HIYA!

I live at a Buddhist temple in a fairly rural area, on an island off the southern tip of South Korea. We have a garden not too far from the road. The adjacent road isn't much travelled but the road about 500 yards away is far more travelled.

I wonder what others have to say about washing or not washing vegetables from such an environment. I usually just pick and eat, so I get some soil, and some insects in there. I remove all the insects and tiny stones I see, but if there's a tiny bit of soil, I leave it. For sure there must be things in the soil that I'd rather not eat.

My question regards the pollution from cars and a small industrial area a couple of miles away. It's a pretty windy island. Apparently the air on the island is considered pretty "clean". I wash vegetables on days like today. It hasn't rained in quite some time so I believe it's raining water and pollution!

I'm interested to see what others have to say about this.

And, by the way, this brings up the point of urban gardening. I sometimes wonder if conventional farming in rural or semi-rural areas produces cleaner produce than organic urban gardens. Years ago I sent an email to SLUG (San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners) but unfortunately I didn't get a response. I'm curious what others have to say about this too. I wonder if there has been any research comparisons of produce from organic urban gardens and conventional produce from semi rural or rural farms.

Troy.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha

or how about organic farms from rural areas?

great question though troy

long time no hear from you

hows the kim chi?

do u get that in abundance?

I would not like to eat vegetables grown near motorways or other places that have heavy traffic all the time. It's true - I always wonder about the veggie gardens i see perched next to major roads with huge artics. thundering by day and night.

As to industrial stuff I think it depends what it is. Incinerators are pretty bad news - anything that guffs and gushes stuff out of big chimneys needs to be viewed with concern.

Plastic particles can be found all over the world even in the most remote, pristine areas. We have done a very good job of polluting our world.

I wouldn't worry too much about your stuff - it sounds SO much better than most.

I wonder too about urban gardens - the benefit is obviously greening up cities and that has got to be a good thing. My daughter is involved with a project called 'growing our future' - she has gone back to her old school in a medium sized town and with others put in veggie beds, compost bins and wildlife areas much to the amazement of the teaching staff. The council have allocated her 20 areas of disused bits of land to plant up. Some are very tiny - just big enough for a fruit or nut tree and a few bushes. She is trying to grow food plants all over the town and this has the effect of engaging the local people who are pleased to see someone gardening an area rather than tipping their rubbish onto it. The knock on effect is to hopefully encourage people that they can too grow something even if they only have a tiny back yard or a window box. This has got to be good for the environment, encouraging wildlife and creating a more pleasant land. Hopefully it goes some way towards counterbalancing the pollution.

I do not have facts and figures about this versus that but i have hope.

Oh yes, I remember once picking a few plums or cherries that were growing right on the main roadway of a small town, and I could taste (and feel the texture of) the black soot inside - yuck! Farms or gardens next to main roads/highways are definitely not well off. Funnily, I don't remember tasting the same effect from picking fruit on the streets in Berkeley, California so I think it depends on the place and how well the urban environment is taken care of.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2009 10:29PM by wild-aloe.

Around here the air on the roads get sprayed with poison to kill mosquitoes. I want to keep that poison away from my food.

I always think about the toxicity of a garden near a highway.

Soon we will all have clean cars and it won't be an issue.

Oh yeah, Hi Troy. Good to hear from you. I hope all is good.

good questions Troy (and glad to hear from you !i always look forwards to your diary posts !)

it would be interesting if someone did a toxicology study in there area

my question tho is what would you test for?

heavy metals ..and ...? nutrient levels? and ...?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I hear you Troy. In the end, we eat the best food and drink the best water we can. The above suggestions are great....and I would suggest rinsing your produce if you are in a high-traffic area. If you do not, it sounds like your diet is still light years ahead....as is your lifestyle...so don't worry too much about it.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Glad to read all your posts here.

LV, nope, don't get all that much kimchi though I really do like the stuff. I usually eat alone, in my room, my own stuff, and don't go get the food that the others eat. When I do eat with them I eat kimchi if it's around. Recently we've had more kimchi made with wild mustard greens than that made with Chinese cabbage. I like the latter much more.

And, boy, thanks for the welcome. I really used to enjoy reading so many of the threads here. Still do on rare occasions. I don't see though, that I'll get more involved in the near future. I've been busy busy busy translating and studying a Dharma Talk that a lady here typed out for me. We've been translating it together. Boy, do I ever love this stuff.

And, I've been seriously considering ordaining here as a monk. One reason that I've always balked at ordaining is the food thing. I don't want to give up raw. But, lately, I've even loosened my grip on the raw food thing. And, ordaining would mean cutting ties with parents. That's something that doesn't sit well. So, I don't know. I don't see myself putting on the robes right away.

I could write on and on. But that would only be appropriate in my diary. I wrote something a while back, and suppose I'll write something again in the coming weeks.

Really time to get going and prepare for class.

....

Troy.



This way is not compatible with Zen practice. This way IS Zen practice. - Dr. Doug Graham

Nothing whatsoever should be attached to. - Buddha