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Bulgarianlily
Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 1667 Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 11 11:54 am Post subject: humanure |
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Not sure where to put this, gardening, or here?
Just spent a happy half an hour moving our compost heap from just outside the greenhouse into the now empty greenhouse where it can sit for the next five months.
We have three composting toilets here, used by between two and six people depending on who is staying. Our latest outdoor heap was four pallets, probably enclosing about a cubic meter, of which 80% was full. It was started six months ago. We have been using composting toilets since 1981, and have tried lots of different versions. We are happiest with the current models, a wooden 'throne' with a standard toilet seat on top, containing a 15 liter bucket that comes with a snap on lid. A similar bucket by the loo contains fresh sawdust from the local sawmills. This is used with a scoop made from a washing liquid bottle to cover over the results of a bathroom visit. The room smells only of the piney sawdust, which several people have commented on favourably. Kitchen composting waste ends up in the same bucket.
Several buckets are usually waiting for emptying, standing decretely by the heap with their lids on. We keep a good supply of empty buckets so we are not 'caught short'. We find the buckets need replacing now and then as micro scratches when cleaning them make it hard to keep them really clean. We keep some straw or old chicken bedding to hand to use for covering the heap. The buckets are washed out well and left in the sun to dry before having a couple of inches of sawdust in the bottom before being used.
Having just moved the heap and in the process turned it top to bottom I can report that:
There was very little sign of toilet paper, just the odd bit that was near the edge of the heap and had gone dry.
There was almost no sign of recognisable shit.
Apart from the most recent layer which had a sharp smell of ammonia, there was no smell.
Surprising there was no sign of vermin, and few insects, not one worm (Bulgaria seems very short of worms but has dozens of different types of ant).
The sawdust had gone a lovely orange tan brown reacting with the urine.
Apart from a couple of whole red peppers, there was little sign of vegetables.
The straw had not broken down much
I found one pair of scissors!
Over the course of the winter it will be used in planting holes for new fruit trees and bushes.
I know you have to be a sad individual to be that interested in your shit, but it could be useful to anyone thinking of doing this at some point.
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RichardW
Joined: 24 Aug 2006 Posts: 8443 Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales
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Bulgarianlily
Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 1667 Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
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RichardW
Joined: 24 Aug 2006 Posts: 8443 Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales
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Andrea
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 2260 Location: Portugal
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dolmen
Joined: 07 Oct 2011 Posts: 108
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46229 Location: yes
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Bulgarianlily
Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 1667 Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
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RichardW
Joined: 24 Aug 2006 Posts: 8443 Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales
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Bulgarianlily
Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 1667 Location: South West Mountains of Bulgaria
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dolmen
Joined: 07 Oct 2011 Posts: 108
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Kenworth
Joined: 04 Apr 2011 Posts: 855 Location: Michigan
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dolmen
Joined: 07 Oct 2011 Posts: 108
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 11 11:16 am Post subject: |
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I guess it would all depend on the type of paper used, but my bucket system is treated just like a conventional plumbed toilet, wet, dry and paper, thats the beauty of it, and it works a dream.
Plus no digging out to be done, buckets are emptied into a composting pile, left to rot down into perfect crumbly compost for a year, sometimes two, then used in deepbeds and fruit growing.
All the nutrients go back into our system, in my research its one thing that is needed to greatly improve the health of mankind.
Improve the food fed to the animals and they produce much healthier food for us then keep it in the loop. I know our own health has greatly improved, I'm not great at eating enough greens, but the animals and poultry just love the nutrient rich greens on our holdng and we benefit from their conversion of it into wonderful nutrient rich eggs etc.
Cheers |
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cassy
Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 1047 Location: South West Scotland
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Andrea
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 2260 Location: Portugal
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