Farm show draws crowds to Vogel

Event continues Saturday, Sunday

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Hundreds of people attended the first night of the 22nd Annual New Ulm Farm-City Hub Club Farm Show Friday night at Vogel Arena.

Geared to bring city residents and rural folks together, the show continues Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Several exhibits drew larger throngs of people. Among them was an exhibit by the Brown County Poultry & Pigeon Association that included baby chicken, ducks and geese and other birds in cages.

A booth sponsored by the Brown-Nicollet-Environmental Health of St. Peter centered on radon and how to deal with it. Environmental Health Specialist Carol K. Johnson said hazardous levels of radioactive radon are often found in much of southern, central and western Minnesota, according to information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Created by uranium and radium gases in the ground, radon is an invisible and odorless gas that comes from uranium deposits in soil, rock and water. It is harmlessly dispersed in outdoor air, but when trapped in buildings, it can be harmful, especially at elevated levels.

Because radon is a gas, we inhale it as we breathe. Radon exposure is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. Research indicates an average of 14,000 cases of linked to radon each year.

Radon enters buildings at any place where there is an opening between the ground and interior of the home. Buildings in the same area can have very different radon levels because of the amount of radon in the surrounding ground, its entry rate into the building and the rate it is removed by ventilation.

Short and long-term radon test kits are the only way to know if radon is a problem in your home. Short-term kits are available at the farm show for $3. Long-term kits are slightly more expensive and can be used to verify readings found by short-term testing.

Johnson said 70 percent of homes in this part of Minnesota have high radon levels, compared to the national average of six percent. The good news is the condition is preventable, often with a small fan and PVC pipe to vent the gas outside the home.

Radon test kits should be placed 3-5 feet off the floor in the lowest liveable area of the home, often the basement bedroom, family room or office for 3-7 days.

Test kit readings more than 4 pico curies per liter indicate high radon levels. Johnson said a newer rural Nicollet home was tested at 102.5 pico curies per liter. The radon hazard was mitigated with a fan and PVC pipe that vented it out of the house, reducing the radon level to 4 pico curies per liter.

Ways to protect yourself from radon include avoiding areas of your home with high radon levels (often the basement), sealing areas like dirt crawl spaces and hidden openings in finished walls and reducing the house vacuum.

Increasing home ventilation is done by opening windows, venting crawl spaces, installing combustion air supply to your furnace or furnace room, checking existing combustion air supplies for blockage, adjusting your forced air heating system or mechanical ventilator to provide more air to the lowest level of your home and by using exhaust fans for mechanical ventilation, moisture and odor control. Do not use a continuously running exhaust fan to remove air from your basement. This may increase the radon level in your home.