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Original Post:

I have celiac and I know this probably sounds crazy but my family is growing
wheat in our garden. Will this be a problem with the other produce grown in
the garden if it is washed good? I can understand other grains, like oats,
being too difficult to wash, but how about tomatoes and such? Also, our corn
is going where the wheat is when it is finished.

I got five more responses - one was alarming.
Three responses thought I could do it without a problem.
One response couldn't understand why my family would do this.  (They aren't
intentionally trying to hurt me.)
The last response remembered reading about a lady who got sick from staying
near a wheat field. If any of you could point me to a story like that I
would appreciate it.

Thank you for your help. Here are the posts.

*****
Sorry I did not see your original post.  We grow most of our own
vegetables and use rye as a cover crop to re-establish nutients in
the soil  We cut it before it seeds and I do not have a problem.  I
would imagine if it went to seed, it could contaminate the garden.

*****
I thought that the cross contamination for oats came from the same
machinery used for combining, milling, etc. This machinery would not
be used for vegetables.  Farmers have always rotated their crops to
keep the soil healthy, but I would want to make sure vegetables, etc,
are washed really well so that there are no stray grains from birds,
wind, etc.  That is just my own theory. . . .

*****
I missed your first post.  I would not worry at all, as the final respondent
indictes.
The issue with oats is related to the comment about harvesting before the
seedheads fall.
Invariably in commercial agriculture, with rotated crops, a few 'volunteer'
wheat plants will arrise when the field is planted the following year or two
in oats.  Because the harvesting routine is similar for both plants, wheat
kernals end up mixed in with the vast majority of oats, and that is the
first source of cross contmination.  Other wheat contamination can enter
into the oats during transport, storage, and processing (wheat first in a
bin; not all of the grains get cleaned out; then oats go in...).

The cross-contamination does not come via the roots of the plants or simply
touching.  It comes when the grain, wherein the offending gluten protein
resides, is mixed in with the food we eat.

*****
WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS KNOWING YOU HAVE CELIAC?
JUST BEING AROUND IT GROWING WILL PROBABLY GIVE YOU PROBLEMS BREATHING IT IN

*****
I remember reading a story about someone that was staying with a family.
She was Celiac.  They emptied and cleaned the house of GF products while she
was there and she kept having problems.  Then one day it dawned on them that
there was a wheat field not too far from them.
I know that I can't breathe the flour at all, or get it on my skin, or in my
eyes.  People argue but I know the symptoms and have tested too many times
to be wrong.
I wouldn't do it for anything in the world.  And I definitely wouldn't put
it in the same garden, just personally.  I think this is a no-no.  I haven't
tried this personally, but know how I am affected and would be very afraid
to after reading the stories of other Celiacs.

*****

Once again, thank you for taking the time to respond.

Orlinda - OR

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