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[<eureka AT hctc.net>]

Bill, thanks for the instructions and suggestions for 
building the composting urinal. I will show it to my 
husband AFTER I install the zip line to get us quickly 
across the ravine to the flushing toilet. As a former 
climber, I have to have some justification for installing 
it!

--Sage
way out in Texas

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:10:58 -0700
 Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com> 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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