Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Pat Meadows <pat@meadows.pair.com>]

On Wed, 31 May 2006 05:53:04 +0000, you wrote:


>This whole thread has cracked me up.
>
>Of course you can use graywater for growing anything.
>
>Plants do not absorbe and are not hosts for any of the possible human 
>disease causing organisms found in either graywater or humanure.
>

Oh, really?  What accounts for the cases of salmonella and
other food poisonings caused by vegetables and salad stuffs,
then?

Would you be happy to eat lettuce that has been washed in
water containing a large population of e-coli?  I wouldn't.

-----------
>From the USDA (specifically, ATTRA):

Food safety also begins in the field, and should be of
special concern, since a number of outbreaks of foodborne
illnesses have been traced to contamination of produce in
the field. Common-sense prevention measures include a number
of don'ts (3):

    · Don't apply raw dairy or chicken manure or slurries to
a field where a vegetable crop such as leafy lettuce is
growing.
    · Don't apply manure to an area immediately adjacent to
a field nearing harvest maturity.
    · Don't forget to clean equipment that has been used to
apply manure to one field before moving it to another field
in production.
    · Don't irrigate with water from a farm pond used by
livestock.
    · Don't harvest fruit from the orchard floor for human
consumption as whole fruit or nonpasteurized juices,
especially if manure has been spread or animals allowed to
graze.
    · Don't accumulate harvested product in areas where
birds roost.


http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/postharvest.html

-------------------------------------------------

Pat
-- 
Gardening in northern Pennsylvania.  

Eat local food, change the world for the better!