The NYT highlights a key food-system gap: infrastucture | Grist

The NYT highlights a key food-system gap: infrastucture | Grist

Here in Southern Illinois, this is a biggie. Good writing.

One problem here - we need milli, not mega. Fish processing facility way overbuilt, resultant low utilization.

Guy Kawasaki writes about "good problems" = high demand for customer service because you sold more than expected.

Compare to "bad problems" = low utilization in early market.

Kudos @grist

Small Scale Fresh Food Prototyping With Rusty Bookcase + Ladybug

Good Bugs and Good Eats

But fresh, even small scale, makes the winter days brighter.

Got started late this year and have only anemic prototypes of growing tomatoes, but have achieved proof of principle.

I use a rusted out metal bookcase in a south window. That works too. It's been a safe house for the many ladybugs that pop out during the warmer days here. They've been munching some kind of pests on the plants and it seems a fair deal. (Introducing exotic species generally a very poor idea. Finally starting to see native lady bugs again).

So the bookshelf's not really a bona fide prototype, but I bought a bunch of end of season seed geraniums for a dime on the dollar which faded, then came back and made me smile throughout the winter.

Even had success with some cherry tomatoes that I started in September. They're horribly abused but I have a few green ones now. Brandywines started at same time about a foot high, and wintered over not much the worse for wear. Nice early start for spring (if something doesn't eat 'em when transplanted from the pots).

Urban food, local food, good eats. We'll get there.

More urban farming at Will Allen's www.growingpower.org/

Jo Ann Emerson (Incumbent Insider) fear v Sowers (Smart Outsider)

Some people run on their record. Others hide from their record.
The good, no, great news is that Jo Ann Emerson's PACs will be wasting their money.


Next hoot:


This is a Missouri political bloviator's site:
 The J. Harris Company's ethics page. 


I believe it is well and truly false goods.

They apparently believe that by publishing a web page on "ethics" it makes them ethical.

I disagree. 


They are backing amazingly dim Republicans and have gone so far as to (lamely) squat on the domain of a gifted Kosovo-Iraq-West Point veteran running against a PAC'd up incumbent in Rush Limbaugh's home district (e.g., Cape Girardeau)

If you want to see the *real* campaign, please go to: http://www.sowersforcongress.com/
Give anything (the more the better, of course) but let's put a thumb in the eye of RUSH LIMBAUGH'S HOME DISTRICT.


Ok. I'll drop the caps lock. Feel better now.


Domain squatting = smell of fear.

Just for grins, send these people a howdy at the domain squatter at tommysowersforcongress,com

 Harris, James  
      The J. Harris Company
      122 East High St.
      Suite 200
      Jefferson City, Missouri 65101
      United States
      (573) 761-7875  


If y'all could give 'em a phone call from time to time, I am sure they would appreciate it. 

Leave a message that asks an earnest complex question. 


What was Jo Ann Emerson doing in Cuba? 
What was "awesome" in Scotland junket. Was there any involvement with Abramoff?
Why has the district lost so many jobs since 2000?
How many years has Jo Ann lived in the district?
Is there an ethical problem with taking insurance or pharmaceutical money and being in Congress?
How is your district better off now as opposed to 1996?
Why didn't anything happen on insurance and health care in the district since 1996.


Pile on, it's fun! The honest answers are "hammena hanmena".


Whee! Jump in!


Ask them if they are trying to confuse voters. Ask them if they are afraid by squatting on an Internet domain that rips off Tommy Sower's own.


The thing about sunlight: it scares the heck out of roaches.


I urge you all to read and tell friends to read. This election matters. Because someone tells you time after time that they care for you does not mean that they care for you.


Some people run on their record. Some hide from their record.


Fun time for all!!!!

Party On!



Ask. I'm sure it will inform you.


Thanks,
Mike

New Rural Economy from MetroFarm Online Magazine, Food Chain Radio and Via Campesina

MetroFarm Online Magazine + Via Campesina + Food Chain Radio

Good scan of new food production opportunities. I picked this up from http://www.foodchainradio.com/

Literate conversation, looking at small scale farming "close" to urban markets. This becomes sustainable.

Interview with Guest: Nettie Wiebe from Via Campesina http://www.viacampesina.org/en/ who farms in in Saskatchewan.

Fly to 3rd Avenue, Turn West

View Larger Map

Devil's Backbone, Grand Tower, Illinois

View Larger Map

Watch this space: Shared Lands

Shared Lands

Some really good things will happen with this.

