Getting set up (Part Two)-- The other shoe...

"What didn't we know?" I asked, almost dreading a response.

"There was a CAFO just upstream, on the other bank that let loose in '17." He said.

My heart sank. "How bad was it?" I inquired.

"Bad" was the response.

CAFO, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. Or Concentrated Automatic Feeding Operation. Imagine this if you will dear reader; One barn, containing 5000 chickens. Now imagine barn after barn until you reach a total population of 500,000. Hold that thought.

These birds are shoulder to shoulder and fed constantly. Until about 2010 their food was saturated with antibiotics. The AB's make the birds grow faster. Because the birds were constantly eating, they were also producing huge amounts of defecate. All of this byproduct had to go somewhere. Usually it was mounded up or it was contained in huge lagoons until it could be dealt with. More often than not, the lagoons were poorly constructed using earthen berms as walls. Under the right stresses, such as heavy rains they would often leak. In a worst case scenario, the berms would fail, causing an environmental disaster.

Such was the case in the summer of 2017. A poorly maintained CAFO (hogs) had been suffering the stresses of an unusually wet summer. In rapid succession, two of its lagoons suffered cataclysmic failures dumping an estimated 500,000 gallons of feces onto the surrounding countryside. Naturally, a lot of it found its way into the Huron River and was carried far downstream. Almost immediately the ground water was saturated with e-coli, fecal coliform bacteria and who-knows-what-else. 100% of all the local wells were contaminated and of course, all of the soil would have to be remediated before any food crops could be grown.

As this new revelation, and its associated nightmares, began to sink in. I heard a familiar sound behind me Without turning around, I knew that Felix was approaching, Kim astride, and Carter not far behind.

“Why all the grim faces?” Kim asked.

Suzy gave her the short version. Kim furrowed her brow at the news, composed herself, raised a solitary eyebrow and said, “Better find a new pasture for the horses”. With almost imperceptible input from Kim, Felix wheeled about and was off at a gallop; Carter close by.

Somehow, in this community, we all instinctively know our priorities.

As it stands right now, we have enough food to get through the winter. However, any serious food production next year will have to wait until we can get some soil remediation done.

Oh, well. The best laid plans… While our permaculture experts begin to strategize on soil remediation, the rest of us will begin to prepare the permanent foundations for the houses and some experimental flooring for the Hexayurts tomorrow.

Stay Tuned…

Megiddo