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)
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)
If city government can take full advantage of what this vacant land can provide by moving these sparse populations to the more densely populated area's of Detroit. This land will be completely leveled for it to be put to real use helping all areas, from tax revenue to employment. The obstacle for this is the residents of these prairies have to be convinced to move out of their homes, the long run of this can be the city saving capital on services such as garbage/snow removal. I am confident that will happen eventually, what does everyone else think?
ReplyDelete