Vertical Farming, Livingry Systems: windowfarms.org

our.windowfarms.org | Home

In situ solutions for local food. Paul Polak pointed me at this via Engineering for Change.

Open source design. I submitted a proposal yesterday for the Google Fiber project speaking about the reinvention of rural through open source manufacturing.

The windowfarms systems seem pretty low power; I'd be a tad careful about wall sockets myself (they have a warning about drip loops).

I got our KWH down by ~30-40% in peak months by pulling kit off the grid and improving insulation and criminally bad windows installed in the 1970s.  Even with the reduction in energy I'm warm in winter and eating well.

Really uncomfortable green technology will not be adopted by consumers other than the Deep Granola side of the conversation. Sustainable means there's a viable market that does not require ongoing subsidy.

Windows and Tomatoes and Herbs

Herb Booth. Jamie Oliver's Happy Days video has an herb booth roaring like a jungle. That'll be a tactic this fall. I've been playing with making pesto with dried basil and fresh garlic - not bad. But the idea of going over and plucking some fresh basil in January does appeal. He does a great quick pizza crust with just flour and water - I like it a lot and I can prep, mix, and have it out of the oven before I could even get to town for a (lesser) pie. If you're not familiar with Mr.Oliver, he's a socially responsible food rock star - helping teens stay out of trouble and into work see www.fifteen.net for more.  Really like his chops - a few ingredients, don't sweat it too much, and just do it. Friend the gentleman on FaceBook and read his recipes.

A mash up of Jamie Oliver from YouTube: Note the shed greenhouse at 0:19



Good Bugs and Good Eats

But fresh, even small scale, makes the winter days brighter.

Got started late this year and have only anemic prototypes of growing tomatoes, but have achieved proof of principle.

I use a rusted out metal bookcase in a south window. That works too. It's been a safe house for the many ladybugs that pop out during the warmer days here. They've been munching some kind of pests on the plants and it seems a fair deal. (Introducing exotic species generally a very poor idea. Finally starting to see native lady bugs again).

So the bookshelf's not really a bona fide prototype, but I bought a bunch of end of season seed geraniums for a dime on the dollar which faded, then came back and made me smile throughout the winter.

Even had success with some cherry tomatoes that I started in September. They're horribly abused but I have a few green ones now. Brandywines started at same time about a foot high, and wintered over not much the worse for wear. Nice early start for spring (if something doesn't eat 'em when transplanted from the pots).

Urban food, local food, good eats. We'll get there.

More urban farming at Will Allen's www.growingpower.org/

New chilli grenade packs a punch Ananova + NPR Interview

Ananova - New chilli grenade packs a punch

Try the new Extreme Pepper Spray Nachos with this.




This just in 25 March 2010: NPR has an interview with a chef who's making burgers with this. EMTs have had to go to the restaurant several times to help patrons. NPR's News Blog covers this http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/pepper_bomb_india_ghost.html

The podcast and transcript is here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125184572

They share also a video

Company gets $22.7 million for broadband expansion in Southern Illinois - Breaking news - bnd.com

Company gets $22.7 million for broadband expansion in Southern Illinois - Breaking news - bnd.com

Heartland Papers - policy wonking on rural development

Heartland Papers

Excellent papers on rural economy development (stop chasing smokestacks) and Mexican immigration in the Midwest (3rd rail, but data are data.....)

Read at least the executive summary of "Transforming the Rural Economy in the Midwest". 

Very consistent with good practices/emerging wonking on building sustainable local economies.

The USDA has started a new series of reports on Micropolitan areas (above) link at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/MicropolitanAreas/ and also analysis reflecting the influence of Urban areas, notable "no town no center" for the SE corner of the bootheel, for example. Link at http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Rurality/UrbanInf/

The Midwesterner: Blogging the Global Midwest

The Midwesterner: Blogging the Global Midwest

Stop chasing smokestacks.

Heartland Papers - Midwest Economic Issues

Heartland Papers

Excellent thinking about the rural economy here in the Midwest. Strong sense of regionalism. 

Issue 2 - "Past Silos and Smokestacks: Transforming the Rural Economy in the Midwest," by Mark Drabenstott, director of the Center for Regional Competitiveness at the Rural Policy Research Institute and chairman of the Territorial Development Policy Committee for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Unrequited Notes on Google Broadband

A redacted email I wrote about a week ago.

Ahoy XXXX!

I don't play in a league J

I just read the Google RFI, and they do seem pretty focussed on the town, etc. as the model for their trials. XXXXX  in Governor Quinn's office had a conference call on this last month with the Broadband Deployment task force; I do not know the outcomes. 

