MEAT and lead poisioning (what a nice combo!)

So after my last post on food goals, I got some helpful info from several folks, including Chelsea, Ashes, Di, and Liz!

As far as locally-raised meat goes, Ashes mentioned that she buys from Karl Baer, who sells @ the Ypsi FM during the summer and evidently still sells out here every other weekend! I tracked down his phone number, and I'm going to call him and find out some more info! I also looked up some farms on Local Harvest (great site, by the way) and found a few more meat/animal product farmers. Haven't checked them out extensivley but I will be excited to:

Imagine Cattle Company- Belleville, MI

Mira's Egg Farm- Ann Arbor, MI

Firesign Farm- Whitmore Lake, MI

Casa Del Pollo Contento- Dexter, MI
 
Also, thanks Liz for the article about lead and Urban Gardening! I will definitely have my soil tested, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that you could still grow things in raised-bed gardens, if you line them with lanscaping fabic that helps block the lead from being absorbed. It also said you could treat your soil with lime, but I don't want to raise the pH any higher than it already is- that could affect the types of plants I'm able to grow successfully. Plus I think Michigan already has a pH of 7ish, which is supposed to mitigate lead absorption.
 
So while I still want to get our soil tested to make sure, it seems like I will be able to grow something, in some way, as long as I am up for pitching in a little extra bit of money-good to know :)
 
I was reading some interesting books I got from the library on vegetable gardening. One topic I am interested in learning more about is root cellars. I think my mudroom is cold enough that it could totally store some root vegetables for a few months- Ashes and Sara and I had apples in there for at least a month or two and they were totally good!
 
Hmm.. so many exciting things to think about! :) Thanks for all the input- it's great to be able to share information with fellow foodies and hippies.