A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

Happy Halloween from BEYOND THE KALE......

 

[heirloomgal]

When I planted my first 'real garden' back in 2008, it just seemed a natural choice to go organic. I knew the general trivia that most people know about pesticides, herbicides & over the counter fertility and that seemed sufficient enough to know which way to go. Afterall, I was just a backyard gardener not facing any real problems, aside from my own lack of propensity to weed as much as I should. I don't generally have any seriously pernicious weeds or pests to deal with, though I do remember the year caterpillars infested the tree DH and I planted to commemorate our son being born. It was clear the first day the tree would die if we didn't do anything, and for the first time I felt tempted to use things I wouldn't normally want to use. But we couldn't bring ourselves to do it, and the tree died.

It never occurred to me until recently how superficially I had looked at the real meaning of non-organic vs organic, and some of the information I've been reading has just blown my mind. It's been awhile since I read something that shocked me so much, though in hindsight I guess it really isn't so shocking. One things for sure, I have never felt so elated that I chose to use organic methods in the garden! I had no idea back in 2008 just how important that choice really was. I'm actually a little behind the curve, because I've been poking around and can see that many people are talking about this new info, even Rogan has covered it. This may even be old news to some.

I'll try to condense a lil bit, and I'll post a link at the end of this but a weird triangle of connections here - organic growing, the gypsy moth, and the iron lung. I haven't completed reading all the material but the first bits are just wow level so I thought I'd post this for any organic growers that follow this thread and be interested. I've never read anything more affirming than this as an organic gardener!

Couple facts that don't seem connected, but are.

95% of polio cases are asymptomatic. Few know they have it, it would be like a common cold or flu.
Less than 1% of people who get polio develop paralysis. Wow, not the info I grew up hearing.

Polio initially was called poliomyelitis, and was considered a symptom, not a disease in itself. The term was an umbrella for any paralysis in the lower limbs. There were no poliomyelitis epidemic until the1890's - nothing ever before in the history of mankind. As this lower paralysis affliction began to rise through the 1890's, children were most affected. But animals were affected too, including horses, chickens, dogs and pigs. Odd, because 'poliovirus' as it's termed today is not virally communicable to any other species outside of Old World monkeys. That's a subject on its own.

This rising wave in both humans and animals coincided nearly to the exact year (1892 in Massachusetts) that lead arsenate began to be used extensively to combat the spread of a foreign invader destroying both flora and fauna- the gypsy moth. Lead arsenate was considered a superior pesticide being sticky, and not washed off easily whereas Paris green (another pesticide at the time) did. Animals injected with arsenic at the time, in experiments attempting to unravel this paralysis phenomenon, developed lower limb paralysis and low and behold lesions on the spine, the same as those observed in people. At the time, arsenic was a popular addition to several medicines as was mercury, particularly teething remedies.

The plot thickens from there and I'll just thank my lucky stars for 'organic'! and leave a link to an informative book for anyone who wants to look a bit further.

The Moth In The Iron Lung: A Biography Of Polio Book By Forrest Maready, ('tp') | Indigo

Buy the book The Moth in the Iron Lung: A Biography of Polio by forrest maready at Indigo

www.indigo.ca