!⁠
⁠
This book documents our family’s life living in tune with the rhythms of the farm and the vibrant, biodiverse ecosystem it’s integrated within. After all, at its essence, @apricotlanefarms began as a means to the end of cooking the most nutrient-dense food possible.⁠
⁠
The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook is a collection of all I’ve learned cooking and eating in connection with the land over the past 11 years, guided by the tried-and-true techniques for maximizing nutrition that I picked up as an organic foods chef. It’s a love letter to Mother Nature and the bounty each season gifts us, and a celebration of beautiful biodynamic, regenerative organic produce. The recipes honor seasonal ingredients in ways that enhance their unique flavor profiles and health properties.⁠
⁠
I hope this book empowers you with new ways to nourish yourself and your family, and maybe even inspires you to re-establish a closer connection to your own local food sources. I can’t wait for it to be yours this fall!⁠
⁠
To get PREORDER NOW (and pay later), click our link in my bio! And be sure to save your confirmation receipt for lots of fun bonuses over the next few months on @apricotlanefarms 🙌 ⁠#apricotlanefarmscookbook

publisher @avery_books
photographer @edandcamera
stylist @valerieaikmansmith
Illustrator @andreanaraville
writing @sarah_c_owens
foreward @alicelouisewaters taken in Apricot Lane Farms by @molly.chester

1k

91

5 years ago

Comment PREVIEW and we’ll DM you the link for advance access to this unreleased scene from #TheBiggestLittleFarmSeries. Sign up by Sunday to get it when it drops! 🐷🐺

If you saw our original documentary, you may remember Caya and her unfortunate encounter with Greasy the rooster... In her old age, she shares a pasture with Itty, great-granddaughter of Emma the pig.

When a coyote showed up, old Caya slept right through it. So Itty stepped in and played guardian...

This is an exclusive sneak peek from The Biggest Little Farm Series, premiering free on November 8. Newsletter subscribers get the full scene first, so make sure you’re on the list by Sunday! by @molly.chester

2k

434

8 days ago

BACK-TO-SCHOOL Series Day 27 💗 Meet Molly Chester @molly.chester @thebiggestlittlefarm

Molly’s incredibly talented son, Beaudie Chester - just 11-years-old, directed, shot and edited this film! Look out for this rising star! 🎥✨

Molly and I met back in 2014, when both of our cookbooks had just come out. She invited me to the farm, and we have been friends ever since. We bonded over real food, traditional wisdom, gut health, and our own healing journeys with food.

She and her family have since moved north to Oregon and have some exciting new projects in the works! @thebiggestlittlefarm has just announced its new series release November 8th, so be sure to follow along and be inspired. 🌱🐓🐷

Molly and her husband, John, have been incredibly supportive of School of Lunch! They’ve come to @manzanitaedu for lunch and have mentored the children in composting and gardening. They have spoken at our School of Lunch Training Academy and welcomed us to tour the farm and cook in their kitchen. They are beautiful people with big hearts.

Delighted to highlight my friend Molly and her easy-peasy blender pancakes!

Recipe in the caption 👩🏼‍🍳💗💯

Follow @thebiggestlittlefarm to find out more about the 12-part Biggest Little Farm Series that will be premiering later this year on YouTube!

#hilarysbacktoschool #smallchangesbigripples #thebiggestlittlefarm #realfood #traditionalfoods by @molly.chester

91

19

12 days ago

(Molly here) Be still my heart… this is “The Biggest Little Bouquet!” 💐🥹 Behind this gorgeous bouquet of field grown flowers (not easy in Central OR!) is an incredible group of local, female flower farmers called The Central Oregon Flower Collective - @coflowercollective. Every Tuesday during the growing season, they open the most adorable pop-up shop at @pomegranate_home in Bend from 8:30 - 11:00am. Lisa, the Founder of the Collective, kindly reached out to me on here welcoming us to the community with this gorgeous Biggest Little Bouquet. I had the honor of meeting some of the growers and seeing their quaint little market. What a lovely morning of authenticity and a shared passion for color. Leaving SoCal, one thing I miss is the abundance of year-round flowers, and this beautiful gift hugged that spot. Thanks ladies! taken in Bend, Oregon by @molly.chester

853

23

23 days ago

This event is for you if…

🌱 You loved the film The Biggest Little Farm @thebiggestlittlefarm
🌱 You care about regenerative agriculture
🌱 You’re curious how biodiversity actually works on a farm
🌱 You believe food and soil health are connected

On March 13, the SoCalHort welcomes @john_chester_on_the_farm and @molly.chester for a live conversation about the creation of @apricotlanefarms and the journey that inspired their acclaimed film.

They’ll also discuss their upcoming follow-up project, The Biggest Little Farm: The Series.
🎬 In-person attendees will see ✨EXCLUSIVE✨ clips from the series!
(Online attendees: due to distribution restrictions, Zoom attendees will hear the live conversation but will not see the series footage)

🎟 FREE for SCHS Members
🎟 $20 Non-Members

⏰ Date and time:
Friday, March 13, 2026
Doors open at 6:30 pm, Lecture starts at 7:30 pm.

📍 Location:
In-person at @lazoo , Witherbee Auditorium
or join via @zoom

REGISTER AT LINK IN BIO! Registration closes March 12 at 5pm PDT.

