Why would you call 'BS'..,
Because it has the potential for being unsanitary,
or because you don't believe anyone would build on top of a septic system?
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You are of course assuming we don't have a 'Proper' septic system...
We spent a TON of money on the septic system, and the only way for harmful contamination to get into the food supply is if we get flooded.
Ground saturation CAN bring some of the contaminants to the surface...
We are on a hill with good grade, so having saturation where we are is unlikely.
We have a VERY over sized septic system (Built for expansion) so 'Backups' or 'Overflows' aren't likely...
But would be noticed.
Root and tuber plants would be at risk first, potatoes, radishes, turnips, ect.
Then things that lay on the ground that you don't peel...
Strawberries for instance.
The county inspector actually warned us AGAINST having the garden too close to the septic when it was installed, and the booklets you have to read to get a septic system permit/inspection spelled it all out.
I grew up with TWO septic system fed gardens with no 'Issues', this isn't' my first rodeo...
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Since it's not my first rodeo, and I've been a farm kid all my life, I'm going to clue you into something you don't know...
Farm/Feed Lot Run Off and using 'Organic' fertilizers are MUCH MORE LIKELY to give you something bad than your PROPERLY INSTALLED AND FUNCTIONING septic system!
It's the idiots that buy cow manure and throw it on the garden AFTER the plats emerge that causes problems!
Once plants emerge, you CAN NOT use raw 'Organic' fertilizers on them!
You are DIRECTLY contaminating your food!
The recent E-coli outbreaks in pre-packaged salads were directly traced to 'Corporate Farmers' that in one case got a flooded field with feed lot run off contaminating the emerged plants,
And in the second large case, chicken and cow manure was liquefied and sprayed on the emerged plants Directly contaminating them!
If you remember back a few years,
Apple Juice was responsible for an E-coli outbreak.
Pickers picked up apples with deer crap stuck to them and introduced the contaminated waste product into 3 million gallons of apple juice targeted for kids.
Hundreds seriously sickened, 4 dead, 11 people on dialysis for life because of the damage to kidneys and others with organ failure that will eventually lead to death, just very slowly and painfully.
EVERY FARM KID knows you don't add 'Organics' to the garden after you plant!
Something the 'Corporate' and 'City' *Farmers* should learn!
Every fall and every spring you clean the chicken coop, throw the waste on the garden and plow/disk it in.
After the first GOOD RAIN, you can start to plant.
Same with cow waste as 'Organic' fertilizer,
Let it set until DRY, then plow/disk it into the soil, leave it a while until you get a GOOD HARD rain, then plant.
If you check the almanac, you will see 'Moon Phases' to fertilize and plant by...
There is ALWAYS a month between fertilizer and planting if you pay attention.
We have a DEEP leach bed, proper, and actually over sized gravel propagation fingers, layer of clay between garden and anything 'Nasty',
And if your septic is working 'Correctly' there shouldn't' be much in the way of seriously harmful bacteria coming out of it.
I wouldn't drink it, but it should be mostly nitrates and proteins and not much live bacteria,
And the trap is in there to keep the active bacteria from migrating through the tank chambers unchecked.
Stuff like E-coli should get eaten by the beneficial bacteria before it migrates that far...
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And I'm not trying to sell this as a home game,
If you don't know what you are doing, DON'T DO IT!
I've been living off produce from over septic systems for 50 years now, and I don't seem to be any worse for it,
Wake up at 5:30 every morning, have breakfast, coffee, and start working,
Stop for lunch, work all afternoon,
Stop for dinner, work a little more or goof off a while,
Have a snack and go to bed...
Same routine for about 50 years now with no serious illness (KNOCK ON WOOD! probably just jinxed myself!)...
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Since I've ALWAYS been a farm kid, there is a reason why I warn about food supply!
Large cow, pig, chicken, turkey produces should be FORCED to treat the sewage they produce!
HUGE concentrations of Sewage escapes those places... UNTREATED!
Any hard rain or even minor flooding means it gets DIRECTLY into gardens, farms, water supplies, ect.
You don't have that problem with 'Free Range' or pasture raised meat production!
Again, you have to remember the animals are FORCED to eat where they defaecate,
So if ANY of them has a 'Bug' they ALL HAVE IT!
Production meat plants will grind 2,000 Cows a day into hamburger.
If ONE of those microbes rides into ANY of that meat, the entire production is contaminated!
And since some plants operate 24/7, the saws, grinding equipment, packaging equipment might not get cleaned for a week or more,
So you wind up with MILLIONS of pounds of contaminated meat.
The run off from the 'Feed Lots' and 'Processing Lots' contaminates the surrounding farm fields, crops, gardens, yards and water supply.
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When you buy a 'Roast' and have it ground at the store into 'Hamburger',
You are getting the meat from ONE cow, usually ground in a grinder that gets cleaned at least ONCE a day.
Reduces your chances of catching something you DON'T WANT!
If you buy from a FARMER that pasture raises his live stock, the chances of E-coli or anything else go WAY DOWN.
The animal isn't kept in a feed lot where it has to eat where it defecates,
It doesn't usually go to market if it's 'Sick',
Most small, local slaughter and processing houses will clean equipment between animals,
And they won't process anything that is obviously sick...
You get HEALTHY beef,
Prepared by guys that won't drop something on the floor with the guts and put it back on the line,
Take as much times as in takes to make SURE they don't punch the intestines when they process the animal,
and take pride in their work!
You can go back to eating Rare meat again without getting the 'Squirts' or worse!
And you get MUCH better tasting and better TEXTURE meats!
Not that 90 year old dairy cows or that south american 'Brush Beast' crap they call 'Meat' in the stores!
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Same with pork,
You get pork that doesn't hatch worm eggs when you leave it in the sun and it warms up!
Why do you think they recommend you heat pork to 180 degrees internal temp?
Trichinosis for one thing, and when they are raised in a feed lot they ALL have it since they are forced to eat where they defaecate!
If you ever saw a production poultry house or processing plant you would NEVER touch another chicken or egg from the stores!
Besides, I don't like that mushy, purple meat they call 'Chicken' at KFC...
Farm 'Free Range' chickens, even if the 'Range' is the barn lot, is MUCH better than that squishy crap they raise in the production houses,
And the EGGS ARE WONDERFUL! Rich, tasty, just MUCH better than the crap you buy in the stores...
It's the watered down, softened, 'Production' diet the poultry get, and the lack of exercise,
Since the waste is ammonia rich, they often donut' even get enough oxygen to make proper muscle, even if they did get a reasonable diet and had enough room for some exercise.
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Anyway, I have a LARGE garden, we CAN, DRY, JERK, Pickle EVERYTHING we have found a way to preserve...
The rest we freeze! (Freezers take maintenance and power, so canning is preferable for us)
No issues yet...
Thanks for the concern though!
) and the potatoes all come up about the same time, even though we plant 3 or 4 kinds so they can be harvested in one day or two, instead of spending a month waiting for this or that type to mature.
leasantry:
