The coming month is always the most difficult part of the winter for me. By this time I’m tired of soup, squash, and potatoes, and feeling guilty about wanting out-of-season produce, especially fruit. I’m losing my resolve when it comes to keeping the thermostat down. My wool sweaters no longer make me feel cozy. I find myself reaching for the curry powder, the red chilis, and the kimchi to stave off winter-weariness. When the gardening catalogues start to arrive, they’re like seeing a mirage — a fantasy of fresh flowers, vibrant leafy greens, juicy berries, and sweet corn — that holds out a tantalizing glimpse of something on the far horizon. Several months of snow, ice, slush, mud, and gray skies must still be traversed before we reach the real garden oasis.

I’ll admit it. If I can’t spend a weekend on a southern shore, I need a little moral support to make it through until spring.

That’s why I’m looking forward to spending a cold winter night eating delicious appetizers and watching “Fresh.” Showing at WAMC’s Linda Norris Auditorium this Thursday, January 21st, this documentary is the latest in the Food For Thought series co-sponsored by Honest Weight Food Co-op. Dubbed “An Evening of Socially Relevant Cinema,” this series always delivers. There’s great food provided by Honest Weight, fascinating films, and lively and informative panel discussions afterwards. I’m excited about “Fresh” because it promises to be an uplifting look at people who are making a difference by modeling fresh, sustainable practices for healing our food system.

While films like “The Future of Food” and “Food, Inc.” have done important work in exposing the myriad ills of industrial agriculture, “Fresh” focuses on the antidotes, and on the people at the forefront of bringing change. Producer/director Ana Joanes cites her own feelings of being overwhelmed by climate change and other global issues as the motivation for making the film. In it, she profiles a number of inspiring people—from farmers to grocers—who are already realizing their vision of broader access to fresh, local food.

One of these is Will Allen, a former professional basketball player and corporate marketer. In 1995, he founded Growing Power, a thriving community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that now operates city farms and satellite training centers in Chicago, Illinois, as well as five other states. Allen’s focus on “food security” for city dwellers, his work with urban teenagers, and his public workshops on aquaculture, small and large scale composting, and other intensive, sustainable food growing methods won him a McArthur award in 2008.

Another is Russ Kremer, who used to run a concentrated hog confinement operation. Like most factory farms, Kremer’s relied on a long list of antibiotics that he administered to the hogs as part of their diet, both to accelerate their growth and to treat them for ailments brought on by their living conditions. Kremer totally converted his farm to be antibiotic-free 15 years ago after a hog gored him and he developed a life-threatening, antibiotic-resistant infection.

A third is Joel Salatin, of Polyface farm, who gained public attention when Michael Pollan wrote about this carefully husbanded, extremely productive enterprise in “The Ominivore’s Dilemma.” These and others, including restaurant owners, businesspeople, and activists such as Andrew Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety, are all featured in a film that promises to be visually lush as well as thought-provoking, encouraging, and informative.

The panel will include:

Community activist and journalist Tracy Frisch./ She co-founded the Regional Farm & Food Project and Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, and helped initiate the NYS Farmstead and Artisan Cheesemakers Guild.