The Evolving Homemaker

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

MAMAVISM MONDAY:  WHAT’S ON YOUR FOOD

Last week, I was reading in a local free magazine, Natural Awakenings- found at every Natural Store from here to Maine- about sewage sludge being used as fertilizer. You heard it right:

“Eight million tons of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, euphemistically renamed biosolids, is annually marketed as fertilizer and applied to the American farms and gardens that grow our food, as well as the parks where we play.  No food crop aside from those labeled U.S. Department of Agriculture certified organic, is regulated to guard against it being grown on land treated with this sludge.”

~Natural Awakenings (July 2010 page 9)

This stood out to me due to the fact that a few years ago, I think when my son was in his first year, I read this book called Fateful Harvest.  I tried to get everyone I know to read it.  Evidently I got someone to read it because I can’t find it on the shelf any longer.  Which never happens, I usually make people who borrow books ‘check’ them out and I keep their name and the title of the book taped to the wall next to my bookshelf.

Yes, I am a nerd.

But I am really sad I don’t have the book any longer.  I would have quoted it up and down today.  But I will send you to read the synopsis here.  Then you can run out and find a copy of your own.  It is worth the read.

“A riveting expose, “Fateful Harvest” tells the story of Patty Martin — the mayor of a small Washington town called Quincy — who discovers American industries are dumping toxic waste into farmers’ fields and home gardens by labeling it “fertilizer.” She becomes outraged at the failed crops, sick horses, and rare diseases in her town, as well as the threats to her children’s health. Yet, when she blows the whistle on a nationwide problem, Patty Martin is nearly run out of town.”

With a bit of digging, I found his original articles in the Seattle Times, which led to the book Fateful Harvest.  The articles titled Fear in the Fields can still be read here.

I am not sure what has happened legally since the book came out, if this is a process that still happens, what the EPA or anyone else for that matter, changed after this was exposed.  I will research it a bit for next weeks Mamavism and let you know, but it seems that if sewage sludge is still being used, it is at least cause for concern.

For me at least.

You can find out more at www.usludgefree.org, here is an excerpt from their site:

“So, what happens to all that sludge? Since ocean dumping was stopped in the United States by environmental groups in the 1980′s, because of the dead zones the sludge created in our oceans, disposal options most often used in America include landfill, incineration, and “land application”. What is “land application”? Because of measurable amounts of elements like nitrogen and phosphorous, the sludge industry and government bodies overlook the toxins in sludge and market the sewage by-product as fertilizer. Class A sludge is spread in our parks, golf courses, playgrounds, and forests and sold to the gardening public as bagged fertilizer. The amount of sludge that is land applied varies from state to state depending on how strict the laws are.

Class A sludge is marketed, and delivered free of charge, to thousands of farmers in 26 states as a fertilizer option. As the price of fuel and petroleum based fertilizers squeeze farm budgets, and farmers are only told of the benefits of free sludge, the temptation to apply sludge to farmland increases. Food crops may be grown in fields treated with Class A sludge without testing the products for levels of pathogens, heavy metals, or pharmaceuticals in spite of the fact that plants uptake nutrients and toxins from the soil. Meat and dairy animals may graze in fields treated with Class A sludge without testing the product in spite of the fact that heavy metals, hormone mimickers and chemicals collect in muscle and fat tissue.”

~United Sludge-Free Alliance

Sounds delicious.

Spill it: Did you have any idea this was allowed in the U.S.?  Do you care, or are you OK with it for the most part?  Let’s hear it Mama’s!  What are your thoughts on this as you grab an apple to feed your children nutritious food?

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Posted August 2nd, 2010 under Cooking, Mamavism. Tags: duff wilson, fateful harvest, fateful harvets, natural awakenings magazine, sludge as fertilizer, sludge on food, waste used as fertilizer
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