permaculture

[<permed@nor.com.au>]

>After studying and appreciating permaculture for 2 years, I'm ready to look
>for land to purchase.  Critical concern is purity of water source and soil.
>Please recommend labs that handle testing, and what, in total, is a list of
>contaminants to test for? Also wondering how much this might cost.
>
Hi John 
There's a lot of diffent tests - each group of chemicals has its own 
specific test which can get quite costly. Best to ask former owners 
and/or neighbours what the land has been used for and what chemicals were 
used (or mostly commonly used for that type of crop). Example: here in 
our region if a property was once a banana farm one checks for arsnic 
residues, ex-sugarcane land one checks for organophosphates etc.

With my organic certification the inspector takes foliar samples and they 
get tested - much cheaper than testing the soil (still it's around $200). 
You might contact your local/national certification bodies and see what 
they do and which labs they use.
hope this is help
Robyn