Food experts won't eat corn-fed beef (Yahoo Article)

2. Corn-Fed Beef

The expert: Joel Salatin, co-owner of Polyface Farms and author of half a dozen books on sustainable farming

The problem: Cattle evolved to eat grass, not grains. But farmers today feed their animals corn and soybeans, which fatten up the animals faster for slaughter. More money for cattle farmers (and lower prices at the grocery store) means a lot less nutrition for us. A recent comprehensive study conducted by the USDA and researchers from Clemson University found that compared with corn-fed beef, grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium, and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease. "We need to respect the fact that cows are herbivores, and that does not mean feeding them corn and chicken manure," says Salatin.

The solution: Buy grass-fed beef, which can be found at specialty grocers, farmers' markets, and nationally at Whole Foods. It's usually labeled because it demands a premium, but if you don't see it, ask your butcher.

Click here to read the full article http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-7-foods-experts-wont-eat-547963/

Farmer meets Neighbor

I originally found this on Huffington Post and just yesterday was talking to my boyfriend about how cool it would be to create local farms within local Chicago city neighborhoods. So instead of going to your farmer's market every Wednesday of the month you could have your own actual farmer within the community and neighborhood. This idea is a really neat one, definitely have to check it out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/how-to-grow-your-own-wind_n_252891.html

But my idea is more like creating a three story glass building (a vertical farm) with solar panels for the electricity, using rain water to actual fed the plants, etc. The basic idea is to recycling everything used within the building and what nature gives to the building as well as the community giving back to the local farmer living in the building while taking care of the plants while we purchase all the goodies.

I always forget something when I go to the fruit market and when it comes to traffic its the worst feeling when you forget a herb or vegetable you want to make for a special dinner. Wouldn't be great to just walk a couple of blocks to your farmer down the road and just purchase your daily goods from there? Wouldn't it be cheaper to do or just as cheap if you bought from a fruit market?

I envisioned these local farming buildings (vertical farms) in a like 2-3 block radius N-S-E-W. To get a better visual of the building itself this is what I had in mind (but on a much smaller scale)

Can't we make this happen?