From NoCo to Midtown, and the HOT sauce.

Sorry followers and fellow bloggers I have not been able to update my progress recently in NoCo. With the summer winding down and my school year nearing it's beginning and fantasizing about Michigan Football. I'm glad I went down to the farm recently and brought a friend with me.
I realized that one of my blog followers also happens to be my friend James Brady, fellow blogger, Michigan Wolverine and Detroit enthusiast. He was interested to learn about Urban Farming and what I have been doing to on the farm for the tenure of the summer. We had made our trip to Astro Coffee on Michigan Avenue before we got to the farm just to discuss architecture and like anyone else the iconic Michigan Central Depot. We had arrived to Brother Nature in NoCo and greeted Greg to my friend James, the chemistry between all of us was great right from the beginning. Three people who have different backgrounds having a common interest in the city of Detroit's revival. I asked greg this question before and asked it again; having given me a truly different answer that was honest. My question was if he thinks Detroit can "come back" with large scale urban farming? On the commercial for profit side or in the form of the community non-profit scale? Greg-"You know I am not a capitalist, I'm certainly not a socialist, I just want to see the city thrive again, In my opinion Detroit needs both to thrive again. You need people to make money and a lot of it. But the small community gardens can help as well considerably". I thought about the answer after he explained it to me while Greg was getting acquainted with James. I did not take any pictures this time, I want to show diagrams and my theories of what Detroit can do to reshape it self to the pioneer it is already in Urban Farming.

-Photos: The first diagram describes the mass population loss of Detroit. Along with the truly unbelievable amount of open land available throughout the city. Even worse now is that this diagram is from 2 1/2-3 years ago, the population now in Detroit as of the recent census is 713,000 people roughly.
In the second diagram is a photo of one of the many urban praire's that have become common in the city. In my next post there will be more pictures. *These pictures are not my property I have obtained them from google search.*

When James, Greg and I had been concluding our collection of many crops to prepare for the salads mixes to take to the Wayne State University farmers market, we had discussed Detroit sports, architecture, as well our favourite places to eat in the city. With some of the crops we had Greg had put together a salad dressing I've never had before. It was a mixture of garlic, jabenero, carrot, black pepper and other ingredients I cannot remember due to the extreme heat but amazing taste it came with it's bursting orange tone.
To me what Detroit can accomplish with urban farming on the large scale can great, but coming from the experts advice to which way the city will take will matter. James agrees with me that it can be one of the cities new core industries to produce jobs, beautify parts of the city that have not been touched for decades and increase population in the stronger neighborhoods by turning the derelict low-density neighborhoods into thriving farm areas. I have a feeling I might be bringing a few more friends the next time I go to Brother Nature Produce too. (Below Picture is Brother Nature in NoCo)

Damn it's hot today. Then to Cass.

I have been so busy the last couple of weeks due to school and work I was glad to go to the farm and get down and sweaty. I would say the only thing I would have to complain about would be the heat today of working in the sun. Even when I had got there early this morning the heat was damn near unbearable. Anyways Greg and I were going to make raspberry vinaigrette this morning as well as much to my surprise that we were making a trip to the Wayne State University Farmer's Market. During us preparing the dressing Greg and I discussed the difficulties many of the cities urban farmers have in staying afloat in Detroit. He recently had problems with the city he explained to me.

I told him my opinion that the city of Detroit should be extremely open to any and all legitimate business wanting to open shop. Even though a majority of the cities residents do not want small and private entities coming into Detroit where all the profit is going to a small group of people. To me the city should disregard the opinions of it's citizens at this point because any body willing to come in and open business, especially a commercial farm, should welcome it. It would not surprise that there may be out there many potential movers/shakers who would like to invest in  Detroit but due to it's outdated rules. Something needs to happen now for the better of the city in all aspects. From generated tax revenue, employment, new industry, and finally beautifying Detroit. I would like to say that they are all important equally but it would not be true. I believe that Detroit will be successful, the city needs to be kind and open to it's pioneers. What do you readers think about urban farming taking on a capitalist approach for the better of Detroit? Also enjoy some of the photographs I had taken of the Wayne University Farmers Market thriving in beautiful but smoldering July.

Propane Torch and THE Epic Salad.

