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[sanrico AT highdesert.com]

Just a brief, totally not-constructive comment:
This sure beats the electronic bidets now being recalled for shorting out and
catching fire!
Sandy

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:10:58 -0700, Bill Jones wrote:

> 
> 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
> 
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