Phyllis,

 

The irony of what you have just written is simply amazing. Here in Iowa we have the best soil on the planet and in most years ample rainfall. Any reasonable person would assume that raising a garden to provide wholesome, chemical-free food for the kitchen would be a normal, and relatively easy, task in rural Iowa. The fact that pesticide drift is making that more and more difficult is sad beyond words.

 

Meanwhile, on the computer desk in front of me is a plate of the most delicious sliced tomatoes--pink brandywine--that I picked from the garden in our back yard. Everything in our garden is doing very well this year, and it is all fed only by compost from our pulled weeds, crop residues, raked leaves, and kitchen peelings and scraps (no meat on the compost heap). We use no chemicals or artificial fertilizer on the garden. We rarely have to water the garden because we get plenty of rain. We did go through a brief drought this summer, about four weeks, but recent rains have saved our crops. Drought and flooding caused by climate change remain a concern, of course.

 

The difference between my garden and those in rural Iowa: we live in the center of Des Moines, near Drake University. We don't have crop dusting aircraft spraying around our garden, and, fortunately, our neighbors do not use lawn chemicals.

 

The fact that we have an easier time growing a chemical-free garden here in the center of Iowa's largest metropolitan area, compared to people living in rural areas of the state, indicates that there is something very wrong with our food production system.

 

Thanks for the information, disturbing as it is, about gardening in rural Iowa.

 

Tom

 

In a message dated 8/30/2009 1:13:17 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: