What Would You Do With 35 Million Acres? Ethanol and the limits of land use About 93 million acres of land in the United States was planted to corn in 2021. Roughly 40% of the corn crop goes to ethanol production – about 36 million acres. What if, instead of inefficiently converting corn into fuel,...
Bacon Cheddar Keto Quiche Easier than a regular quiche Good quiche has a lot going for it – a savory egg custard that can easily be modified to incorporate whatever meat and vegetables you happen to have in the fridge. But quiche can also go wrong. We’ve all had disappointingly bland, watery, overcooked filling encased...
Winter Animals A few days ago a rangy fox trotted across the field opposite my house. He moved with an easy purpose, pausing occasionally to cock his head as if trying to catch some sound or scent, then coming on towards my house. With my kids I watched him parallel the stream and then trot...
Incredible, Crispy Oven Fries Superior fries from your own oven Years ago I worked for a summer in the kitchen of a 200 seat tourist trap in Anchorage, Alaska. As the new guy I was relegated to the fryers, where my chief responsibility was crank out hundreds of pounds of fries every lunch, since every...
Admit It, You’re Wrong An argument for enlightened ignorance There is a particular sort of smug disdain which I reflexively feel when I think about certain aspects of the past. Just this morning I was listening to a discussion about the historic movement of infectious diseases, and the guest mentioned the historic belief that miasmas...
The Best Way to Eat A single rule to replace all dietary recommendations One of the many unfortunate lessons taught by the ongoing pandemic is the difficulty of translating rapidly changing, imperfect information into an actionable collective response. When is a mask making a meaningful difference, and when is it simply for show? Are we...
Perils of the Convenience Economy How fast is too fast? In his book Fulfillment Alec McGillis writes about the impacts and implications of an economy run by Amazon. I was particularly struck by his description of the way increasingly automated amazon fulfillment centers make life harder rather than easier for workers. Instead of walking from...
Weeknight Bibimbap Flavorful beef, spicy sauce, lots of veggies Bibimbap is among the best known Korean dishes for good reason. Marinated beef, a ton of different veggies, maybe some kimchi, rice, gochujang (a spicy pepper sauce), all topped with a fried egg, is about as satisfying as a meal gets. My dad requests it for...
A Farmer’s Guide to Planting and Protecting Trees, Part Two The first years are the hardest, but nature finds a way If you missed last week’s post about all the benefits trees bring, particularly when planted on farms, read it here. Once trees make it through the tender first few years and have a chance...
The False Choices of Big Chicken No matter what the label says, almost all supermarket chicken is the same Though it resides in the murky area between legitimate and pop psychology, I am quite fond of the idea of choice paralysis, meaning the idea that having more options makes it harder to happily settle on...