Posted on 07/31/2009 8:17:44 AM PDT by milwguy
When First Lady Michelle Obama planted an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn in March 2009, she hoped to both set an example of healthy eating and to grow tasty edibles for her daughters and husband. But Michelle's organic dream has been dashed by a nasty toxic legacy lurking in the soils of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It turns out that a previous Presidential gardening team had used sewage sludge for fertilizer
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyfinance.com ...
Just one step up from third-world countries emptying their "honey pots" in the garden patch.
National Park Service tested the dirt beneath Michelle’s garden and found the plot has highly elevated levels of lead averaging 93 parts per million.
“HONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...DO THESE TOMATOES FEEL HEAVY TO YOU?”
yes poetic justice all the way.
This, in the scheme of things can’t be exactly blamed on barry’s incompetence
but good grief how stupid was it for someone to NOT have tested the soil before they embarked on this feel good photo op?
Lord save us from these people
Hardy har har, I guess.
The Obamas seem to have plenty of money to toss about. Why don’t they hire a few Washingtonians to replace the soil in the proposed garden area with better stuff? Or do an elevated garden.
It was Clinton and they document it.
“Why dont they hire a few Washingtonians to replace the soil in the proposed garden area with better stuff?”
SOUNDS LIKE A SHOVEL-READY PROJECT...
Not surprisingly, the National Park Service tested the dirt beneath Michelle's garden and found the plot has highly elevated levels of lead averaging 93 parts per million. That's below the 400 ppm that the Environmental Protection Agency says is a threat to human health. But I'd wager that Sasha, Malia and Barack won't be getting arugula or tomatoes from this garden any time soon.
I wonder if the Clinton's sewage sludge is really the culprit, or if the lead in the soil is simply the result of years and years of non lead-free gasoline auto exhaust in this highly urban location.
The problem apparently predates W.
The likely source of the toxic sludge that has ruined Michelle's garden? The Clinton White House apparently used a sludge-based product to fertilize the lawn during the 1990s!
My thoughts exactly. Hire a backhoe to come in and scoop out a foot or so of dirt and then have a couple dump trucks come in with some good dirt. They are too clueless to know about gardening though, that is not something ‘elites’ like they should have to trouble themselves with.
Organic nasties can be dealt with pretty well, through treatment (that’s how we have a product called Milorganite) but the heavy metals are a problem. I would surmise the lead came from lead drain plumbing.
Only if the heavy metals are taken up by the plants and incorporated into the edible parts.
Now there's an idea. Nebuchadnezzar had one of those. Baraq al-Husseini could go one better.
My favorite highly scientific method is the "Dead Chicken Cure" for a recalcitrant aerated basin . . . .
We have been competitive shooters for years and years, but we try to keep control of the lead situation . . . . I'm sure the backstops out at the range are over the allowable limits!
We had a neighbor who used sludge on his garden when I was growing up. Every time it rained, it smelled like the sewer plant exploded and we were right down wind of it.
They could easily get some landscape timbers or railroad ties and do a raised bed. Wouldn’t even need a backhoe. Better for the plants anyhow.
New domestic garden czar to be named.
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