Rebecca Gerendasy
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Rebecca Gerendasy is an award-winning filmmaker and veteran video journalist. After 20 years at KTVU in San Francisco, Rebecca formed her own film company, Potter Productions, Inc., producing critically acclaimed work that emphasizes story at the heart of each project. In May of 2006 she co-founded Cooking Up a Story, one of the first online television shows dedicated to the subject of people, food, and sustainable living. Rebecca continues to bring the people behind our food to life, through stories and information that focus on agriculture, ecology, and the environment. Her work has been seen on Fox, CBS, NBC, Food Network, CNN, and others.

Blog Entries by Rebecca Gerendasy

A Love of Good Farmhouse Food (Video)

(0) Comments | Posted May 30, 2012 | 1:27 PM

Winemaker Rudy Marchesi has crafted his life around a world devoted to food. He has carved out a communal "little five acre food oasis" he calls home. Marchesi doesn't use the word "artisan" to describe the types of foods he loves to grow, raise, craft or cook, he...

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Urban Gleaners: Reducing Food Waste to Reduce Hunger (Video)

(4) Comments | Posted May 24, 2012 | 6:50 PM

A simple idea that came out of hearing a story on the radio. For Tracy Oseran, it was something she had to do: help find and distribute food that would otherwise be thrown out -- perfectly edible food -- from supermarkets, farmer's markets, events, and restaurants, and deliver that food...

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Mother's Cure-All: Chicken Noodle Soup and More! (video)

(2) Comments | Posted May 11, 2012 | 8:26 PM

In honor of mother's everywhere, we visited Chef Lisa Schroeder of Mother's Bistro in Portland, Oregon, where she shows us how to make the quintessential Jewish penicillin: chicken noodle soup. Not only does Schroeder offer easy recipes to follow (see below), she provides shortcuts to save time and...

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A Mom Teaches Her Children the Importance of Food (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted May 10, 2012 | 11:16 AM

With her husband overseas serving in the military, Sarah Gilbert strives to prepare home-cooked meals on a daily basis. "Being a mom is really connected to feeding your kids," says Gilbert, a stay-at-home working mother. As she learned from her mother growing up, Gilbert endeavors to educate and instill an...

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Winter Greenhouse Farming

(3) Comments | Posted May 2, 2012 | 5:40 PM

Rick Steffen could be thought of as a small farmer for all seasons. That's because he grows a variety of crops, some unusual like his fruit orchards -- inside a series of 55 greenhouses, some up to a half-acre in size, near Portland, Oregon. As a result, he has been...

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Visit to a Rare Wasabi Farm (VIDEO)

(0) Comments | Posted April 26, 2012 | 9:16 AM

There are only four wasabi farms in North America. The wasabi plant is difficult to grow commercially, and because of its value, these farms tend to be hidden from public view. Join us as we visit a wasabi farm in Oregon, whose only commercial crop are two varieties...

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Lambing Season on the Farm (Video)

(0) Comments | Posted April 18, 2012 | 5:28 PM

Spring is lambing season, and so we wanted to visit a farm that specializes in raising lambs. SuDan Farm, located in Canby, Oregon, does just that; it raises lambs for meat, breeding stock and for value-added wool products. Farm owner Susan Wilson takes us on a tour to see the...

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The Ogallala Aquifer: Water Scarcity on the Texas High Plains (VIDEO)

(7) Comments | Posted February 14, 2012 | 7:35 PM

We will have to develop much more sustainable, or durable forms of food production because the way we have done things up to now are no longer as viable as they once appeared to be. -- Prince Charles' speech on the future of food, May 4th, 2011



On the southern high plains of Texas, on a time-scale less than an average human lifetime, growing concerns over water scarcity are playing out. In this semi-arid region of the country that represents the largest contiguous land mass dedicated for production agriculture, the total annual rainfall may be 18 inches, or in some years, substantially less. Since the rainfall is not distributed evenly over the growing season, or to be counted upon when most needed, the majority of the agricultural production (around 70 percent of food and fiber grown in this region) comes from irrigated lands.

This short documentary provides a glimpse into an unusually important, and long-running research and demonstration project, called the Texas Coalition for Sustainable Integrated Systems Research (TeCSIS) and the Texas Alliance for Water Conservation (TAWC) that started with a grant from SARE to form TeCSIS. This combined project (TeCSIS/TAWC) involves scores of scientific researchers, educational institutions, government agencies, and local area farmers (producers) that are trying to find answers to extend the life of the Ogallala Aquifer, and promote more sustainable, economic viability for this invaluable agricultural region.

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David Korten: Capitalism, Democracy, and Food (Video)

(4) Comments | Posted November 2, 2011 | 11:43 AM

In this video interview, David Korten, noted author, and co-founder of Yes! magazine shares his views on the importance of building local, community-based economies, in which sustainable agriculture has a key role to play.

Korten explains that our existing industrial agriculture system receives essential...

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David Korten: Capitalism's Threat to Democracy (Video)

(2) Comments | Posted October 5, 2011 | 8:24 AM

In this frank interview with noted author and visionary David Korten, he minces no words about the dangers our current capitalist system poses to democracy, and how Wall Street undermines the well-being of society, and threatens civilization itself. The creation of real wealth, Korten...

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Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat

(0) Comments | Posted September 14, 2011 | 6:00 PM

2011-09-14-4featuredwomenTC2web.jpgThe 30 women whose stories are profiled in this book, Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, share a common vision for what constitutes a sustainable food system. That our food should be largely fresh, nutritious, and taste delicious; that...

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Frikeh: Green Wheat Wonder

(5) Comments | Posted August 25, 2011 | 12:25 AM

2011-08-24-FrikehSummerSalad.jpg Frikeh (also spelled "freekeh" and "fereek"), is a Middle-Eastern dish made from immature (green) wheat whose natural development is permanently arrested by a roasting process in the field. In its native region, extending from Egypt to Turkey, the heat used for parching...

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Hunger and Food Insecurity in Epic Proportions (Video)

(0) Comments | Posted July 21, 2011 | 2:53 PM

If America is the greatest nation in the world -- and there are many who feel we may justifiably consider ourselves so -- why can't we eliminate (or significantly reduce) hunger and food insecurity in this country?

We would do well to listen to what Rachel Bristol, longtime CEO of...

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Collecting a Wild Honeybee Swarm (VIDEO)

(12) Comments | Posted June 14, 2011 | 6:18 PM

In this video, beekeeper Matt Reed demonstrates how to collect a wild honeybee swarm. This one is about 2 pounds in size, or 7,000 bees. A swarm may range in size anywhere between roughly 1000 to 30,000 bees, and relies upon a small contingent of scouts...

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Raising Backyard Chickens (VIDEO)

(4) Comments | Posted June 9, 2011 | 5:31 PM

Naomi Montacre, co-founder of Naomi's Organic Farm Supply, a Portland organic feed and products store, shares some of her expert knowledge on raising backyard chickens.

In part 1, Montacre describes some of the basic considerations deciding whether to raise chickens in your own backyard. As she points out,...

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Factory Farms: Is it Time To Put CAFOs Out to Pasture? (Video)

(10) Comments | Posted May 16, 2011 | 2:20 PM

In part 2 of his talk about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Dan Imhoff speaks to an audience of Friends of Family Farmers that is concerned about the health and wellbeing of their communities, and supports the creation of more sustainable and environmentally healthy alternatives to our...

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Biodiesel Production: Creating Economic Self-Sufficiency on the Farm (VIDEO)

(17) Comments | Posted April 28, 2011 | 5:45 PM

Roger Rainville is ahead of the curve when it comes to reducing costs on his farm near Alburgh, Vermont. He's currently producing biodiesel for about $1.70 a gallon. That savings, and his profit margin, are going to be even greater if energy and fuel prices continue to rise...

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Factory Farms: Is It Time to Put CAFO's Out to Pasture? (Video)

(1) Comments | Posted April 22, 2011 | 1:33 PM

As Dan Imhoff explains in part 1 of this video -- editor of the new (coffee table size) book CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories, a large body of illuminating essays, and full spread pages of (full-throttled) images depicting a litany of inhumane livestock conditions...

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Visit to an Artisan Goat Farm (VIDEO)

(7) Comments | Posted March 29, 2011 | 4:10 PM

2011-03-29-Evinherdinggoats.jpg Evin J. Evans, of Split Creek Farm, fell in love with goats when she was a teenager. When people ask, "How come you got into goats?" she answers, "I didn't get into goats; they got into me." She now has...

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Freezing Fruit for All Seasons (Video)

(0) Comments | Posted February 18, 2011 | 1:41 PM

2011-02-18-Pickingthrufrozenberries.jpgRemember those hot days of summer? Well, if they feel too far away, come along on this behind-the-scenes tour of the Willamette Valley Fruit Company plant where they freeze fresh locally grown fruits for year-round use. Working with berries that...

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