grow your own

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In one sense this is a continuation of Big Dog's thread a couple of messages down where the discussion turned to chemical/biological hazards.Here in the Uk consumers are very aware of the problems with supermarket foods such salmonella,mad cow & GM foods & additives such as modified US soya..Also the problem with cling filmed/plastic food wrappings leading to dropping male fertility in younger men.

By growing your own food,you can be assured that what you eat is safe.Does anyone else have the same justification ???

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), February 28, 2000

Answers

Hi Chris. YES we have the same concerns. Its impossible to know what is in store bought food anymore. We too are concerned about genetically modified corn and soy products (grown here in the US).

Too many packages contain inadequate labeling also, and you never really know what your eating.

We try to grow as much as we can, buy a lot locally through farmers markets (for what we can not grow or dont have room to grow).

-- suzy (suzy@nowhere.com), February 28, 2000.


Growing your own can definitely guarantee that nothing was intentionally added by the grower to the produce like pesticides, fungicides, sprout inhibitors, growth hormones, etc.

It does not guarantee safe food. Most likely MUCH safer, but is it totally safe?

The ground itself needs to be examined to rule out toxic additions to the soil like lead, pesticides, arsinic, etc. Pay a little attention to the history of the land. Was anything dumped there in the past?

Next examine the water. Is there runoff from something undesireable uphill? Is there ground water seepage that is carrying "stuff" from nearby dangers? Are the septic tank drain fields a little too old?

Next pay attention to what you add to the soil. If you want to raise salad greens and other foods normally eaten raw and unprocesses, top dressing with semi-fresh manure or other major bacteria sources should be avoided. Make sure your additives are well aged or heated well in the compost bin. A thick straw layer may virtually eliminate this threat but be aware.

Last thing I will mention is almost silly except in some cases it could be deadly. Insects, birds and other garden transients have been known to bring diseases with them from the outhouse (portapotty?), neighboring hog or other farm, and even a nearby nuclear waste site. (yes, "high" radiation from fly specks left on different surfaces.) When in any doubt, wash the stew out of everything.

-- tree (thetrees@bigfoot.com), February 28, 2000.


Glad you brought this up. I for one have harbored a 'secret' fear about store bought fruits and veggies for the last 30 years, and that is that someone has/would intentionally inject poisons in them, or having handled toxic or diseased substances and then handled the produce, even if they washed their hands, no guarantees diseases or chemicals would wash off the produce or their hands. UGH!

Glad I started my seeds and will grow my own, safely as possible.

-- Sammie (sammie0x@yahoo.com), February 29, 2000.


Tree makes some good points. Growing your own probably will be safer in a lot of areas but this should not be taken as an absolute guarantee of safety. You may be trading a known danger for an unknown one.

I'm planting a garden for the first time in nearly ten years (not because of GM foods)and am really, really looking forward to eating the produce from it. We'll still be buying grains off the commercial market though. If you look at what can be factually proven about genetically modified foods you'll find most of the fears concerning them are just that, only fears with virtually nothing having been proven. What little has been proven must be examined in the context of the well known dangers of commercial agricultural practices as they are currently constituted.

........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), February 29, 2000.


Tree,

You made some salient points .I guess I had assumed that most would be very aware of monitoring the gardening environment as a whole.

Alan,

Experience has taught the Brits,to be very,very cautious about believing official reassurances about food quality.Even today,Tony Blair has modified his stance about the safety of GM foods.We also know that you can drive a coach & horses through the legal requirements for additive etc declarations on food.

My husband also worked for 15 years on a soft fruit farm & although he was spraying the crops with approved substances, there was no regulation as to how many different chemicals could be sprayed at the same time.What was worrying was that nobody knew what results would arise from mixing up so many different substances in the tank.One of the reasons he got out of the business,were the high levels of toxicity in his blood from the continual spraying.

Another reason why we are so reluctant to accept GM foods is the uncontrollable risk of cross pollination with other unmodified crops or wild flowers etc.The domino effect in action ??

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), February 29, 2000.



Chris,

My garden is organic - I won't add artificial fertilizers or spray with pesticides. Is that a guarantee what I produce is 100% 'safe? As others pointed out, not exactly, but at least I know what I've put in it.

Unfortunately, you have no control over the surrounding environment. I vaguely recall reading an article about a 'toxic' rain somewhere over in europe where there were trying to figure out where the pesticide in the rain was coming from. It was scarry stuff. One theory was that as fields were being sprayed, droplets or evaporate was rising into the upper atmosphere and subseqeuntly falling in the rain across large geographic areas. Unfortunately, I can't give you the reference off the top of my head. It was something I'd rather forget having seen. It may have been a news blurb, something from Organic Gardening magazine, or in a Sierra Club publication or the like...

Perhap Old Git will will pull it out of that marvelous library of wisdom that we gotten glimpses of.

In any event, I highly recommed Organinc Gardening Magazine as a terrific publication. (Truth in advertising disclaimer: I have no connection with OG other that I've subscribed for a number of years and I will be sending them a picture of my compost 'monster' one of these days...) You can find them on the web at http://www.organicgardening.com/

Best of luck in your gardening adventures

jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), March 01, 2000.


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