Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[<pbunch@cox.net>]

Are there unpleasant odors associated with the early stages of composting? My 
wife is going to be renting rooms to tourists at the finca and we need to 
keep the aesthetics in line with that service :-) Also becoming old codgers 
we don't want to commit to a system that would require a lot of physical 
effort we cannot depend upon ourselves to provide at some point. This would 
include moving the resources far enough away from the house to avoid odors. 
Also is your composting thermophilic?

With regard to the spread of pathogens this depends on the presence of the 
critter, the density and susceptibility of the population, and a means of 
transmission. These are fairly easy to manage on a small scale and in 
relative isolation but when communities become involved things change 
rapidly. It sounds to me like you are well aware of these issues.

Phil


---- Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com> wrote: 
> I absolutely agree, pathogens are not a problem.  I have used our humanure 
> for nearly 10 years and never had a problem.  I let it compost with dry 
> leaves, saw dust, soil, grass, weeds or whatever is available.  After a few 
> months it turns into crumbly soil that smells as good forest soil (probably 
> because of the leaves).  I usually wait for two years before I use it on 
> root vegetables or things like salads that are eaten raw just to be on the 
> safe side.  I would never use night soil from other households or from the 
> city because people consume all sorts of pharmaceuticals and pour chemicals 
> down the drain.  I even separate the toilet paper because of the bleaching 
> agents.  
> 
> The human body and our surroundings contain billions of microbes, most are 
> beneficial, a few are potential pathogens when the conditions are right, 
> but our immune system even needs these potential pathogens to build its 
> defenses.  There is only about half a dozen of dangerous pathogens like 
> tuberculoses that are always harmful, but most of these have been 
> eradicated in the West.
> 
> Dieter Brand
> Portugal
> 
> 
> 
> --- On Wed, 7/21/10, John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net> wrote:
> 
> > From: John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Using Human Waste
> > To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing" 
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 10:15 PM
> > 
> > In my experience I think that pathogens are not at all a
> > problem. We have a septic tank overflowing into a small
> > water purification area. I have seen all kinds of animals
> > drink from that water at different places and not one sign
> > of disease has been seen.
> > Under good circumstances pathogens are eaten out of a
> > living by an overwhelming mass of non pathogens. The only
> > way you can select for pathogens is by using man made
> > chemicals that often kill off the others. And onfortunately
> > that is the paradigm we have been fed with our mother's
> > milk. Don't try to kill bacteria for you will fail and don't
> > be too clean so as to keep plenty of non pathogen species on
> > standby.
> > 
> > The water that comes out of the wetland shows no signs of
> > nitrate or phosphate loss. It is clear and even in little
> > pools no algae show up.
> > 
> > We harvest plants like comfrey and bullrush there and maybe
> > 10 more species for animal food. Again never seen a problem
> > and how could it? Pathogens are not taken up by plants in a
> > cold swamp to be transported to an edible part. That simply
> > does not happen.
> > john
> > 
> > > Several people on the list have mentioned the use of
> > human waste for agricultural purposes. I'm interested in
> > what peoples experience has been with this and what kinds of
> > precautions people are taking to break the pathogen-human
> > cycles in order to avoid disease transmission. The World
> > health Organization has done a lot of work on this and their
> > guidelines are available online. 
> > http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/wastewater/gsuww/en/index.html
> > > 
> > > This appears to me to be one of the crucial linkages
> > that will have to be established in a steady state economy.
> > Nutrient recycling is a fundamental ecosystem
> > function/service which must be integrated in the closed
> > human-earth system. Of course pathogens have evolved to
> > exploit this system and we have to assure a reasonable level
> > of safety.
> > > 
> > > Phil Bunch
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Livingontheland mailing list
> > > Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
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