Gotta make this post short I have a exam to study for sorry people it will be awesome. I had arrived in NoCo early afternoon when I found Greg in the back yard getting prepared for the day. He had told me he is going to plant Mazola today to get the leaves later on. While getting prepared he was explaining to me he was primarily growing the Mazola for him, due to the cost of it. He had gone on and told me that there are crops he does not grow for the sole reason being that they are incredibly expensive right from the start. This had got me to thinking, if large scale commercial urban farming can be a reality the true power and influence Detroit will have for other cities in the U.S like Milwaukee, Philadelphia to round the globe like Beijing and Dublin. That the availability of having practically every vegetable and fruit grown here and produced by citizens of these cities who are making profit and creating jobs works almost in complete harmony. Though with most respect to Greg and Brother Nature Produce he cannot grow anything due to lack of investing, which is understandable. So anyways...

We had gotten the Mazola ready to plant and this had caught me extremely off guard. Greg said to get best results is to naturally start right from the beginning. So he pulls out a homemade blowtorch he put together. It was pretty much a propane tank any one of us would use with our grill  in the backyard. He had told me he needed the top layer of soil to be warm for the Mazola seeds to survive. I decided to step neer the large greenhouse which was unbelievably humid. Greg went by a few sweeps with the blowtorch. I do have to say he was looking like a bad ass with it.

He finished and we planted the Mazola. Towards the end of my stay I had taken home a bag of greens grown and harvested in NoCo Detroit. I got home and made a great salad with the mixed greens that Greg told me to enjoy. If anyone wants to know what the salad is I'll be more then happy to share.

Before leaving I had thought about the possibilities that Detroit had when the geographical land scape of the city can be properly restructured and bring in the deep pockets to invest in the city and hire people from the city and metro area as well. Bloggers what do you think?

My First Day and Spicy Flower Salads.

Well todays first day as a Farmer in the NoCo (North Corktown) neighborhood of Detroit was what I'd expected to be and enjoyed it. I really look forward to it as what more will come next time I am working there. It started out with Greg, who runs the farm, and I talking and introducing me to his brother Ryan and friend Greg. They were making a Pesto sause with ingredients made from the farm to sell to households. I got to add that was some mighty delicious Pesto with the croissant. Anyways Greg and I had gone outside to prepare for making bags of salad mixtures to sell also. I had begun to cut up some flowers (I forgot the name, Greg help me out here) that were spicy. Not that hot spicy more like a wasabi spicy I was told of, and was it just as it was described to me. I felt it in my nose immediately and went to get my bottle of water  because that to go along with the heat we had today was not a great combination.


After I had finished up with cutting the flowers.
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Greg and I discussed the economics of having a farm in Detroit, as is the purpose of my blog. I was asking him questions, and many of them. I will admit I do not know a whole lot about farming. I've learned it is extremely cheaper to start growing from seeds then the prepackaged plastic boxes. And the growing rate of many plants after I cut them. Such as mint herbs will regrow back the very next day after I cut them. Which means you can sell a lot of mint leaves to anybody looking for them. These types of crops that can grow back very fast are important for Greg and his farm Brother Nature Produce to keep it financially stable. Where as there is nothing wrong with having a few crops that take a while to grow back (Rosemary takes a month after one cut). One attribute to note is it's extremely important to be willing to pay a little bit more for products that were grown locally, whether it be in Detroit or anywhere in Michigan rather. We keep the money here and resident's of our great state are MAKING A PROFIT. That is the most important thing now in this state now.

I believe that for farming to be that new industry in Detroit all the farms now and in the future need to be profitable in order for the unemployment rate to decrease. Though in order for that to happen the city needs to be open the idea of urban agriculture and farming to those people who want to make a profit. If I want to go into farming in Detroit for it's vast areas of baron land the city should be very open to allow me do so regardless of my intention because I am still providing jobs to our residents, selling to our residents. The way I look at it, I want to make my crops as organic as possible with great taste and quality because I know of I can abide those principles money will be made for me. All the while creating jobs, bringing healthy food to inner city residents of Detroit. Maybe some of them will enjoy the spicy flowers like I did.
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I want to hear opinion and thought, so everyone let me know what you think! Thank You!

I begin growing Detroit tuesday.

Today is saturday and I finished my stint at the Bank I work at this morning. I couldn't help but think of what to expect on Tuesday when I begin farming at Brother Nature Produce farm in the NoCo neighborhood of Detroit. With all that is going on in the neighborhood it will be a great experience for the next month and a half to be a part of the new industry that will grown the city of Detroit once again. This experience will help me understand how important it is for Detroit to not be that one horse town anymore. I would just like to know for my first blog post, does anyone think other wise if Urban Farming can be one of our city's new industries?