Country is about to meet city. Motor City that is. It’s no secret that the American automobile industry has been in trouble for over a decade, with a significant decline in the past two years as a part of the global economic crisis. Detroit, the original heart of vehicle production and home to the “Big Three” automakers, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, was once a booming metropolis with over 2 million residents. The financial woes in the city’s main industry has resulted in the loss of thousands upon thousands of jobs, forcing over a million residents to move in search of work.

The mass migration of people has led to more than 40 square miles of abandoned land within the 139 square mile footprint of the city. To turn it into parks and recreation facilities would tax an overburdened government that struggles to provide quality educational facilities, have sufficient police and fire services and maintain the existing infrastructure. The crime rate has skyrocketed as criminals move into abandoned neighbourhoods and set up shop, so leaving things as they are isn’t really an option either. Many neighbourhoods are without proper grocery stores and the city of Detroit is aptly named a ‘food desert’ as a result. The people who remain in the city need jobs, security, food and hope. Detroit is in need of a boost in a big way and that’s where the Hantz Farming Corporation is hoping to provide the answer.

The Hantz Farming Corporation’s vision is to revitalize Detroit by developing the world’s largest urban farming system. The creation of farming “pods” or a number of 300 acre farms would provide not only a valuable economic use for the desolate land in the area but also valuable frontage that they hope will attract new communities of people who will return to the area. John Hantz, a Detroit native who is supplying $30 million of his own funds to get the project started, hopes that the farms will serve a number of important purposes for the community. These include:

• The creation of hundreds of jobs. The unemployment rate in Detroit is among the highest in the US. These jobs would diversify the employment field while supporting a mixed economy that Detroit desperately needs.
• A supply of fresh and local produce. As previously noted, Detroit neighbourhoods suffer from a lack of proper grocery stores. The creation of these farm pods will provide families with direct access to healthy, local produce. Whatever is not sold to the local community will be exported. Hantz Farms plans on being a year-round facility that provides spring vegetables, summer produce, and pumpkins in the fall and Christmas trees in the winter.
• Creating a cleaner, greener urban environment. By repurposing abandoned land, Hantz Farms will bring nature back to the city. They plan to use recyclable materials in all aspects of their farms, will strive to be a zero-waste facility and have plans to use wind energy to power their operations.
• Increased tourism and resulting economic benefits. As tourists come to visit the Hantz Farm sites daily, they will frequent other local businesses, boosting the local economy beyond the farm gate.
• More efficient use of the city’s resources. As the farms change the land and bring people back to Detroit, the area will no longer be the prime location for criminal activity. By tearing down old, abandoned buildings, the risk of fire decreases and the police and fire services can focus their efforts on keeping remaining residents safe.

The benefits to this plan seem to be a win-win situation for the city of Detroit in addressing the tremendous challenges it currently faces. However not everyone is sold on this idea quite yet. Opponents to Hantz Farms are skeptical that the project will create the proposed benefits and are worried about the threat that this larger scale farming operation will have on the existing smaller urban farming movement. They are also worried that this plan is just a land-grab for Hantz and his corporation and that there is no guarantee that farms will even be developed on some of Detroit’s most valuable land.

While the skeptics have the right to be cautious about a plan that is far from completion and has yet to be attempted on such a large scale, given the facts, Detroit is left with few options at this point. The Hantz Farming Corporation has the opportunity to bring Detroit residents the things they need most; jobs, security, food and most importantly, hope.

» Hantz Farms Detroit

There are lots of great reasons to consider adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet, not the least of which is that for the most part this type of diet consists of food sources that are more sustainable than a typical burger-and-pizza diet is.

Over at the Mayo Clinic web site they have a fantastic primer on vegetarian diet and nutrition.  There's no lectures or pictures of abused chickens, just excellent well-written information on how to adopt aspects of vegetarianism into your diet while maintaining a healthy nutritional balance.

Whether you're a hardcore lifelong vegan or just someone considering cutting back on your intake of red meat you owe it to yourself to hit the jump and learn more.

» The Mayo Clinic

Buying organic food may be something you'd love to do if only it weren't so dark expensive. It's no big secret that you can look at two nearly identical products of grocery store shelves, and the organic one will have a significantly higher price tag. With a sigh and a twinge of guilt, you place the non-organic option in your cart to save some money.