XXXXXXXX

NPA-NXX-XXXX

The economics of 1G via fiber really tend toward a more urban (or at least moderate density) deployment.  The complexities are not so much in the technology - bury cable for about $40K/mile or hang it for about $15K a mile - but in the negotiation and management of rights of way. 

Hence, my take is that the complexity of trying to do a state-wide deployment might push it to the bottom of the pile for Google.Getting agreement from a town's more manageable than moving across jurisdictions; legislation is antique and anticompetitive.

What might be interesting would be to understand a deployment model of a 1G wireless infrastructure hubbed from fast fiber  (or reasonably fast wireless as a backbone). Google has been big in open access advocacy (Whitespaces - unregulated bandwidth).

There might be something to go at with a conversation about connected community.  

A fast, low latency implementation could allow, for example, cultural entertainment shared amongst, say, Chicago and some of the old theaters downstate (Varsity in Carbondale, Liberty in Murphysboro) that have become 501c3 community spaces. The entertainment / community really drives the build out of networks beyond the "must do this" segments. Although the vision of high res tele medicine is laudable, the toughest technical requirements are for gaming (by far), audio, and video. "Play Halo and get your MRI data shipped for free."

1G also offers immersive environments / shared spaces of very high video resolution - 3d capable. I have friends in a group called DigItSignal that do weekly performances together from New York, Florida, Sweden, and England over the Internet. Maybe something to encourage the transport of Chicago Blues exchanged for Makanda Bluegrass? I'm thinking art/music/fun will be a differentiator. Everyone else will cite obligatory "medicine, education, yadda yadda" and that's necessary. But Google wants to learn how to, in the old Internet tradition, MAKE MONEY FAST. And that will come from entertainment / social applications.

I think it quite important to stress the emerging vision as one of a *shared* network. I say this because I've seen failure in thinking and implementation of single-purpose networks (which will suffer unsustainably low utlilization, viz, a pure medical network, or unshared infrastructure running to/from schools, etc.).

XXXX'x  point on the regional model - say a river basin - makes very good points.http://techneblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/rural-america-jobs-and-wireless.html covers experience in the Oregon with additional case studies of a West Virginia project from a few years ago. Similarly, the "beyond the state" issues for regional approaches matter greatly here in Egypt. http://techneblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/why-regional-markets-matter-driving.html points out that this part of Illinois is closer to Nashville, TN than Springfield, IL. What might be interesting is rural very high speed "thin" network provided by Google. Even <1M wireless broadband down here (via Alltel) has driven out satellite internet quite quickly; the adoption of broadband by existing dial up users likewise very rapid.

As far as downstate regional broadband efforts, XXXXXXX  would be an appropriate place to "funnel" potential alliances. I just got off the phone with XXXXXXXXXX He's at NPA-NXX-XXXXand would be happy to hear from you. He's also quite fluent in some of the practical argot of getting broadband put in "down here". I know some progress has been made in mapping broadband extant infrastructure; he'll have far more recent insight into that.

Quick Study Planning Resource

Another source http://www.newamerica.net/broadbandstimulus  consolidates additional materials in infrastructure "OTI prepared five application guides as well as a primer to funding opportunities and a strategic guidance document regarding BTOP infrastructure funding. "

With apologies for somewhat scattered editing, but I wanted to get this out quickly. I'd be happy to help.

Best,

Mike

How to Change the World: The Elements of Guyle: British Blogging

How to Change the World: The Elements of Guyle: British Blogging

Maryland PR Firm Runs For Congress : NPR

Maryland PR Firm Runs For Congress : NPR

And why not? Corporations = People

British Blogging: The Elements of Guyle : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum

British Blogging: The Elements of Guyle : The World :: American Express OPEN Forum

Lovely set of ideas for more gooder blogging :-)

Una Pizza Napoletana Great Cooking Videos

Una Pizza Napoletana

When Anthony Mangieri's NY restaurant Una Pizza Napoletana closed, he planned to open a new one. The SFGate article has him showing up in San Francisco with a May 2010 opening.

The New York venue now holds Motorino (also what looks to be stunningly great fresh pizza & eats.)


NATURALLY RISEN from michael evans on Vimeo.

More of Anthony Mangieri's work in an interview at http://www.chow.com/stories/11065 including a good look at his wood burning pizza oven.

The Technology Chronicles : Facebook edges past Google for weekly traffic

The Technology Chronicles : Facebook edges past Google for weekly traffic

It's people.

