PigStockTC - Where Prosciutto Flies

Via R-E: Rare pig provides tasty prosciutto

Flickr: PigstockTC

Official site at blogger.

Black Star Farms will have their chefs there.

The pig making this possible is the Mangalitsa. Read about it at wikipedia.

PigstockTC shows the value of boutique agriculture, whether hops, chestnuts, or heritage turkeys; the farmer who mixes this low volume/high reward method guarantees themselves a mixed income stream. When Michigan realizes that its future is tied to agriculture I hope to see more events like this where chefs and farmers have fun with these new and unique ingredients.

Tip of my hat to you PigstockTC!

How Milwaukee Gets Fresh Perch

Another successful urban aquaculture story. I really am starting to believe this could work in northern Michigan.

See:
NYT: Fish Farms, With a Side of Greens

WSJ: Fish Are Jumping—Off Assembly Line: Perch, Loved in Milwaukee but Decimated in Lake Michigan, Find New Life in an Old Factory; On the Side: Fresh Produce

[Via GLEcho: Great Lakes aquaponics farm receives recognition from New York Times]

Urban Aquaponics

- I have been hoping for someone in northern Michigan to start a Community Supported Fishery.

- Chef Eric Patterson of the Cooks' House recently wrote about his efforts with the Grand Traverse Band to source local fish.

- Many organizations are hoping to reap the benefits of small scale Urban Farming like in Detroit (See: Urban farming can succeed in Detroit, panelists say)

- U.S. farmed fish are considered safe and sustainable.

So here's an idea for Traverse City, combine all of these ideas and launch an Urban Fish Farming program. Chicago is considering the idea. See the ChiTrib: Urban fish farming: Will it catch on in Chicago?

If you want to try aquaponics in your backyard Home Depot sells this slick kit: Earth Solutions Little Tokyo Aquaponics Container Gardening without a Tank

Urban Farm Magazine

Here's a magazine that may appeal to northern Michiganders: Urban Farm

Urban Farm™ magazine’s mission is to promote the benefits of self sustainability and to provide the tools with which to do it on any size property. Urban Farm™ reaches out to those in the city and suburbs, those who are inspired by the local food movement and who want to start raising chickens and growing food for themselves, supporting local agriculture and living more sustainably.

Traverse City Chickens

(5/18/2009 Update - Article in the Washington Post: Hot Chicks: Legal or Not, Chickens Are the Chic New Backyard Addition)

Article in the Record Eagle: Residents want to raise chickens in TC

The Record Eagle then followed up with an uninformed editorial that was too cute by half: Raising chickens or feathers?

Here are their arguments and my responses:

City officials will review the legality of chicken ranching before they turn to the planning commission for review. But expect to see feathers fly if anyone in a position of authority takes Dante's plan seriously.

Elizabeth Whelan, president of Boardman Neighborhood Association, hopes the chicken ranch plan never hatches, and predicts "a lot of potential problems that we don't need" if it flies.

What problems city chickens may cause are not listed or discussed and thus this comes across as people just being afraid of change.


Other residents worry about noise, smell and wayward feathers

An ordinance that only allowed hens would address the noise issue. People who worry about the smell have no idea what they are talking about. Plus, the new city master plan would address this issue because all uses must be confined to the business - so if there were smells noticeable off-site then this would be in violation of zoning.

However, the smell from the wastewater treatment plant is worse and is noticeable on days when the wind is from the east or south.


Ann Arbor is among the cities across the U.S. that allow residents to keep a few fowl, as long as wannabe hen-housers follow the rules. But expect much clucking if a similar ordinance is pitched here. Rightly so, in our book.

And is it any wonder that Ann Arbor makes so many "best city" lists?
Examples:
-Ann Arbor chosen top Michigan city for small start-up companies
-The 100 best places to raise a family
-CNNMoney.com Best Places To Live

Another interesting coincidence is how many of these "best cities" are also places that allow the freedom of backyard poultry.

Some ideas perfectly dovetail with a community's mood and attitude. And Traverse City shouldn't be so rigid that it can't or won't accept alternative notions. But raising chickens, ducks, etc. raises too many unnecessary questions and concerns -- what happens if someone's dog kills a neighbor's chickens? What if a freedom-seeking fowl dashes into the street and a harried motorist swerves to miss the bird? What if the sky really does fall?

What happens now if a dog kills a neighbors cat; if a dog runs into the road? Seriously - this is your anti-chicken argument?

And isn't Traverse City proper known as a progressive community with a love for local foods? What is more local than fresh eggs from your backyard?

Really, there's no good reason to prohibit people from keeping hens in their backyards. It is not as if people are trying to revive the idea of riding their horse around town.

Unfortunately, it seems the only chickens in Traverse City are the Record Eagle and the same old tired neighborhood curmudgeons.

Get the facts, cities from urban Brooklyn to rural Kansas are embracing the idea of urban farming. For more information see:

Newsweek: The New Coop de Ville: The craze for urban poultry farming.
USA Today: Chickens given roosts in urban backyards
LoHud.com: Backyard chickens find new popularity in suburbia
Christian Science Monitor: Whole lotta clucking going on in cities

Saving Fish With Fish Shares

Community Supported Fishing and City Chickens are the next big things it looks like.

More thoughts on saving fish with fish shares at the NYT: Fish Shares and Sharing Fish

More Community Supported Fishing

Mentioned this idea last March.

