Garden 2009

Today I planted our vegetable garden. First stop was Lowe's to get the supplies:

A few weeks ago Jesse and Todd tilled the soil. Thanks Tim Geisland for the tiller. Thanks Todd Thurston for your back.

I had to prepare the soil by raking out all the grass, and mixing in some bone meal as an organic fertilizer. By noon it was 90-something out, so I took a 6 or 7 hour break until the sun went down. :) Here is the prepared plot for our garden:

Finally time to plant the seeds and put up a fence so the dogs won't run through it!


This year we have tomatoes, pole beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, carrots, sweet pepper, corn and lettuce. I hope they all produce.
We'll post updates as things start to grow!

Somethings I enjoy...

The people that live across the street from me have lived on my block since 1955. They know the history of our street. In late Spring through the end of Summer they sit on their porch for about 3 hours per night. They watch the younger people moving about, doing things that are "important"... I can remember thinking when i first moved in that it must get boring to sit on the porch for hours on end. However, now I wonder if Buck (guy across the street) has figured out what life is about. In fact, now that I think about it I can think of numerous occasions where elderly people spent hours sitting on a porch or in their yard. It appears to me that these people have figured out that life is worth enjoying with sustained sessions of sitting and enjoying the moment - living in the moment. It also occurs to me that it often takes getting older and realizing that what was once important doesn't really matter all that much. Life is better spent in community with people, enjoying conversation, and building memories that will last a lifetime. Buck has inspired me, as difficult as it is, to take time out to sit and enjoy the moment. Often times I realize after the fact that the things that are so important to me takes away from my time with Carrie. I'm not saying that I must get rid of anything that does not include Carrie, just that I need to have a more time for Carrie and other people in my life and a healthy amount of time for what I consider important. If I am not careful I will spend all my free time doing things that are typically fairly solitaire. Some of the photos below are things that I get enjoyment from... first and foremost is my beautiful bride, friend, wonderful life mate. Carrie is amazing!

Thinking about life...

So I am sitting on my deck listening to James Taylor's greatest hits and watching my dogs wander around the yard. The dogs just walk around sniffing things and taking the occasional break, i.e. lay down and look at nothing specifically. I get a sense of enjoyment watching my little friends enjoying themselves in the warm sun and cool grass. It makes me wonder if God watches me enjoy things simple. Does He find the same sense of enjoyment when I go hiking and enjoy His wonderful creation? Lately, I have felt stressing trying to focus on so many things at once without seeking guidance. What will I do for the rest of my life? So frequently I fill my time up with things that really don't matter at the expense of pursuits that have meaningful value... like spending time with Carrie and seeking God fully. Sometimes I feel like I spend 80% of my time on things of no consequence and 20% on things that mean the most to me. I am working to reverse that ratio - it is so hard to take myself out of the moment and see what is really important. "The secret of life is enjoying passing time." James Taylor - Funny, that line was just in a song that is playing in the background. I desire to have deeper relationships with fewer people as opposed to many surface deep relationships. Anyways...

Urban farming in Detroit.

BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • April 2, 2009

Detroit could become a center of locally grown food and put large swaths of vacant land back on tax rolls under a proposal to create the city's first large commercial farm.

Businessman John Hantz of Detroit, in an exclusive interview with the Free Press, unveiled his plans for Hantz Farms -- a concept that would convert hundreds, even thousands, of vacant parcels in the city into urban agriculture.

Offering jobs and an ability to produce fresh fruits and vegetables locally, Hantz Farms could help Detroit "become a destination for fresh, local and natural foods and become a major part of the green movement," Hantz said.

Detroit already is home to hundreds of smaller community gardens. But Hantz's proposal is the first to envision large-scale commercial farming.

He said he could grow everything from Christmas trees to fruits and vegetables, with amenities such as a cider mill or horseback riding available.

With an estimated 40 square miles of vacant parcels, Detroit offers many sites where, in theory, a big farm operation might work. Hantz, a resident of Detroit's Indian Village district, is tentatively looking at a blighted area near Eastern Market, but exact boundaries would depend on whether he wins the city's cooperation.

A look at the plan

George Jackson, the city's chief development officer and president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said he is evaluating Hantz's proposal.

"I'm going to look at this as I would any development deal," Jackson said.

Land assemblage remains a key question. Hantz owns several parcels in the city, but the vast majority of the acreage he needs for his project is

still either owned by private parties or is tax-foreclosed land owned by the city, county and state.

Hantz envisions the city, county and state donating the land to his project or selling it at a nominal cost. The payback would come in increase

d tax revenues once the farm is up and running.

Hantz is chief executive of Hantz Group, a network of financial services firms based in Southfield. He also owns the Detroit Ignition of the Xtreme Soccer League.

Vacant land solution?

Matt Allen, onetime press secretary to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, manages the project as senior vice president of Hantz Farms.

Allen said Hantz Farms is a good solution for vacant land.

"What is it worth to the city just sitting there? Nothing," he said. "Part of the approach to this is that, the larger this becomes, the benefit gets greater and greater faster."

Even as a concept, the idea is controversial.

Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, called Hantz Farms "a challenging and exciting opportunity."

But Rebecca Salminen Witt, president of the nonprofit Greening of Detroit, said small community plots do more good for Detroiters, helping knit communities together.

"Folks are hoping for, wishing for, looking for a silver bullet to the vast expanses of vacant space that we see in the city," Witt said. "And because of that, they want to say, 'Great, we'll just plunk a couple-of-hundred-acre growing operations here a

nd there.' "

Allen responded that there ought to be a place for both community gardens and commercial farms in Detroit.

"There's more than enough land to go around," he said.