Brian Johns is a farmer and an educator at his own Happy Family Farm.

He teaches students to grow vegetables using traditional and cutting-edge technologies such as hydroponics and aquaponics.

They learn “seed to sale” – from growing to entrepreneurship. (Video)

It’s not often that an invasive species is welcomed into its host community. But some northern Michigan beekeepers want to keep spotted knapweed around because honey bees collect nectar from it.

Entrepreneurs who sell homemade food products may soon be allowed to increase the amount of money they earn without undergoing health inspections and licensing.

The upkeep to keep septic tanks from failing and polluting water is expensive, especially with the growing restrictions on how to dump their contents.

Lesser known but arguably more important than preventing diversions to Las Vegas, the Great Lakes Compact requires the states to develop water conservaton plans by 2010.
How’s it going?

A long winter and a wet spring are a recipe for manure management headaches and potential water quality threats in the Great Lakes region.

Proposed legislation in Michigan may encourage the use of small-scale clean-energy devices by exempting them from property taxes.
Local governments say they must weigh clean energy’s impact on economic development against the loss of property tax revenue.

Unseasonable heat and smog are smothering Great Lakes states. Many cities experienced record-breaking temperatures with ground-ozone that are unhealthy for children, older adults and people with lung disease.

This week the farmers begin building a second greenhouse and installing solar panels to support geothermal heat.

They start planning a rain cistern to capture rainfall

Researchers in Canada have discovered a hydraulic fluid used by planes within Great Lakes surface water and fish. The health threat is unclear. Equally mysterious is how the chemical got into the water. The discovery indicates that there may be other chemicals in the environment that researchers have yet to detect.