burning corn?

Ok so the greenhouse is up, irrigation installed and plants already popping out of the great indoors.  Light get installed by Thursday which is critical because it is flipping dark by 5:15 now.  We have 4 after school programs visiting either Mondays or Fridays and the kids are really excited about the gardening club.  All is good.

More interestingly I have a mushroom expert, Charlie setting up a commercial mushroom growing operation that should be producing a variety of mushrooms as early as 3 weeks.  The task will be to find a market to sell to and to get kids involved.  My thinking is that an interested MAC student could adopt a string of mushroom pods.  Oversee the growing process and if we can get the parents on board, take the mushrooms to a farmers market with Josh and Charlie and the student and let him or her
make some money.  The idea would be called "dirt to dollars" or "crops to cash".  The possibilities at Mountainside are truly endless.  We need to inspire some kids and see where all this takes us.

I need to digress for a minute and examine a debate that has evolved with one of my employees.  I am very proud of the fact that I can heat my home with wood pellets or corn.  Last year I went thru 8 tons of pellets and when wood pellets could not be found anywhere in mid March I purchased bags of corn to keep the furnace going.  The biggest problem with pellets is that they must be packaged in plastic bags.  From mid October till March I had to dispose of over 350 plastic bags plus the plastic that covered the pallets that were stacked on and dispose of the pallets.  Hardly minimizing the carbon footprint.  Corn is something that can be grown on my property, it is completely renewable and with the gravity bin wagon I purchased this fall I can eliminate the need for plastic bags and pallets and such.  For $300 in seeds I have been able to secure 16,000 pounds of loose corn stored at Southern States which should last me the winter.  $300 bucks to heat my house for the winter!! As long as I can grow corn I have fuel for my furnace.  I never have to worry about oil prices or Natural Gas or other sources to heat my house.   Great huh!!

Not according to my good friend Debbie who hails from the midwest.  She was appalled that I would use a food source as heating fuel. I am not burning the cobs or the husks, I am burning the kernels.  It burns hotter and cleaner that the pellets and I have a pleasing smell that emanates from the furnace.  During a good harvest I would be using between one or two acres of corn to heat my home for the winter.  So is this the right thing to do?  I am interested in anyones opinion.  What do you think?