September 11, 2012

crap on wheels

Yesterday I walked out my front door and was nearly knocked off my feet by the most horrible smell. I came to find out the farmer about 1/2 mile away had spread bio-solids on his farm. What does that mean? The man is spreading treated human waste as fertilizer and is stinking up our neighborhood. Crap people, could it be any more gross?! But there's more....

I have to tell you waste treatment plants give this shit away at no cost so it's saves them money as opposed to buying traditional fertilizer. Is it any surprise that our government claims it's safe? You can read the fact here and make up you own mind if you want to. However I've read about communities right here in the United States that claim it isn't safe at all. They claim that the use of human waste on farms has caused illness, contamination to ponds and ground water.

I'm against this practice. And if you smelled what I smelled you'd have to wonder how someone couldn't get sick just being in close proximity to this stuff. Then there's the silent danger. Trace heavy metals from  our household pipes gets processed with the waste and then is spread on the land and added to the soil during the fertilization process.

When you live in a rural area like I do where everyone has pets, horses and cattle who drink water from ponds (filled with fish) and live off their land. I find it hard to believe this wouldn't be a concern. Frankly I worry about my ground water and my food sources. Namely, I don't want him or anyone like him being my food source.

How do you feel knowing that the vegetables or meat  (from animal grazed on the same land) which your buying at your local market may have come from land  that fertilized with human waste?

“oh shit it's shit” 
― Stephen KingDifferent Seasons


15 comments:

  1. Hi Jen, Oh my, I can totally understand your feelings about this. Quite frankly, I think it's outrageous and shouldn't be allowed. I have never heard of human wasted being used like that, or for any other purpose. Ewww, just the thought of it has me feeling queezy! That is really vile and disgusting. I hope your neighbour has a change of heart and will use something a lot nicer for the people living around him and the earth. Love, Kerrie xoxo

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    1. He's been doing it for years. And I think because it's free and legal it's not likely he'll stop. Shame on him.

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  2. I really thought you were going to write about a beat-up old car. Imagine my surprise when I realized you were talking about real CRAP. Yuck. I have heard it all...

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  3. oh dear!! that is why we wash our hands after we use a rest room....to prevent the spread of diseases.

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    1. I know! This whole thing just makes me crazy it's so gross..

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  4. We had an awful smell a couple of weeks ago that lingered for nearly a week. The theory was that the smell came from France (we are in South East England) and it was the French farmers muck spreading on their fields. Now I wonder what they were using ....

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  5. Y-U-C-K!!!!

    That is not only disgusting, but also very disturbing. I have to tell you that I am very troubled by this and now I will be doing some research to see if the same policy applies here in Canada.

    Wow, our poo is exactly that---to think it's being used as fertilizer on our food--------it makes me shiver!

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    1. I agree Kathleen. I do hope the Canadian govt. has more sense.

      This practice is troubling.

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  6. I'm not even sure what to say about this. It's pretty disgusting. I'm sorry you have to live near this person and smell it. I wonder how many people realize farmers do this.

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    1. Kinda makes you want to double rinse those veggies doesn't it?

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  7. The Denver Wastewater Facility even bags their solids and sells it as potting soil. It is so gross, I would never buy that brand, they call it "Metrogrow" It always cracks me up too when cloth diaper advocates think their being all environmentally friendly since they flush their baby poop and don't throw it away with the diaper to go to the landfill. It's like they think the poop magically vaporizes after it goes into the pipe. I much prefer the poop go to the landfill then on ag fields.

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  8. I'm speechless...really....don't even know what to say....ICK.

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  9. I don't think I would like this at all! I'd be thinking maybe it would be a good idea to boil my water before I drank it or something. Makes one really want to wash their vegetables and fruits before they eat them. Just ick!

    (thanks for the comment on my blog welcoming me back; all was fine, just hard to get everything done with the extra hour of work every day :)

    hope the weekend is a nice one!

    betty

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  10. I've never heard of this. It is awful and you're right about the smell why should you have to suffer that.

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