Don't feel too guilty, you aren't alone. In a time where food costs are rising substantially and consumers look for ways to cut costs, the organic options often feel like a luxury some just can't afford. However you can still have your organic cookie and eat it too in some cases because many supermarket and drug store chains are catching on to the growing trend and offering their own organic lines.

Safeway
If it's a type of food, chances are Safeway carries it in their O Organics line. Baby food, cereal, bread, salad dressing, peanut butter, juice, cookies, pasta, frozen produce and entrées, lettuce - you get the picture. Bonus: because it's their own brand, not only is it less expensive than major organic lines, it seems to go on sale twice as often too!

Shoppers Drug Mart
Canadian drug store chain Shoppers Drug Mart went organic with a bang. Their large range of Nativa Organics products includes assorted cookies (biscotti, ginger snaps and Teddy Graham-inspired biscuits to name a few), soup, crackers, coffee, syrup, chips, popcorn and oil. Their home brand is even comparable in cost to national and international brands, thus eliminating the "do-I-don't-I" conundrum of spending more money.

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We recently shared just how easy it is to make your own baby food, as well as why it’s healthier, more cost-efficient and better for the earth. However, once you have all of those yummy purees and mashed fruits, vegetables, meats and grains, what do you do with them? And when can you start injecting a bit of flavour?

Freeze for the future
Contrary to what you may be thinking, you don’t have to prepare baby’s food at every mealtime. For example, one yam will yield enough servings for several feedings. Make bigger batches of food, put in ice cube trays and cover with tin foil (or if you feel like shelling out the money, use an BPA-free baby food storage container), freeze and then empty the frozen cubes into freezer bags marked with the type of food and date of preparation. Over the course of a week, you’ll be amazed at the variety of foods that accumulate in your freezer. Come meal time, simply thaw a few cubes of food and dinner is ready. Sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it?

The spice of life 
Some professionals recommend waiting until baby is eight months old before introducing spices and new flavours. If your little one hasn’t experienced any food sensitivities and seems to enjoy trying new food, you can start to experiment with spices and herbs. Remember babies don’t ever need salt or sugar added to food, however you can try flavours such as cinnamon or nutmeg added to cereal, carrots or yams, or salmon and rice with some fresh cilantro.

Follow the food rules
All hard foods like raw vegetables or fruits, should be soft-cooked and pureed, mashed or chopped to eliminate the risks of choking. Stringy or chewy meats should be cut into small pieces once baby has passed the pureed stage. Round foods such as grapes and hot dogs are significant choking hazards, so be sure to quarter grapes or slice hot dogs lengthwise, then into bite-sized pieces.

When starting solids, introduce one new food into baby’s diet at a time, then wait a minimum of two days (four is recommended) before introducing the next new food. This way, if an allergy or otherwise adverse reaction is experienced, it’s much easier to identify the source of the reaction.

Think outside the (cereal) box
Once you start using your imagination, the possibilities are endless. Usually jarred food will include the standard combinations such as chicken, rice and carrots. However, why limit your baby to boring, bland foods? We’d get pretty bored eating the same things over and over, wouldn’t we? Last week, we roasted a butternut squash and cooked some pasta, then pureed both with some applesauce. Be as creative as you’d like, while following the guidelines for safe baby foods. Another recent family meal: chicken, basmati rice and mango, pureed with coconut milk.

Remember that about 10 months to one year of age, babies can eat the same meals the rest of the family is eating (minus the addition of sugar or salt). Use a food mill, or simply chop or mince soft, cooked fruits, vegetables, meant or grains. If baby is only used to bland, jarred food, the transition to regular table food may be a huge shock then if they’ve enjoyed a creative range of home-cooked foods all along.

» Alberta Health

Oh how time flies. It seems like just yesterday Baby Bean was getting the hang of breast-feeding, an activity that could take up to an hour near the beginning. Suddenly six months whizzed right by and before we knew it, the time to start solid food was upon us.

As all parents - especially first-timers – know that deciding how to feed your baby can be a daunting process. The countless resources offering tips and guidelines all seem to offer varying opinions about the best types of food to feed your baby, and there is usually an entire aisle at the grocery store devoted to cereal and fruits and vegetables (oh my!). With so many options at your fingertips, it may not even occur to you just how easy preparing your own baby food can be. Truth is, not only is it fairly simple, it’s also far more earth-friendly (think of all the jars and packaging you’ll save) and it will likely even save you some hard-earned money!

