Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Uh-huh, and the methane available from fermenting feces produces the hot
> flame needed for wok cooking. Some years ago, in a collection of Chinese
> short stories, I was quite taken by the episode of a farmer rushing home
> from visiting a neighbor when the urge to shit came over him. He was not
> about to contribute to his neighbor's methane producer.

It was likely in Farmers of Forty Centuries, by F.H. King, that I first 
read about the many outhouses along roads in China, right at the edge of 
the rice fields. The little structures are decorated prettily, to entice 
travelers to stop there to make their essential deposits.

It will be interesting to see how China handles the conditions of a 
burgeoning population. Among the many decisions, will urban humanure 
collection continue to be a sought-after concession? Or will they follow 
the American example of using nitrogen fertilizer made from natural gas?

I strongly suspect that even on this homestead list, a very low percentage 
of gardeners use humanure as fertilizer.