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View Full Version : Anyone else worried about their garden with the Japan issue....?



iOWNme
1st April 2011, 06:29 AM
Just wondering if anyone else is paranoid like me about contaminants in my garden? I live close to the west coast and got rain a week or so after the reactor blew.

Im not sure there is anything i can even do at this point. I would hate to rip it all out, but would hate to grow a 3rd arm after i eat my veggies also. :)

Are any of you guys/gals taking precautions with your home grown food?


Thanks!

SLV^GLD
1st April 2011, 06:33 AM
Are any of you guys/gals taking precautions with your home grown food?
What precautions can be taken? This is so far outside my control I see no point in even dwelling on it. That is unless there is something that can be done, which I highly doubt.

madscientist
1st April 2011, 06:37 AM
Unless you are prepared to buy all your food from the southern hemisphere, all produce is going to be contaminated to one degree or another, for some time to come. Keep on gardening; at least you know it won't have non-radioactive contamination.

I'm sure there is research on which plants are most resistant to absorbing the specific radionuclides in question.

Son-of-Liberty
1st April 2011, 06:40 AM
Yeah I am worried as well I have a couple steers that will be grass fed for my consumption but with the radioactive rain I kinda wonder if it is going to be much healthier then anything else. But live SLV^GLD said what can you do?

sweetdeems
7th April 2011, 09:14 AM
http://www.radmeters4u.com/victoreen-1.jpg

http://groovyvegetarian.com/files/2007/11/broccoli.jpg

iOWNme
7th April 2011, 04:21 PM
http://www.radmeters4u.com/victoreen-1.jpg

http://groovyvegetarian.com/files/2007/11/broccoli.jpg


Can i borrow that?

:)

sirgonzo420
8th April 2011, 05:21 AM
http://www.radmeters4u.com/victoreen-1.jpg

http://groovyvegetarian.com/files/2007/11/broccoli.jpg


Can i borrow that?

:)



Why would you want broccoli?


;D

woodman
8th April 2011, 05:33 AM
It would be nice if we could get information on just what and how much of it is falling. If it is short lived iodine then I won't worry about it contaminating my produce unless it is still coming down before I harvest. Does this make sense, or am I not considering things well? Still need to know what and when. I guess this whole thing will just keep going on and on. I don't know where to get clear info and I am getting ready to till up the ground and put in some cold tolerant crops.

sirgonzo420
8th April 2011, 05:45 AM
It would be nice if we could get information on just what and how much of it is falling. If it is short lived iodine then I won't worry about it contaminating my produce unless it is still coming down before I harvest. Does this make sense, or am I not considering things well? Still need to know what and when. I guess this whole thing will just keep going on and on. I don't know where to get clear info and I am getting ready to till up the ground and put in some cold tolerant crops.


I reckon cesium might be more of a problem than iodine...

Here's ongoing test results of air, creek, rain, tap water, milk, grass, food, etc from UC Berkeley:

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/UCBAirSampling


4/6 (1:00pm): The new milk results are now posted. Iodine-131 is detected at lower levels than previously measured, but Cs-134 and Cs-137 are now being detected as well. We are interested in watching these trends in the coming days, so we will continue monitoring the milk levels.

Thanks for everyone's patience as we set up and calibrated a new liquid testing station using a germanium detector loaned to us by ORTEC/AMETEK.

Creek water and tap water measurements were also updated. No radioisotopes are detected other than natural background.


4/6 (6:20pm): Our first food chain tests are now posted. So far, we have measured spinach, cilantro, grass, and mushrooms. We have detected I-131, Cs-134, and Cs-137 in these samples, but the levels are very low -- consuming 403 kg of spinach could give you a radiation dose equivalent to a roundtrip flight from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Not all isotopes are present in all samples, and the levels vary widely.


4/8 (12:15am): Our food chain tests have been updated to include strawberries, topsoil, and a second grass measurement. Overall, activity in the grass seems to be falling, but the grass may be concentrating cesium by a factor of approximately 5 relative to the soil. The topsoil currently has more I-131 than any of the plant or food samples. We are continuing to sample to better understand the isotope pathways from the soil into plants.

sweetdeems
8th April 2011, 06:57 AM
http://www.radmeters4u.com/victoreen-1.jpg

http://groovyvegetarian.com/files/2007/11/broccoli.jpg


Can i borrow that?

:)



Why would you want broccoli?


;D



bahahaha

SLV^GLD
8th April 2011, 07:31 AM
Can i borrow that?

:)

Why would you want broccoli?


;D

Because broccoli tastes good and is good for you. The question is why would the loaner want it back once it had been borrowed?
:P

gunDriller
8th May 2011, 04:27 PM
It would be nice if we could get information on just what and how much of it is falling.

there is a lot we can do to firewall our diet and our families' diets from radiation contamination.

it's pretty drastic, though.

since the primary "vector" for the radiation is in the rain, it means protecting your plants from the rain, and watering them using well-water.

to protect them from the rain,
A/ Greenhouse, or
B/ Canopy tarp, and move the plants in their pots to the protection of the Canopy when it rains. this is more practical if it rarely rains. or you'll be moving a lot of potted plants.

i will be doing both. just bought a canopy tarp (like a tent with no walls) for cheap at a garage sale.


because chickens and meat animals will also absorb the radiation, i am moving my chicken plans around. not sure of all the details. i just know i want radiation free eggs.

one easy option for both is to stockpile a year's supply of food. for example, finding a farmer who still has some of last week's hay crop, and is selling it for a good price, and buying as much of that as possible.

or for my chickens, buying bagged chicken feed. and making sure that the insects they eat are radiation free. for example, black fly larvae (aka Maggots) that are cultivated in food sources (rotting meat and rotting fruit, mainly) that are radiation free. for example, banana peels - from Central America. more radiation free.


as far as the distribution of the radiation in the rain, it is very random, by geography. also, changing day to day. also, hard to get information.


i had about 10 compost piles going. now they are radiation-rained-on. good compost though. some of the plants i'm growing are not for human consumption - sunflower seeds and peanuts, for plant oil/ biodiesel. if that gets radiation in it, well, the car will be eating it, not me.

also, some farm animals are useful, but you don't eat. you need male goats to provide stud services to keep the female goats producing milk. but you don't normally eat the goat bucks. so if i do get some goats, the buck will get a fantastic diet, but he won't be protected from the radiation rain.

same for a draft horse. if it eats grass that radiation rain has fallen on, it doesn't really matter, it can still pull logs or generate electricity.


i think the main thing is to make sure your children & pregnant women in the family consume radiation free food, since they are most vulnerable to it.