I am a little confused about ethanol.   Can a typical internal combustion engine run on ethanol?  Can I grow corn in my backyard to fuel my car after Peak Oil comes? (I have a bit of land).
Most modern engines with computer-controlled fuel-air mixture regulation can run on ethanol (or a mixture of petrol and ethanol).  The main difference is that you'll need about 30% more of it than the petrol, since it contains less energy by volume.

The US Dept of Energy's "Alternative Fuels Data Centre" has a list of E85 Vehicles.

Well it depends on how good a hillbilly you are (grin) since ethanol is a grain alcohol, and you would need to know how to run a still.  Incidentally I was talking to one of those in the trade the other day, and he commented that if the government was serious about lowering costs, then they could lower it fifteen cents a gallon by just removing the requirement for the additive that denatures the ethanol so that folk can't drink it. The additive has no value as far as the fuel side of the use goes, but is required lest we become a nation of addicts (oh, but the President said that we already were, silly me!)

In regard to running it in an engine, the usual mix is in the 5 - 15% range, in which case it is already in a lot of the gasoline that is bought at the pump.  It is only when it is put into cars at the 85 - 100% level that the engine needs to be modified, and while one can buy cars that can run either on this or regular gasoline, there is not that much call for them yet, since folks still prefer to drink their moonshine, rather than pour it in the tank.