Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

eureka AT hctc.net wrote:

> Although we don't have much winter we do have enough ash 
> with which to do something. I'm wondering what everyone 
> else does with their ash?
I found "Larry's" post about the composting urinal:

"I want to brag about my new urinal/compost tea generator. Our Humanure 
Harvester composting privy, stationed near the garden, uses the regular 
5-gallon bucket collector, serving my wife and me as well as visitors 
and oyster customers. I found that emptying chores are greatly reduced 
by providing a separate urinal for the guys in s secluded nearby bushy 
area. It's like peeing in the bushes, but there's a bucket. Actually, 
two buckets, a smaller 3-gallon perforated tub filled with a healthy mix 
of worm castings, a little rock phosphate powder and wood ashes, and 
some straw or wood chips for aeration. The urine percolates to the lower 
larger 5-gallon bucket. It is easy to lift out the small bucket, add 
some water, and use this balanced plant food to give seedlings a boost. 
Urine alone is not a balanced food source. The organic mix in the small 
receptacle is replaced about once a month. A plain urine bucket quickly 
becomes smelly, but the compost tea generator is practically odorless. 
Users appreciate the no-splash layer of straw sprinkled on top."

My understanding is that it's really a two-phase process.  Alkalinity 
helps in the second phase, the conversion from ammonia to nitrate.  In 
the first phase, urea breaks down into ammonia.  This is not helped by 
alkalinity, because they're totally different bacteria.  And ammonia is 
lost from alkaline media, with a shortage of anions to hold it.  So my 
idea is to have a top layer made of moss (even better against 
splashing).  To keep it acidic and absorb ammonia, I think I might 
attach a small sack of monocalcium phosphate to the underside of the 
lid.  And you can dump the whole thing into the compost when it's finished.

Bill
S. Oregon coast