[Homestead] Gene Logsdon on Farm Waste
Don Bowen
don.bowen at earthlink.net
Sun Jul 20 08:28:27 EDT 2008
>Alas, Gene is still in the throes of septic tanks and leach fields. I
>must write him or call him and burn his ears. The piece is an ode to
>manure and he either does not know or will not accept that human
>manure is a valuable resource, not to be wasted in a septic system.
>What's the world coming to when you can't rely on Gene Logsdon for
>common sense advice?
The Organic farmer I worked with this last winter and spring talked about
all the wasted fertilizer that was pumped through sewage treatment
facilities. This is a huge resource going to waste because people don't
want to even think of it (that is until a tourist beach is red flagged) and
too many nasty chemicals are disposed through the sewers. Recent tests of
municipal sewage have shown not only traces of industrial chemicals,
prescription drugs, but also traces of controlled substances. The authors
of this last study have not been able to find a city that will allow them to
do a more definitive study, cities are afraid of the negative publicity if
it came out they were the Cocaine capital of the country.
One of the books I read on urine or humanure talked about urban nitrogen
collection. It advocated a collection tank and a regularly scheduled pump
out. The sewage would then be turned into a high quality nitrogen rich
fertilizer. We do waste millions of tons of metals and fertilizers every
year.
Don Bowen KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
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