Most veggie plants don't take up excessive amounts of toxins...or much at all aside from extremely small trace amounts. Nutrient exchange by plants rely on nutrient receptor points in plants and another layer of protection in the plant that selectively lets certain nutrients pass into root tissue. Given that...most toxins don't make it in huge amounts into the plant, itself. Also given that...because these toxins are taken up then excluded at the root zone (mostly through the casparian strip in the roots) there can be an accumulation of toxins in root crops. That said, just being close to a road or urban area doesn't necessarily mean there's going to be toxins. Lead levels are higher in urban areas, though not usually extremely danger levels. If one wants to be as safe as they can be...avoid growing root crops and wash anything harvested above ground. This is a bit overkill or not a concern for most, though. There's not a huge amount of danger in urban gardening unless you're growing on soils you know have former industrial/dumping activity or some other toxicity issues.

Well I've run into some major hurdles, the big problem is there obvious and the solutions are complex. 1 st we know what we want(just based on our experiences from a previous) which seems to make it that much harder. I have no problem admitting that I went into this blind and that at some point I would need e help especially with roofs and stairs ( Ive learned to hate stairs with a passion). An old fashioned t-shape Pennsylvania farmhouse is our dream. I many worried about getting proportions right to keep with the look we like, too wide of a gable end and your house easily becomes a church. So any time we saw a home we thought was bell balances we would simply stop and ask the owners to let us measure. Finally we feeling comfy with the dimensions,'I've done nothing but ram and smush everything into this mold, problem it just won't fit naturally, of course ive been able to keep adding square footage to house but I lose the simplicity, my motto is " it always comes down to adding just 2 more feet". So we began hunting for architect which feels like a step backward at this point because we have a logic behind our placement. ( ex: we have beautiful views to the right side of our house and garage on left so naturally the pantry/mud room/bath plus keeping the kitchen close by for groceries has been part of the problem all though I've made work before just never felt right. Factor in I need 4 bedrooms and love an open floor plan ( no cathederal ceiling, just raised living room) and the simplicity of simple old farmhouse gets complex. 2) I decided I would try to find an architect to basically "bless" a floor plan and then draft into prints for us , logically if he was happy with it and there were no major blunders I wouldnt expect to pay full rate. I think he quoted around 15k for a 2500sq ft houses with a significant amount of the concept done. I believe it was $75-$80 for 220 hours, after the sticker shock, we decided to stay the course. Even found multiple plans from timber/log home companies that would not sell just a floor plan to convert without purchasing the entire kit. I could produce over 50 cad drawings I've done and probably 3 graphing notebooks of half-a$$ sketches that all come out the same, close but never perfect. Even the drawing i submitted was basically to confirm that the issues were not in my head but legit concerns, which is why the criticism didnt bother me. ( I've been yelled by more important people than you mainly. renovater8 ) , since I've posted my print I've already been back at it but this time better equipped with your comments and this site in general. I like "how long have you been at it" comments. I'll probably keep at my drawings myself until I truly feel like I'm at a dead end, and with the help of a friend who is an engineer/draftsman I'll try to stick t through but not until I'm comfortable with a finished product, I love learning and still feel like I won something when someone points out a potential problem I would of never caught myself. If anybody has used an architect geared towards the rustic/country/t-shaped farmhome, I would gladly be interested.' always enjoy finding that diamond In the rough website that leaves the vinyl siding and cookie cutter plans to their 1000 page book and recreates the classics look. Would also love any pics or comments from anybody who's been on the same path. My apologies to renovator8 for coming across harsh, i use a lot of sarcasm and I dont specifically hate don Gardner , just sick of the seemingly identical planss we poured through over the years. Thankss again everybody.

Love, I'm so glad you had a success of a weekend. Now you know it can happen, and you have a better idea of how to get there. You can keep improving on the things you learn work, so keep positive. You all will work out a good system. I'm really glad DH and BM were able to work out an alternative that works for all of you.

The 3 GB's all have hand held DS or DSI's. From what I've seen they played the heck out of them when they got them for Christmas and now they mainly get played in the car on trips? When they bring them here now, they aren't played with a lot, in fact sometimes I wonder why they even bring them here! LOL Guess its like I said in the car to occupy themselves. Although I do know DS and Maddie love to play "I Spy" while they are making the long 4 hour trip between them. My kids had the Nintendo and Super Nintendo, they played them more in the winter than spring,summer and fall.