Green Options

My daughter likes to make cornbread (and eat it too).  She thinks it is fun to make skillet corn bread, and the whole family enjoys it too.  Adding fresh organic corn from the garden makes a nice end of summer treat.

Vegan Organic Skillet Corn Bread

Place an oiled 10 inch iron skillet in a oven heated to 400 degrees.  Mix together:

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon honey or sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

One of the main problems with the future of ethanol production is its relationship to corn. For some time now corn has been a prime source of ethanol. But as a result, corn that was once used for food is disappearing for fuel, and the increase in corn production has added increased fertilizer waste to waterways.

Now, a new study from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering and Mascoma Corporation in Lebanon, N.H., has made a discovery that will prove invaluable in production large quantities of cellulosic ethanol, a likely substitute.

As I walked through the farmers market this weekend I saw the first pumpkins showing up alongside the still abundant tomatoes and even corn and peppers. I love this time of year where it feels like everything is in season all at once especially zucchini. Except, perhaps, the fresh berries that I will miss. As the corn and peppers give way, we get a short “second season” of greens to pair with the winter squashes that are just coming in. It’s all good, the harvest, the weather, the food.

We got no less than NINE cucumbers in the CSA bag. So, this week, of course I am doing a recipe for cucumbers. The taste of this is not unlike a “fresh pickle.” It uses a LOT of cucumbers

Recipe and entries after the jump.

Could cyanobacteria eventually become a more popular biofuel than corn, sugarcane, or even algae? Quite possibly. According to Science Daily, cyanobacteria can convert up to 10 percent of the sun’s energy into biomass.

This is a drastic improvement over the 1 percent rate of crops like corn and sugarcane, as well as the 5 percent rate of algae. With such a high conversion rate, cyanobacteria could replace a hefty amount of fossil fuels without taking up too much land.

Teenagers have been arrested in a state-wide methamphetamine bust in Denali National Park.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

There has been a growing conversation in the promotional items market about items made from corn plastic.

For us this conversation normally comes up when clients debate the pros and cons of corn plastic mugs like those offered by the manufacturer QuickPoint.

The argument normally goes like this.

Pro: Corn plastic mugs are safe and sturdy. They cost less than mugs of similar weight made from petroleum plastic. The QuickPoint products and others are union-made in the U.S.A from U.S. corn, therefore they are not shipped from overseas, which reduces their footprint, and are made by workers making U.S. wages. They are biodegradable.

Con: Using corn for plastic is believed to reduce the amount of corn in the global food chain. Contributing to a variety of social ills including food shortages and when combined with the increasing use of corn for ethanol, driving up the price of all sorts of goods. of

Part 2: Green Building Materials

Earlier this week, I wrote about my experience at Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. Specifically, I discussed the Ford Escape Hybrid. While I was in Dearborn, I also had the chance to check out some of the “green” materials that Ford is currently using/plans to use in their vehicles.

One of these materials is soy-based foam, which is present in the 2008 Mustang, the F-150, the Expedition, the Navigator, and the Focus. The foam is made by crushing soybeans to get oil, which is then turned into soy polyol. According to Ford, the foam reduces CO2 emissions by 5 million pounds annually. Soy proteins are also eventually going to be used in rubber parts.

Farmers Market Fare is back this week for the seriously hot days of summer. Despite the heat, I’ve been out and about doing farm tours. Last weekend was Tomato Fest, with a celebration of heirloom tomatoes, chef demonstrations, barbecue, music. If you have a chance to get out to a farm tour event like this, it’s well worth it. Plus, you can see the farm where your food is grown for yourself. Try that at the grocery store.

Here’s a lovely Panzanella salad that I had to try and recreate after tasting it at the Tomato Fest, along with some recipe submissions from our favorite regular contributors. Both of which have corn on their minds this week!

Recipes and links after the jump.

People who do not work for ADM, Deere, Cargill and Monsanto recognize that the rapidly growing corn ethanol industry is causing some unintended consequences. There has been a “corn rush” with rising prices for land, an increased demand for fertilizers, reduction in crop rotation schemes, and production cost increases for a wide array of food items. The breadth of the impact on food prices has surprised some people because there is not always a first order connection to corn, but the competition for land and fertilizers can bleed into a diverse range of crops and meat products.

Corn ethanol is also causing some very interesting political discussions that result in strange bedfellow alliances on all sides of the argument. Conservative and liberal labels have no real meaning in this discussion; even regional boundaries are being made fuzzy by the varying impacts of the market changes.

Texas has reportedly applied for a waiver of the current ethanol standards. The Energy Policy Act provides an option for a waiver only if the environment or economy would be severely harmed because of the Renewable Fuel Standards.

The current rate at which biofuels are falling out of favor is largely founded on biased ideologies, which have been shaped by widespread political and corporate agenda-pushing from all sides of the fence.

But first, a digression.

Part 1: When an egg was just an egg

I remember a time when an egg was just an egg. Nobody argued about that. It was a blissful time. Yet, for all its strengths, it was a fragile time held together by unsupported conclusions and limited knowledge.