Readers, thank you for your concern. Rest assured, I have not developed abdominal cramps, headaches, aggressive behavior, or any other symptoms of lead poisoning (although I suppose it might be too soon to tell). I've been eating lustily from my garden, both from the beds that are properly raised (a foot off the ground) and also those that are only slightly raised (four to six inches).
What's up with that? you might ask. I thought you were living on a bed of lead! Well, it's not quite as bad as I feared. It's true, there is a lot of lead in the soil next to my flaky old garage and house. The worst of the results I got back from the lab showed levels of 5600 parts per million—14 times the recommended limit for growing edible plants. The good news, though, is that as long as I take some precautions, this lead is not very likely to make it into my body (or yours, if you come over for dinner).
When I got the dreaded results back from the lab, the first thing I did was to dash off a rather anxious email to my friend and neighbor Grace Troccolo Rink, an environmental consultant and the former Assistant Commissioner for the Division of Natural Resources at the City of Chicago's Department of the Environment. Grace knew something about soil contamination from her days working with Greencorps, a city program that supports community gardens. Lead was a hot topic down there.
Continue reading "Speaking of Lead, Part 2: the Examination" »