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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Using Human Waste

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Using Human Waste
  • Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:43:05 -0700 (PDT)

Hi Phil,

We have a very primitive outdoor contraption. Except for a few nature
freaks, most paying guests probably wouldn’t like using it, not least because
it’s a squatting down toilet, which I think is healthier. But there is no
odor and there are no flies because we cover with some material after each
use. First we use a bit of saw dust or clay soil to cover the fresh feces
and then we add dry leaves to aerate the pile and prevent it from getting too
compact. Neighbors of ours have an indoor compost toilet and that works fine
too. Some people use perforated ventilation pipes and electric ventilators
to provide air, but I find it’s much better to keep the pile loose with
enough leaves or other material from the beginning. We only have one
composting chamber which I empty about once or twice a year. The toilet is
on the slope of a hillside and I rake out the material from a discharge
opening on the lower side down-hill. From there it goes to the
composting area in the garden, where I let it sit for another year or so,
usually together with grass, weeds or other materials.

If you use a two-chamber system you can rake out the finished product from
the chamber not in use and never come in contact with fresh feces, which I
don’t mind at all. Our dog never needs a doctor; when she finishes her
business, she just turns around to sniff at her feces and makes a detailed
and instant analysis of its constituents much swifter and better than any
lab. Unfortunately our noses aren’t as good as that.

The bottom of the composting chamber needs to have a slope with a drain (or
discharge opening) at the lowest point to prevent fluids from accumulating
and anaerobic conditions from occurring. If you do it with a building
permission, you probably need a concrete floor. I just use a clay bottom.

I have never noticed high temperature in the composting chamber, but that
depends on what materials you use at what ratio. In my compost heaps in the
garden I used to measure temps of 60 deg. C or higher. But now I don’t do
high temperature composting anymore because there is too much loss of
nutrients. According to some US government regulations, compost heaps ought
to be above 55 C for several days and above 60 C for at least a few hours so
that all pathogens are killed. But that is purely theoretical and just
applies to large public facilities. You don’t have to worry about that. If
you leave your compost pile under aerobic conditions for a year or two there
are no pathogens that will pose any problems.

Initially, I thought I would use our humanure for non-food plants only, but
when I got the first batch ready, it felt much better than the cow manure we
used to get from a neighboring cattle farmer.

We sometimes let ourselves become paranoid by reports of people getting
terribly sick due to some pathogens, but deep down I always know there is no
problem because I grew up on a small farm more than 50 years ago. There was
an outdoor toilet which was basically just a hole in the ground. My
grandfather would empty out that hole and pour the contents, which was a
disgusting soup of pure feces with nothing else, on the dung heap on top of
all the bedding from the cow shed and the pigsty. There was a terrible
stench for a day or two, but after that it returned to normal. After the
war, my grandfather was too poor to buy fertilizers and all fertility came
from that dung heap. Except for salt, pepper and fish, the family produced
everything it ate. I don’t remember that any member of our extended family
ever needed a doctor in those days. That only came after the farm was
abandoned and people moved to more sanitary conditions in the city.

My favorite spot as a small kid was a bench in the narrow space between the
cow shed and the dung heap. When the afternoon sun burnt down on the heap,
the air would vibrate in the heat and buzz with the sound of innumerable
insects. I would breathe in the odorous air and be happy.

Dieter Brand
Portugal



> > 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
> >








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