The Morningwood News

The Star-Telegram
By Barry Shlachter

Corn prices have jumped, fueled by ethanol demand, and Texas farmers have shifted their strategies to capitalize on the boom

FRISCO — Under a darkening sky, Cody Standerfer flips on his combine’s headlights and steers it through a field that’s a mere shouting distance from a new housing development and strip center with a doughnut shop, a florist and a stockbroker — on land his father once farmed.

Ethanol-fueled demand for corn is being felt in this corner of Frisco, where Standerfer’s family has planted 400 acres and where the 26-year-old battles traffic every morning to get his big green machine to leased land scattered around Texas’ fastest-growing city.

Bookmark to:

The Houston Chronicle
By SARAH VIREN

Times change in the frozen treat business with fewer children on the streets, but this vendor is aiming to lick the market

The first time Stacy Camp drove her ice cream truck onto the wide streets of Spring’s Northhill subdivision and cranked up the music, nothing happened.

The next time it was much the same: rows of houses filled with kids apparently immune to the siren call of ice cream on a hot summer day.

Bookmark to:

Yahoo UK & Ireland
AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - China said Wednesday it had discovered many safety problems with soybeans imported from the United States, urging US authorities to deal with the problem.

“Inspection and quarantine units in various areas have discovered a large number of quality and safety problems with imports of US soybeans,” the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.

Bookmark to:

The Enquirer
By Sue Kiesewetter

FAIRFIELD - When nature calls, there’s no better place in America to take care of business than Jungle Jim’s International Market.

Known beyond Greater Cincinnati for its exotic foods and playful jungle theme, Fairfield’s most-recognized business has been voted to have the nation’s “best” restroom.

Internet voters chose Jungle Jim’s over four other restrooms nationwide - including one in Flushing, Mich. - to win Cintas Corp.’s 2007 America’s Best Restroom Award in what the sponsor said was one of the most hotly contested races since the program began in 2001.

Bookmark to:

Rocky Mountain News
By Tillie Fong

A Conifer man has been charged with aggravated animal cruelty after he allegedly shot the family dog for stealing food from his plate.

The dog, named Lucky, is expected to make a full recovery.

Devin Shane Calhoun, 35, was arrested Aug. 12 and released on $2,000 bail on Aug. 16.

Bookmark to:

The Seattle Times
By Amanda Rivkin
The Associated Press

ALBURQUERQUE, Spain — Spanish cuisine tickles the palate in a thousand ways: ugly but delicious creatures called goose barnacles; boiled octopus with a dash of olive oil and paprika; thick, mushy sausage made from pig’s blood.

Spaniards are nothing if not dedicated eaters.

Now, hard-core foodies are drooling over the prospect of something truly superlative from Spain, at least in price: a salt-cured ham costing about $2,100 per leg, or a cruel $160 per pound. It’s a price believed to make it the most expensive ham in the world.

Don’t grab your wallet just yet. And forget about asking for just a slice.

Bookmark to:

The Indianapolis Star

First lady Cheri Daniels apparently is one heck of a spitter.

And she’s got the blue ribbon to prove it.

The first lady took top honors in a watermelon-seed-spitting contest at this year’s Indiana State Fair. In fact, she won two blue ribbons this year, including one for milking a cow.

“After coming in second in the cow-milking contest last year, I vowed to take home first this year,” said Daniels, obviously a scrappy competitor. “I practiced several times throughout the fair and the hard work paid off.”

Her prowess at spitting watermelon seeds she credits to her upbringing.

Bookmark to:

Rocky Mountain News
By Bill Scanlon

BOULDER - A Boulder County judge set bail at $25,000 Wednesday for a woman charged with running a sophisticated Ecstasy lab out of her south Boulder home, after the woman’s lawyer argued that the scientific glassware seized could have been from her catering business.

The Boulder County Drug Task Force and the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday entered the home of Debra Cerio and seized enough materials and ingredients to make 50,000 to 80,000 doses of the “club drug” popular with college students.

Bookmark to:

NPR
By Deb Perelman

Coleslaw has lost its way. Relegated to a side dish, it is an afterthought and frequently forgotten until the very last moment of picnic, barbecue or beach blanket prep.

At that point, a bucket of something white and listless is grabbed from a grocery store shelf, and set out aside a spread of carefully prepared food where it is largely ignored.

But it wasn’t always this mundane. Its origins can be traced back as far as the ancient Romans, who served a dish of cabbage, vinegar, eggs and spices. The Dutch who founded New York state grew cabbage around the Hudson River that they used in a shredded cabbage salad they called koosla (kool means cabbage and sla is salad).

Bookmark to:

NPR
By Joe Palca

In 2003, France got a glimpse of what the future may hold. A summer heat wave broke all temperature records, straining the country’s medical and energy resources. But a future of warmer summers could bring unexpected pleasures — including wine.

The town of St. Emilion lies in heart of a France’s famous Bordeaux wine region. Beside just about every road there are row upon row of exquisitely manicured grapevines. Francois Despagne, the winemaker at Chateau Grand Corbin Despagne, explains that it is impossible to produce good wine without good grapes. And he should know. Despagne’s family has been living in this part of the Bordeaux wine region since the 16th century. Today, he has 200,000 plants on 53 different plots.

Bookmark to:

Through Guardian Unlimited
The Observer
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor

It is blue, bursting with goodness and might just be the future of British farming. The once humble blueberry is quickly becoming a cash crop as farmers gear up to meet soaring demand for the so-called ’superfood’.

Two years ago a clutch of almost breathlessly enthusiastic health studies revealed that the fruit was packed with so much goodness and vitamins that blueberries achieved almost mythic status among foodies and nutritionists. Once seen as little more than a perfunctory pie filling, the berry has become Britain’s most fashionable fruit, with sales rocketing by 132 per cent since 2005.

Bookmark to:

Kval.com
By Elissa Harrington

HARRISBURG - Peaches might be having a good run but there’s a new fruit on the stands that’s ready to rival.

“Chesterberries” are a new cousin of blackberries but are about three times the size. These large members of the Marion Berry family are small-seeded, bitter-tasting, and mature later than similar berries.

Bookmark to:

Kval.com
By Andy Peterson

MOUNT ANGEL — Gayle Goschie’s family has been growing hops here in the Willamette Valley for more than a century.

In fact, if you’ve had a beer recently, there’s a pretty good chance you owe Gayle a “thank you.”

“The great part about growing hops is that you’ve have a much closer connection to the end user,” Goschie explains. “You don’t always have that if you’re growing grass seed, which we also grow, or green beans. You don’t know where those green beans end up.”