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dogstarfarmer

Looking for compost - Gardener's beware

dogstarfarmer
14 years ago

Doing a first year market garden located here in Benton, Tn. We've cleared out two honest sources of cow manure but haven't satisfied ourselves yet. We need *well aged* manure or organic compost. None of that mushroom stuff either. I wouldn't want to feed the crops I'll be eating myself with anything that came from someone popping up on this website:

http://www.planethazard.com/phpolluters.aspx?mode=polluters&area=county&state=TN&countyfip=47105

Not gonna go in to the details of the composition. But for starters just know that it has a certain toxicity about it and too much lime anyways...

Trying to do things the right way around here. If you can help me find horse, cattle, chicken, or other manure which hasn't been fed hay that's been sprayed with herbacide/pestacides and hasn't been pumped full of antibiotics please send me a line.

Free beings generally respect other beings. Slave beings generally treat other forms of life like slaves. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I learned that about the time i was in kindergarden. Now that I've graduated to vegetable garden I'll try to stick with what I know, the basics.

Always remember what we put into our garden soil is what we'll be putting in our mouths later. Be it in a slightly transmuted form but you see what I mean, no?

Love to all!

-Garrett

Comments (6)

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    I really don't understand your post. From what I can tell, the website you refer to doesn't really amount to much of anything by itself. It appears to be much more about politics than science. The meanings and basis for the data is missing. It doesn't even differentiate between relatively benign pollutants (warm water can be a pollutant for instance) and toxic waste!

    Later in your post, you talk about slave beings or something. Like the website, your post seems to be more about politics (or some sort of atypical viewpoint) than presentation of fact.

  • dogstarfarmer
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Sounds like you have a pretty solid understanding. The website does not explicitly match the specified pollutants to their various sources. It is a fact though that the spent compost from conventional commercial mushroom producers generally contains components that are not organic and does in fact have a higher ph than I would personally want to use in a vegetable plot.
    Growing vegetables of course involves a certain amount of science. I think of it more as alchemy but science is a fair description...
    Moreso though I like to view gardening as a very experiential art form. Not many things could be considered more political than making a conscious decision to grow ones own food. It is even more political to grow a surplus of food for the benefit of others.
    What I am doing is very much "atypical" and my criteria for what qualifies as "toxic" may be a bit different from what a "typical" person may qualify as toxic. As long as the "typical" view remains that carcinogens are ok in moderation or a daily dose of environmental hazards are just a normal part of life, I will gladly promote an atypical viewpoint or radical political stance.
    Industry is profit driven. If its goal was empowering the people then there would be no worker (hence no wage slavery). Leviathan could care less about your well-being.
    But this is a gardening forum so I really just hoped that maybe there would be a better source of manure out there than just swinging by any old feedlot or confined poultry facility. If you don't understand how these non-human animals in confined feedlot facilities are managed using the same principles as those at work to subdue the average American industrial worker. Or that the "free energy" from the Sun is what makes gardening possible I suggest you take a step back, a deep breath and a moment to meditate over the past few decades of history as a whole. Or go watch "food inc." or something since the "typical" view out there seems to be that its easier to have someone else do the thinking.
    What we put in the soil is what we get out. I'd rather use the poo-poo from a healthy, free roaming, happy cow and then know I was absorbing all that love and "free-energy" everytime I crunched into a homegrown cucumber.

  • anntn6b
    14 years ago

    You might want to educate yourself about Histoplasmosis.
    It's a avian manure sort of thing.

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    14 years ago

    Garrett, don't get me wrong. I'm all for healthier eating, better environmental stewardship, etc. I just like my science as solid and factual as possible. I'm an official tree-hugger myself (member of the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, etc, etc).

    I think many of the people, that aren't as concerned about the environment, use bad (especially, non-scientific) data as an excuse to ignore many of the problems we face today. Some people seem to feel that they can dismiss all the important data after seeing environmentally concerned people present just one set of non-factual or bad data.

    I don't know if mushroom compost is ultimately a great additive for many situations or not, but I would not dismiss it because the mushroom grower emits some unknown pollutant. My "wait-a-minute-now" alarm goes off when I see bad data pushing environmentally responsible action almost as quick as when I see good data ignored.

    Anyway, good luck on your search for the good stuff, and, if you find some good sources of "farmer's gold" for an affordable price (free is always great), let us all know. Many of us keep our eyes out for such a find.

  • dogstarfarmer
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Brandon, after reading your profile I see that you probably have a lot more experience than myself when it comes to all this plant lovin' stuff. I feel sorta foolish for insinuating that you weren't aware of the issues involved there. Thanks for calling attention to the ambiguous nature of the planet hazard site. I don't fully understand what those numbers are based on myself. Not that I usually trust numbers anyways..but yeah. I haven't done enough research first hand to present a sound argument (in scientific terms) against using mushroom compost based on its composition. But my intuition tells me to steer clear. I'm hopeful that most vegetable gardeners would do the same.

    Anyways, I'm not too familiar with Histoplasmosis. I see some info is out there. That is different from H5N1 in that it is a fungus rather than a virus? And usually originates in confined poultry operations and or could be a hazard if one comes into contact with relatively fresh bird/bat droppings? Seems that most pathogens are neutralized if the pile heats up for a long enough period of time. Not wanting manure from the feedlot is more based on "hippy-dippy" ideas of bad "energy" rather than concern over pathogens.
    My main concerns remain that animals/humans are being inundated with GMO feed, hay bales fed to animals are sprayed with toxic weed (garden) killer aka "lawn nukes".
    Oh well Keep your heads up, we'll overcome the nasty soon enough. Here's a nice week of weather for everyone! Go put your hands in the dirt and have fun!

  • maternut
    14 years ago

    Garrett another thing to worry about, instead of antibiotics and other things in cattle feed, is your city drinking water. I used to dump bags of fluoride into machines that fed into the water. At one time these bags had a skull and cross bone symbol on them and keep away from food products message on them. They used that stuff to kill rats. I think they cleaned up the bags now where they don't tell you about the bad stuff. Another thing they put into your water is chlorine, another treatment is available, thats harmless. The water is not good for your garden but people drink it, at least I don't know what is in my well water, could be worse than the city water.