How Do You Make A Yugo Cool? Turn It Into A Book. : NPR

How Do You Make A Yugo Cool? Turn It Into A Book. : NPR

Nice update to http://techneblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/1969-trabant-was-fur-ein-sues-fahren.html for the Trabant.

Send in the Clowns - The Coming Spin Cycle from Incumbent Broadband Providers

New York Times reports on FCC plans for credible broadband infrastructure.

As always, read the 100+ comments which will make you want to turn the car around and go home. Believe me, facts hamper vigorous debate!

The incumbents will take on roles made famous from great traditions mixing Noh, commedia dell'arte, mystery plays, and s(l)ideshows featuring tethered services provided with consultants (Slideshow Bobs?) and lobbyists to avoid the public ever having to be informed.

Ah, the incumbents. Service providers. What Newspeak. I want common carriers with firewalls to keep them from owning content and applications. I believe in markets, innovation, and low frictional cost structures.

Here's to physics over monopoly. (And I don't think this FCC vision's close to what it needs to be, but direction positive.)

New America Foundation has a series of policy papers emphasizing intelligent spectrum management at http://wirelessfuture.newamerica.net/archives/policydocs. This is quite important for empowering rural areas, in particular, with modern broadband.

It doesn't take a carrier. Watch this space.

Cue the duckspeak.

F.C.C. Plan to Widen Internet Access in U.S. Sets Up Battle

By BRIAN STELTER and JENNA WORTHAM

Published: March 12, 2010

The 10-year plan would reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/business/media/13fcc.html

More more at http://www.fcc.gov/ on spectrum policy, consumer broadband test tools, etc.

Great Overview of Health Care from KUOW

Worth a listen: how we're getting messed around with status quo and insiders.

T.R. Reid: Health Care Explained, Simply

www.kuow.org

KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio: NPR News and Information

Arcosanti as Holiday Village

Heard a fascinating piece on NPR this morning: an Indiana developer, Leroy Troyer, wants to put a vacation destination under glass in Indiana. This has taken off in Europe. Families drive to these venues, park the car, stay for a few days and walk everywhere.

http://www.centerparcs.com/ describes "Holiday Villages" across Europe and the UK. They speak to "Short Breaks and Family Holidays". Maybe a bit Disney, but I find these places appealing, along the lines of a Dude Ranch.  These types of projects could be an interesting addition to an agro-tourism regional development model. Sort of a chunky nougat for an industry cluster. Sorry.

The Indiana project is with NPR's Morning Edition at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124593116 and the comments range from support to cynicism.

For some other projects, take a browse through http://www.buckminster.info/ for Fuller's Old Man River City (an intimate dome for 125,000 people) and http://www.arcosanti.org/ for another big vision of an urban living system from Paolo Soleri's work.

Local Food, Local Economy, Bad Governmental Policy

Why we need transformational leadership in government. Status quo is hurting families and limiting choice.Florida and California apparently dominate policy. Where are we?

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)

By JACK HEDIN

Published: March 1, 2008

Ultimately, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price if the federal government continues to prevent the local food movement from expanding.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/01/opinion/01hedin.html

White Lily Flour from The New York Times

Upon recommendation from my friend Mark, I got a bag of White Lily flour. It's been around as a southern brand since the early 1880ss, and was acquired by the Smuckers company a few years ago.

Results

Made amazing biscuits this morning with it. Lard *and* butter cut into the package recipe. Very nice biscuits reminding me of my Grandma's (a goal to strive for - she always used Crisco and kept the works in the fridge at home).  Will keep tweaking recipe - maybe add some baking soda and repeat.

Grandma used buttermilk. Her sister Louise always suggested clabbered milk (which can be found at http://www.ehow.com/how_2192640_make-clabbered-milk.html)
see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crème_fraiche
I've used whole milk yoghurt with decent results in biscuits; provides similarly good taste.

Also going to check on Nunn Better http://www.nunn-better.com/flour-corn.htm (Evansville, IN) and Virginia's Best which seem to have a following of their own. Likewise, soft red wheat flours with low protein.

Meanwhile, the debate about what Smucker's did when they closed the plant and moved operations is found at

DINING & WINE

Biscuit Bakers’ Treasured Mill Moves North

By SHAILA DEWAN

Published: June 18, 2008

For generations of Southern bakers, the closing of the White Lily flour mill is causing ripples of anxiety that Southern biscuits will never be the same.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/dining/18flour.html