Grass Farmers, Not Immune To Ills, Still Must Be Able To Make A Living
In 1965, at age 2, our daughter had her first asthma attack. In 1967 or ‘68, I developed asthma.
By the time he was 9, our son began to have symptoms of both hay fever and asthma.
Tests showed the main causes of our allergies are grasses, trees and dusts, including grain dusts. Not tested for, but still causing us problems, are perfumes, cigarette smoke, engine exhaust and smog. We took antigen shots for years. We still have our allergies and always will.
Our son still requires occasional treatment for his allergies. Our daughter, who moved to the Redmond, Wash., area after college, still has her spring and fall asthma attacks, and requires treatment year-round. I take medication three times a day and keep inhalers with me at all times.
By the way, I am a farm wife. And we grow bluegrass.
So what do I do when it is grass burning time? I take my medication, go out and help. When I have shopping to do, I try to pick days when the smog in Spokane isn’t too thick. Then I take my medication and go. When someone walks by me smelling like she took a bath in perfume, I start to wheeze and reach for my inhaler.
My concern with people who oppose grass burning because of chronic medical disorders is that they make it sound as if the only time they suffer is in August and September - grass-burning time. I sincerely doubt that’s the case. What about the rest of the year, especially October through March, when all the wood stoves are lit and burning for heat, and wood smoke blankets Spokane for days at a time?
What about all those days when the weather holds all the smog close to the ground? And what about all those windy days, year-round, when dust and pollen blow through the region from heaven knows where?
What about those three-day weekends in both spring and fall when garden wastes are allowed to be burned in some areas?
Doing away with grass field burning will not cure their ailments.
Do the burn opponents realize what will happen if bluegrass is no longer grown because we cannot produce a decent crop? Those fields will be put back into regular crop rotation, making for more wind-blown dust and more dirt washed into area waterways.
To ask grass growers to plant grass for soil conservation only would be like asking an office building owner to leave one floor empty, like asking Spokane not to worry about losing Nordstrom or the Bon.
Believe me, if there were a feasible way to clear grass fields in preparation for next year’s crop, other than burning, farmers would use it. We grass farmers are human. We suffer the same medical disorders as everyone else. We are not unfeeling bozos saying, “To hell with the rest of the world.”
We are trying to make a living. We are trying to feed the world. We know you can’t eat bluegrass, but we need to raise a variety of crops to make that living.
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