10 Tips for a Zero-Waste Household by Bea Johnson — YES! Magazine

Bad news today.
And, it just sank into my noggin.

Last spring I read that Purdue University would test my soil in their earth science department. Liam and I dug up, labeled, and shipped off three large samples from the front, side and back of our 1874 Victorian. I forgot about it until today.

The Center for Urban Health at IUPUI was sponsoring a study for urban homes and a colleague at work had recommended I do this. I blew it off, a bit, and if I recall correctly, we'd already begun chipping the old paint from our porch off. Today, when those results came in, our lead ppms were above 4700, and the highest levels for alert action were 400-600ppms. OMG comes to mind. The letter explaining our lead results says that if we [had] 400-600ppms of lead, we should
1. build raised beds and don't grow root or green leafy veggies in them unless we wash thoroughly. We have put three of our raised beds out front. This maximizes sunlight and reduces grass mowing. I hate grass for the record. I'm looking for something that doesn't suck water and require fossil fuels to control. Besides, I'd researched the effect of old walnuts on soil and suspect that falling walnuts or leeching into the raised beds in the back might ruin veggie crops. So we put our fortunes out front. Wrong move.

Worse yet, I'm retracing my steps. My daughter was out there for hours chipping paint. Did we chip that paint into the soil before or after the test? I didn't make her wear a mask! Should she be tested for lead poisoning? I think so. Who cares that I will have to call 80 dollars worth of shipped in soil a wash and move those dang beds next spring. I'm really worried my daughter was damaged.

In the meantime, I guess we can eat from the maters we planted out front, if we're washing them thoroughly.

In all, this was an interesting year for bringing our home back to basics. We've gone from piles of trash weekly to almost complete recycling. We compost or feed the hens all our food scraps. Almost all plastics, papers, styrofoams, metals and glass are collected in every trash can of our house and hauled to the local recycling center. That feels good. So here's some tips for you. Test your soil. Take that seriously if you live in an urban area. Then read this awesome article and more from YES! Magazine.


10 Tips for a Zero-Waste Household by Bea Johnson — YES! Magazine

Now, I will go pine for a subscription to this piece and wonder if I can justify the extra three bucks for the Wendell Berry poster the site is hawking. Love me some Wendell Berry.

Night night all.