📸Speaker photos courtesy of John & Molly Chester
Additional photos by @johnschoustra taken in Los Angeles, California by @molly.chester

31

5

7 months ago

BACK AT IT AGAIN! 2026 Ruth Borun Lecture Series & this year we are featuring John And Molly Chester Of “The Biggest Little Farm” 🌱🪻🐷

In this program, “Farming in Harmony with Nature”, John Chester will take us through the triumphs, tragedies, and lessons learned while he and his wife Molly built @apricotlanefarms

Exclusive clips from the soon to be released The Biggest Little Farm:The Series will show how they learned to see beyond conventional, human solutions to farming problems, and instead embrace subtler solutions that nature offers.

Afterward, Molly will join John for an extended Q and A session.

REGISTER AT LINK IN BIO! Registration closes March 12 at 5pm PDT.

FREE for SCHS Members
$20 Non-Members

⏰Date & Time:
Friday, March 13, 2026
Doors open at 6:30 pm
Lecture at 7:30 pm

📍Location:
In-person at the Los Angeles Zoo, Witherbee Auditorium
(5333 Zoo Drive) and online via Zoom.

ONLINE ATTENDEES:
Due to network distribution restrictions, any video clips from The Biggest Little Farm: The Series will be shown exclusively to our in-person audience. The Zoom broadcast will include the live speakers but not the series footage. by @molly.chester

52

0

7 months ago

Eat Wild - Exploring Foodscapes in Our
Backyard with Sophie Merkens x Molly Chester - Hosted by Amber Rose

@molly.chester
@thebiggestlittlefarm
@apricotlanefarms
@sophiemerkens
@undergroundfestivalnz

1.30 - 2.15 pm Thursday, Day Two of Underground Festival

I’m honoured to be hosting a conversation at Underground Festival with two extraordinary women: Molly Chester and Sophie Merkens.

Molly Chester is the co-founder of The Biggest Little Farm - a film that deeply moved me when it first came out. I watched it twice at our local cinema. It was more than a documentary. It was a love letter to land, persistence, ecology, and the power of staying in relationship when things fall apart. Her journey of building Apricot Lane Farms through complexity, failure, beauty, and regeneration has inspired people all over the world.

Sophie Merkens is a wild food storyteller, forager, and adventurer who has travelled the length of New Zealand gathering stories from those who live intimately with land and sea - hunters, fishers, gatherers, and Indigenous knowledge holders. Her work honours the people who know place through practice, and who carry living knowledge in their hands.

To sit between these two women and host a deeper conversation about their journeys - the challenges, the turning points, the lessons learned, and what regeneration really asks of us - feels like a pinch-me moment.

Underground Festival is a regenerative gathering centred around soil, food, farming, and the systems that sustain us. It’s a space for farmers, food lovers, gardeners, and the quietly curious - those seeking answers, or at least better questions - about how we relate to land, each other, and the living systems we are part of whether we recognise it or not.

It’s not too late to grab a 1- or 2-day pass, visit @undergroundfestivalnz to find info + tickets

Come and join us. Come and be part of the conversation. 
Amber by @molly.chester

164

3

8 months ago

I am SO excited to be part of @undergroundfestivalnz next week, 18–19 February, a celebration of soil, food, and farming.

On Thursday I’ll be part of the Eat Wild session exploring foodscapes in our backyard with @molly.chester from @thebiggestlittlefarm and @apricotlanefarms, and the wonderful @amber_rose_nz. Wowser.

Amber is also creating a Wild Breakfast Bar both mornings (inspired by my book Eat Wild, wild kai and amazing local growers). She’ll also be serving up glasses of @live.wild.nz. All of which I am wildly excited to try!

There are three sessions running at once during the festival. With more than 40 sessions and speakers it’s gonna be hard to choose (if I could attend them all I would!)

Pretty sure there will also be food cooked over fire, and wines (did I mention it’s at a vineyard?!) and all the goodness that comes with a soil-food-farming-music festival. Swoon.
 Will I see you there? by @molly.chester

130

12

8 months ago

Learn more ⬇️

John and Molly Chester brought incredible wisdom and practical advice to The Coop. Including insights on how to understanding predators can impact biodiversity... it was amazing.

Comment APRICOT and we'll send you the link to watch the full interview.
.
.
.
.
.
#homestead #homesteading #farm #farmlife #regenerativeag #regenerativeagriculture by @molly.chester

47

12

a year ago

Recently restocked: regenerative, pasture-raised, grass-fed & finished BEEF—just in time for your Labor Day grilling 🍔

@molly.chester’s Grass-Fed Beef Burger with ✨Bacon-Jalapeño Mayonnaise✨ and peak-season avocado is a deliciously nourishing way to celebrate the long summer weekend. Click the link in our bio + stories for the recipe, or comment BURGER below and we’ll send it your way!

🧺MARKET SCHEDULE⁠
★ Wednesdays – @smfms⁠ 8 AM–1 PM⁠
★ Thursdays – @thousandoaksfarmersmarket⁠ 11 AM–4 PM⁠

Our usual Saturday & Sunday Farmstand will be CLOSED 8/30-31 for the holiday, so stock up at our farmers market stands this week instead!
⁠
#apricotlanefarms #venturacounty #labordayweekend #labordayrecipes #summerrecipes #grilling #grassfedbeef #pastureraised #farmfresh #regenerativeagriculture #regenerativefarming #regenerativelyraised #knowyourfarmer taken in Ventura County by @molly.chester

3

5

a year ago