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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: RE: [Homestead] The Wok - was The specuator factor ..
  • Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 08:42:41 -0700


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.






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