Living In A World Of Wheat

[mslee]

So here are a couple questions...

I'm guessing it's best for us Celiacs to avoid relocating to a part of the country where wheat is grown, or near a food factory that processes it???

I know that we need to ingest it to have most of the problems but even being near wheat products I get very itchy, my nose, ears cheeks all go crazy.

What about straw bale housing or adobe??? etc...etc..

[dilettantesteph]

So here are a couple questions...

I'm guessing it's best for us Celiacs to avoid relocating to a part of the country where wheat is grown, or near a food factory that processes it???

I know that we need to ingest it to have most of the problems but even being near wheat products I get very itchy, my nose, ears cheeks all go crazy.

What about straw bale housing or adobe??? etc...etc..

I know you have to ingest it, but you can ingest it by breathing it. It happened to me when I through out all our flour. It gets stuck in the nose hairs. Then there is a passage of hairs from the nose down to the stomach. Stuff travels down there to get eliminated. When it is inhaled gluten it gets into our stomach that way. It can take awhile because I was sick for 3 weeks, when a usual gluten reaction for me lasted a week at that time. I had gluten traveling down to my stomach for a couple of weeks before my system got cleaned out. I wouldn't want to live near wheat fields, and I am going to stay away from hay as much as possible this fall.

[mslee]

hmmm,

anyone here a farmer?

how does that work out?

can you have a wheat free farm with animals...guess just like us, feeding them alternatives would be more costly...unless you had the acreage for them to have a natural diet.

Thats part of my therapy get the heck out of the toxic city once and for all....guess hay bale and adobe is probably out. Guess I should avoid "wheat country" Will have to adapt and make adjustments there too.

ah, nothings easy!

That dream of land in the country is one thing this illness will not take from me. nope!

[ShayFL]

Move to FL. Lots of land in the country and we dont do wheat here.

[ArtGirl]

can you have a wheat free farm with animals...

I seem to remember this topic was discussed some time back. I think it was noted that straw that is used for animal stalls and such is often (always?) the stalks left over from the wheat harvest. Could be from any grass plant I'm thinking, like oats, rye or barley, too.

The person who started that thread was having a lot of problems being around the straw in the barnyard. And, of course, it'd all be in the air since the stuff is tossed around.

What about straw bale housing or adobe??? etc...etc..

I'm no scientist, but my thinking is that, once the construction is done and the surfaces are sealed, that might make it safe enough - but one would have to really clean out the interior, get all the dust out and replace the inside air with fresh - with suction fans? (like an atic fan).

[mslee]

Move to FL. Lots of land in the country and we dont do wheat here.

ooo The Hubby & I just ran off to Key West & got Married! Took a nice long road trip home, had a blast Florida will always be a special place for us to visit!

I am a Western Girl at heart and don't think long term would want to live anywhere else. Always wanted that little adobe house and horses! One more little obstacle to work around.

ArtGirl:

Hmm maybe horses would like cotton bedding LOL, I will have to have a wheat free farm.

dilettantesteph:

agreed, best to stay away from the hay! & we were just talking about finding pumpkin farm, guess I will have to stay off the hay ride.

[ArtGirl]

A pumpkin farm sounds really good. If you contract out the hay wagon, there would be very minimal exposure and no storage of hay.

What state were you thinking of settling in? In Kansas, sunflowers are not only a crop for the seeds, but also for the flowers themselves.

I envy you in getting away from the city. I have lived in the city all my life, but have always enjoyed being in the countryside.

[mslee]

oh yes, I found this link

Open Original Shared Link

sounds like hay is an issue, good to keep in mind this fall!

Yes it's been a lifelong dream to get out of the city, taking baby steps to get there

Moved from Southern California to Texas, Colorado is next...they have some great schooling options for sustainable agriculture. That just might be where we settle already know someone there with a successful organic farm. CA, UT, NM and Prescott AZ are other options.

If I can't buy safe food I will just grow my own! I have a magic green thumb!

[babysteps]

Caveat - I am not an expert on this, but I have cousins that farm, so here goes:

Most hay is actually dried grass - hardly ever wheat or barley. Sometimes rye (according to wikipedia), depends on region usually - my cousins grow mostly 'timothy grass' ("Phleum pratense") in western Oregon, which is a true grass, not a grain.

So as long as you don't have a grass allergy (hayfever, anyone?), hay could be okay *if* it isn't rye. UNLESS it's been cross-contaminated.

On my cousins' farm, the hay fields & the grain fields were separate (in same zip code, but not on the same plots and not rotating with each other). For non-rye hay, the easiest source of cc would be the baling equipment (if used for both straw & hay, or for both rye- and non-rye-hay), storage (if bales are stacked next to each other, or if one facility stores hay some of the time and straw some of the time) and/or transport (same truck or trailer handling hay one time and straw another). With many farms now using the giant-roll style balers for hay, that *may* cut down on cc (since most straw seems to still be done with the traditional brick-style balers).

Straw is indeed usually from wheat - really from any grain with a tall, thin stalk. So could just as easily be barley. Someone must have gluten-free silage that works for bedding and isn't as expensive as cotton!

Good luck with this all. Interesting thread!