Visit our table at the fair!

If you happen to live in the area, and plan to visit the 75th Annual Ozarks Empire Fair, make sure you stop by the City of Springfield's Clean Water Services booth and learn about our Biosolids Program. Mr Scott Foley will be there most days, and he's your man for learning how you can receive free fertilizer for your feedstock acreage.

If you can't drop by the booth, more information can be found here.

While hanging out at the booth, I had a great opportunity to ask Scott about his job and the types of people he deals with and encounters. As a home gardener, I am quite curious about the agriculture world and love acquiring information to enable me to become as much of a locavore as possible.

Only one visitor stopped by on Wednesday while I was at the booth, but he didn't want to find out information from us, and instead threw questions at us related to the pollutants present within the biosolids used as fertilizer, and proceeded to accuse Scott of killing the planet. As a chemist, I understand quite a bit about the natural elements present in the soil, and know that no matter what, here in Southwest Missouri, there will always be large amounts of zinc and cadmium and moderate amounts of lead. A soil test will reveal that much of our earths natural composition is at or below the EPAs limits, and the biosolids applied to agricultural fields are well below what is required from these federal limits.

Currently, the regulations and a list of who must abide by them can be found here, but many states, including Missouri, are trying to establish their own limits set by their DNRs. This is I guess a new plan that is only beginning, and I could not find any literature or websites during about a half-dozen google searches. The current biosolids limitations can be found here and the page also shows how much of the fertilizer may be applied to the land depending on these limits.

I am still beginning my education in to these matters, and I look forward to knowing everything there is to know. Since I am not there yet, if you have any questions related to the use of biosolids being applied to agricultural acreage, do your own research on the topic, or shoot an email to your local DNR, EPA, or Public Works Departments.

Disclaimer: I possibly laid forth a few personal thoughts within this particular blog, which is why this is MY blog, but outside of the links I provided, I take full responsiblity for everything stated, and nothing I said should be interpreted as anything more than me sharing my thoughts and knowledge with you. I will say that there is a large push to educate the local community about how the Clean Water Services operates, and also the subsequent effluent composition that goes into the streams, and how the solids are properly disposed, so I felt that you, my handful of readers, could benefit from my post.

We're saving the world, one flush at a time! :-)

The beginning of a bountiful harvest

It's officially Summer!!!

... and our Yellow Squash plants are quite prolific, as they always seem to be. In about a month I will most certainly be sick of looking at them, covering all together too much surface area in the kitchen, but for now, let the cooking begin!

We had a few lovely and fun li'l clouds pass through over the weekend, which showered us with much needed rain, but also left us taking cover from the 1+" diameter balls of ice. Our poor garden was not so fortunate, and received many hard blows, resulting in shredded leaves, as with my once beautiful Chard, or source point dimples, like the fragile, thin-skinned Summer Squashes. Since these delicate fruits decay rapidly anyway, none of the local produce shops wish to attempt to sell them for us. :-(

but my co-workers won't mind since they're now free... :)

From the site: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2632/2 you can see for yourself how nutritious these golden summer goodies are for you, and occasionally check back for my personal recipes. :-)