Food & Farms Stories Come to Life
Thanks to a partnership between Ecotrust and the Portland-based film company Potter Productions, Inc., food and farming stories come to life through Cooking Up A Story. Cooking Up A Story, Potter Production’s online television show, is about real people and their special connections to food and sustainable living. The stories are shot unscripted and are told in the voice of the subject.
This tremendous partnership helps in our work to spread the word far and wide about the vital issues facing the sustainable food and agriculture community.
Videos
Raised on Grass: Pasture Fed Animals »
Michael Pollan, Part 1: Food labeling requirements »
Michael Pollan, Part 2: Food as nutrition »
Michael Pollan, Part 3: The culture of food »
Michael Pollan, Part 4: Public policy and health »
Community Egg Co-op »
A New Family Farmer: Michael and Jill Paine »
Ecotrust's Food & Farms Program: The Vision »
Raised on Grass: Pasture Fed Animals
June 4, 2008
In "Here's the Beef: One Woman's Quest to Cook a Quarter Cow," the Summer 2008 issue of Edible Portland features the grass-fed beef that Cory Carman raises at Carman Ranch in Wallowa, Oregon. The video below tells the story of another Oregon farm that raises grass-fed animals, Abundant Life Farm. Scott and Marilyn Jondle raise and sell pasture-raised eggs, chickens, ducklings, turkeys and pork, and grass-fed beef and lamb in Dallas, Oregon.
Read the story as published in Edible Portland here: Here's the Beef: One Woman's Quest to Cook a Quarter Cow.
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food (Part 1)
February 19, 2008
Michael Pollan's new book, In Defense of Food, provides the backdrop for his talk in Portland, Oregon and prior interview with Deborah Kane, Vice President of Food & Farms. Remarkably, Mr. Pollan is talking about a defense of food in a literal sense: It's increasingly difficult to escape from eating foods that are food-like substances (processed foods), but are not whole (real) foods.
In part one of this four part series, we see how simple changes in food labeling requirements can influence consumer behavior, and how food manufacturers apply overwhelming pressure to effect laws that ultimately protect their own interests.
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food (Part 2)
March 5, 2008
In this segment, Michael Pollan talks about how Americans have come to view food through the lens of nutritionism, valuing the act eating only as seen from the health perspective. As Mr. Pollan aptly reminds us, there are a number of other compelling reasons for eating whole foods.
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food (Part 3)
March 14, 2008
How do we decide what to eat? Pleasure, a sense of community, and connecting to nature are all highly important aspects of eating that today are overlooked because of our reliance on the science of nutrition. In this segment, Michael Pollan encourages us to accept culture as the trustworthy guide in our approach to eating food.
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food (Part 4)
March 17, 2008
Michael Pollan connects the dots between government policy, public health, and the cost and availability of fresh, wholesome foods. Due to current government subsidies that make the least healthy foods the cheapest, we will have to pay more to eat well. That could all change with a federal universal health care system.
Community Egg Co-op
March 3, 2008
In the cover story of the Spring 2008 issue of Edible Portland, we learn that the Barred Rock hens of the Eastside Egg Co-operative live on Zenger Farm in southeast Portland. The hens clear farmland, produce free nitrogen-rich fertilizer for crops, aerate soil, provide educational opportunities for youth, and supply eggs to cooperative members. They're busy.
The story of the group of dedicated volunteers that came together to organize and manage this unique community enterprise comes to life below.
Read the story as published in Edible Portland here: The Eastside Egg Co-operative: Fifty Chickens and a Grand Idea.
A New Family Farmer
December 5, 2007
The first story to come to life through the partnership is connected to an Edible Portland article from the Winter 2008 issue featuring Gaining Ground Farm, which is run by a young family of first-time farmers in Yamhill, Ore.
Faced with buying property to make good on their dream to farm, Michael and Jill Paine went to the bank for a loan with a solid business plan in hand. First the bank refused. And then upon further consideration, Michael and Jill were counseled to take the word "farm" off the loan application. That's when Michael and Jill got the money they needed for their "country estate," now know as Gaining Ground Farm. Watch this amazing story below. Michael's first-hand telling of his experience trying to capitalize his new farm business is truly captivating.
Read Michael and Jill Paine's story as published in the Winter 2008 issue of Edible Portland here: Meet the New American (Zen) Farmer.
Ecotrust's Food & Farms Program: The Vision
January 20, 2008
Deborah Kane, Vice President of Food & Farms, describes the mission and vision of the program.
About Potter Productions, Inc.
Potter Productions is an award-winning independent film company whose work emphasizes non-fiction storytelling shot in natural, unscripted environments. Its online show, Cooking Up A Story, has received well over a million views with its unique brand of content, including: documentary shorts about people, food, and sustainable living; Food News: The Science, Politics, and Culture Relating To Food; and its newest segment, faces, profiling everyday people making a difference in the world as it relates to food.
