On the first pleasant day that we’ve had since, well, seems like forever, a fleet of massive machinery arrived on the neighbouring corn and soy fields. They’re spreading fertilizer, sludge from the city of Ottawa. We had been notified that this would be taking place, but I was amazed by the scale of the operation.
The sludge was delivered and dumped by huge trucks. A giant yellow…(I would call it a steam shovel. This is obviously wrong and there is no steam involved, but I don’t seem to have moved on from my Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel days)…back hoe (possibly named Mary Anne) shoveled the sludge into a giant spreader behind a giant tractor.
This went on all day, with a steady stream of trucks keeping the tractors supplied. To the best of my limited knowledge, the main concern with sludge is the possible presence of potentially poisonous heavy metals. The sludge has purportedly been processed and inspected etc etc to approved standards. I’d like to think they know what they are doing because the ground water from this field drains into the little river and it is spawning season. On the whole, I don’t have a lot of confidence in they.
Looking at the awesome scale of this operation, and noting the price of gas right now, it is hardly surprising that food prices follow the cost of fuel. And gas prices have nowhere to go but up.
Willow House Chronicles 