Consider it
While the aforementioned earth- and cash-saving reasons may be motivation enough, also consider that by taking the DIY route, you can ensure you know exactly what’s making its way into your little one’s system – or more importantly - what isn’t, such as extra sodium or sugar.

Making your own also gives you creative control. For example, if your infant isn’t a big rice fan, maybe he or she will love pasta or insert-grain-of-choice-here. And while the jarred varieties offer your standard chicken-and-rice fare, you can be imaginative and come up with all sorts of combinations to find the ones your child likes best.

Prep work
Cereals, fruits and vegetables
How much effort you want to put into making baby food is completely up to you. Most infants will start off with rice cereal since it’s the one least likely to cause a reaction. Since babies use up their iron stores from birth by the time they are six months old, most boxed cereals you find in stores are iron-fortified. If you decide to make your own cereals, you’ll need to ensure baby is getting enough iron from other sources such as lean meat and beans.

Most parents start with fruits and vegetables for baby’s first food once cereal has been introduced. Sources vary on which to introduce first since the school of thought seems to be that babies will accept sweet fruit more readily than a vegetable. Strike a happy medium and choose a sweeter vegetable likes yams or carrots.

Vegetables and harder fruits need to be steamed, roasted or boiled until soft enough to be pureed or mashed. Just cook the food of choice, then use a blender, food processor or masher to smooth them out. You can use breast milk, formula or the cooking liquid (if any) to thin the food to the desired consistency.

Some of the best first choices include the aforementioned carrots and yams, as well as peas, pears, peaches and mango. Papaya was a huge hit in the Bean household and extremely easy to puree once the fruit was ripe – in fact, because the water content is so high, no additional liquid is needed. You can also take a few shortcuts if you’re short on time and use frozen fruits and vegetables such as mango, carrots, peaches and peas. The fruits can be thawed and pureed, while the vegetables only require a short cooking time and don’t need to be washed or peeled. Not sure that this is still a better option than jarred food? Next time you’re at the store, compare the color of fresh cooked and pureed frozen peas to the jarred version and that ought to convince you.

Perhaps our greatest discovery during the introduction of solids was the humble banana. They are essentially the perfect baby food: cheap and so simple to prepare. All you need is a fork – simply mash it and feed it to the baby on its own, add it to cereal or mix it with other fruits or vegetables. Another great food: avocados. Also soft and easy to mash, they actually taste great when combined with mashed banana. Both are great foods to take along when you’re eating out since they require virtually no advance preparation.

Meats, alternatives and grains
Once baby has been introduced to some vegetables and fruits, you can start incorporating meats, alternatives and grain products. Optimal meat and alternative choices include chicken, turkey, beef, salmon, cooked egg yolk, lentils and tofu. For grains, try rice, oats and wheat. For Baby Bean, we’ll cook up some white rice and salmon, then add in some peaches or mango for a sweeter taste.

Remember, whether you’re feeding your baby homemade food or from a jar, it may take several tries for them to accept any new flavour or texture. Babies have more taste buds than adults, so flavours are more intense and may not initially be accepted. It took until the third or fourth try until our little one would take salmon and we still have to mix it with sweeter fruit.

Once baby reaches nine months and has been introduced to a wide variety of foods full of iron, he or she may be ready for dairy products such as cheese, yogurt and milk. All should be the full-fat variety.

And just like that, there you have it: the first steps involved in making your own baby food. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? If your baby could say thank you, he or she would.

» Alberta Health

We already know water shortages are now a common concern in several parts of North America and experts are encouraging us to treat water as the precious resource it is. As an estimated 69 per cent of worldwide water use is for irrigation, and 15 to 35 per cent of this irrigation is unsustainable, it's epsecially crucial for farms to practice water conservation techniques whenever possible.

It's not just important for the sake of the worldwide water supply - in times of water shortages, farmers have to ensure they have enough water resources to make it through the growing season, which can definitely present a challenge during times of drought. It's a fine balance to ensure crops have enough water without wasting it, but it can be done using the following techniques:

☆ Leaks in the irrgation system can be found using a water meter by turning off the system and watching the meter to see if it is still running. Consistent wet spots along the irrgation line that do not dry up may indicate a leak is present. If such leaks are found, they should be repaired as soon as possible.

☆ Soil can become oversaturated with water as it only absorbs what it can; the rest drains below the root zone or runs off the surface. By learning the maximum irrigation set time, farmers can learn to apply only the necessary amount of water without wasting extra.

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