The idea is growing. See: Skipper Otto's Wild BC Salmon CSF

How much does it cost & what will I get?
The cost is $250.00/ year. You will receive approximately 35lbs of the best quality whole, fresh and/ or frozen salmon that is available that season direct from the fisherman. This amounts to roughly 7 fish at around 5lbs each (about $7/lb). Most years, you will receive nothing but sockeye salmon; however, if the sockeye runs are poor, you will receive an equivalent value of other salmon.

Via TreeHugger

Urban Farming In Detroit

What would make a good term to describe the establishment of farms in once urban areas? Re-ruralization?

Detroit is trying it.

See BB: GM's Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prairie of Vacant-Lot Farms

The city has more than 500 gardens and ``we plan to triple that every year,'' said Michael Travis, deputy director of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based nonprofit corporation that helps clear land and provides topsoil and fertilizer.

Classical Farming

Seems obvious but people still have to write articles to encourage farmers to attempt to work with wildlife.

See: Farming with the Wild

A League Of Young Farmers

One of the best things about northern Michigan is the number of farmers, particularly new, young farmers. There is no more noble profession.

There are programs in place to encourage young people to get into farming:
Get Farming! from MLUI

Now there's also this community getting started to help young farmer's across the country:
Serve Your Country Food

Chicks In The City

The Traverse City Commissioners are pretty good at avoiding innovation so this will probably not happen for a few more years, but backyard poultry is a growing trend. Here are some recent stories:

Does My City Allow Me to Raise Chickens?

Whole lotta clucking going on in cities

The communities of Fort Collins, Colo.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Wake Forest, N.C.; have passed laws allowing residents to keep a limited number of backyard birds. Other chicken-friendly cities include New York; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; and Salt Lake City.

Fresh eggs for breakfast aren't the only benefit of raising chickens, say hobbyists. The birds provide organic fertilizer, and their appetite for pesky weeds and bugs helps gardens thrive.

"If our economy continues on the downward spiral," says Ms. Shell, a third-generation poultry hobbyist, "you're going to see a lot more people raising their own chickens in their backyards and starting up vegetable gardens."

A mostly complete list of chicken laws by city: Chicken Laws

Bill Clous, Mission Accomplished

8/17/2003
A story of stumps, crops and zoning

Bill Clous says he's a farmer who wants to raise crops on 360 acres of damp, rolling fields in East Bay Township.

But Clous also is one of the region's biggest residential developers, and a recent township zoning overhaul could allow him to build 2,000 homes and an industrial park on land where authorities allege he willfully damaged wetlands and violated numerous environmental laws.

The collection of family farms Clous assembled over the past 20 years north of Hammond Road and between Townline and Three Mile roads will stay in farming, he said.
"My honest intention is to farm it for at least 10 years," Clous recently told the Record-Eagle. "(But) nothing's etched in stone."

10/16/2008
Clous to build on land he pledged to farm

Clous plans to build hundreds of subsidized senior citizen apartments, as well as a commercial development, on property he cleared and scoured and pledged to farm for a decade.

The project on a 54-acre parcel will include 360 apartments in three, three-story buildings and 120 rooms in an assisted-living facility bordered by about 10 acres of commercial development off Three Mile Road.

In 2004, Clous agreed to a consent judgment with Grand Traverse County and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to settle a lawsuit over allegations he illegally bulldozed wetlands on 360 acres there. Clous said the land was being prepared for farming.

Seattle's Example

Seattle Tilth

Seattle Tilth inspires and educates people to garden organically, conserve natural resources and support local food systems in order to cultivate a healthy urban environment and community.

The Path To Victory

Urban gardens in the news via The Oil Drum:

NYT - Out of the Yard and Onto the Fork

GroovyGreen - Feeding The Suburbs

Farming In The New Economy

Farming is becoming much more popular. See NYTimes.com: Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat

And farming is more than just cool, some people are finding new ways to actually make money while they work.
Examples:
Farmers cashing in on carbon credits

More farmers see wind as a cash crop

Program pays for planting pollinators

Northwest Michigan and Traverse City seem poised to become a force in these future farming methods, but will it take the path?

Community Supported Fishing

A new take on Community Supported Agriculture - Community Supported Fisheries. From the CS Monitor - Small fishermen borrow a page from small farmers

Perhaps this could be a model for preserving the Great Lakes commercial fishery?

Finding Salt-Free Ways To De-ice Roads

In Japan, there is a region where apples are grown and sea scallops are processed. Together, they create an eco-friendly road de-icer.

Northwest Michigan has fruit processors and lots of zebra muscles in Lake Michigan. Perhaps these could be used together to make roads safer in the winter, similar to what has been done in Japan?

Northern Spirits

Grand Traverse Distillery has opened their web site.

Coverage from the Record-Eagle - One man's spirited endeavor

Black Star Farms has a distillery to produce brandy in addition to their award winning wine and cheese.

And there are rumors of another distillery opening in Suttons Bay.

These are great additions to the breweries and wineries in northwest lower Michigan. It is clear Traverse City is now the culinary capital of Michigan. Next, domination of the Midwest.

Cows + Biofuel = Financially Solvent Family Farms?

From the East Valley Tribune - Land of milk and biofuel

Using farm waste streams for energy is an old idea and been used in Cuba to survive the U.S. embargo. If farmers can use the byproducts of their farm to create biofuel then this makes it much more likely that the land will remain rural. And if farmers put their land under conservation easement and construct wind turbines maybe they can even make good money?

Seems like a good option for northern Michigan farmers.