Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Christiansen Comments, Hinds County Gazette Febuary 10 2011

The XL11 Super Bowl contest have been played and a winner declared

So the holidays are officially over. The Super Bowl was the last big binge eating holiday until Thanksgiving. Do you feel like you have been in an eating marathon ?




Oh, yes, of course, I know, we do have lots of days of celebration left in 2011, Valentines, St. Patrick Day, Easter, Mother Day etc. ...but they are typically a one day eating event or at the most a weekend …from now on our celebration eating will be more a sprint then a marathon.



I know you all have seen the commercials that are aimed at trying to make us feel guilty about using paper…everybody is wanting us to go paperless….”save a tree”. You all, I say out loud to the TV, “Some people making a living growing and harvesting trees!!!” Any way that what I thought….Driving past great fields of pine trees and following loaded down log trucks. Going…? I don’t guess I know where they are going…



But still and all, that activity lead me to believe, growing trees and growing corn, cotton soy beans etc. were the same. They were all crops loaded on trucks going to market.



Don’t misunderstand, I was born a “tree Hugger” and I am still a “Tree Hugger“. That is…when I am in my home state of Nebraska, trees are precious there. Never saw a log truck in Nebraska. In states the likes of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas there are far fewer trees then here in Mississippi.



Now then, I was watching Farm Week on PBS last week…My suspicions that trees are a cash crop was confirmed….did you know there are two factories in Mississippi that manufacture wood pellets. Do you know what the pellets are used for? Heating!…Seems oil and gas are becoming more expensive. ..so people up north are using the pellets to heat their homes. According to the report on Farm Week, the folks in the American Northwest prefer pine pellets and the folks in the North East prefer hardwood pellets.

http://msucares.com/news/farmweek/

Why pellets and not logs? They didn’t go in to all of that…maybe pellets are easier to transport. The pellets are bagged like dog food…in fact the pellets did not look unlike dog food. Oh! Oh! I remember why pellets and not logs! There is something in the manufacturing of the pellets that makes them burn in a more environmentally friendly manner.



And the fuel pellets that are manufactured here in Mississippi are used to make electricity Too!!!! That’s right! In an effort to make the manufacture of electricity, safer and less dependent on oil, some electric power plants are using a sustainable product…. wood pellets! Wood Pellets manufactured in Mississippi!

http://www.envivabiomass.com/

Did I mention, most of power plants generating electricity from Mississippi wood pellets are in Europe? We have been looking for ways to make us less dependant on foreign oil…we found one and we are shipping it abroad.



No matter where the pellets go….Fuel pellets have to be good for Mississippi’s economy. And I am proud we maybe helping to light the Eifel tower.

Love to all

Call if you need me


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