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surprise that there may be out there many potential movers/shakers who would like to invest in  Detroit but due to it's outdated rules.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?