Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In the analysis underlying our paper “New Perspectives on the Energy Return on (Energy) Investment (EROI) of Corn Ethanol,” we performed four major analyses relating to the EROI of corn ethanol. In this part, we will discuss two additional research areas from the paper.
The idea that the genius of the place and farmer and local economy might arise together to produce something enormously valuable, not just even if its merits are not universal, but because its merits are not universal, is a very strange one in modern culture, and particularly in modern agriculture. Instead, the show ring and the meat processor and the idea that “bestness” is a universal, rather than a specific, have produced an overwhelming pressure towards there being, say, one kind of milk cow – Holstein-Friesien, and a small smattering of a few other secondary varieties, all pretty much with one kind of dairy body conformation. It has reduced the number of livestock varieties dramatically, as many breeds have died out over the years.
What if, a friend of mine proposed, we are not approaching a point that will tip us into a grand ecological catastrophe which we are called upon to prevent? What if we are in the middle of that catastrophe and it began some time ago?
Russia is being devastated by extreme weather–and their leaders aren’t silent on what they think the cause is.
In this week’s post, the Archdruid introduces several million of his closest friends, reveals the secret Green Wizard meaning of the word “garbage,” and confronts the dreaded Squick Factor. His theme? Your future compost bin.
Deconstructing Dinner has recently been reflecting on the model of agriculture itself as the primary source through which most people on earth access their food. From our exploration of ethnobiology to recent topics on permaculture, it’s clear that there are other models available, which, for some people are a substitute for agriculture, and for others, complementary practices. But what within that dependence on agriculture are we all dependent upon? Multinational corporations? The chain grocery store? Perhaps the microwave!?
This week, Crop To Cuisine steps into the field of urban farming. Food Safety Expert, Bill Marler, addresses the right to eat whatever you want. And Crop To Cuisine continues its series on the new generation of american farmers, From The Ground Up. All that and more.
I’ve been eating home-baked bread from wheat flour slightly infected with vomitoxin. I have not vomited, nor have I suffered any ill effects as far as I know. The bread tastes just as delicious as our non-vomitoxic bread. I will try to explain and can only hope that you, gentle reader, will not think that this time I really have gone mad.
-Black Cat Farm and Restaurant: A Comprehensive Organic Farm Tour
-Are vertical farms the future of urban food?
-Cooking Up Bigger Brains
-World Bank warns on ‘farmland grab’
-Wheat Heads for Biggest Monthly Climb Since 1973 on Concern About Drought
-World Bank: Biofuels Didn’t Cause Grain Price Booms
And like the wild geese in my oldest, Eli’s favorite poem, I can feel the tang of winter coming. When you live on a farm, and when you eat with the seasons, winter is always coming in a way – I order my Thanksgiving turkey in February, order the seeds potatoes for my Chanukah latkes just a month or so after we finish eating them, thin our autumn’s apples in June, plant the beets and kale we’ll eat in December in July.
Peak Oil, loss of diversity, species extinction, conspiracy, oil spills, food insecurity …. the problems that we face seem to increase both in size and complexity every day. However we can simplify all of these global issues and emphasize three primary concerns.
How many slick tricks have you learned about farming and gardening more or less by accident? My favorite example happened because of laziness.
