permaculture

[David Holmgren & Su Dennett <holmgren@netconnect.com.au>]

John, my experience with the toilet 20 litre bucket is really good. 
David's mother had one and I was impressed and we do the same. We 
have been running one for many years now and our base and covering 
material is sawdust (we are in a timber milling area). 10cm in the 
bottom of the bucket then about 3 cupfuls on top. I find the bucket 
easy to empty if there is little liquid in there. We use a urine 
bucket for side dressing crops (must be fresh [for minimising smell] 
and quite diluted) and this means that the bucket is mostly solids. 
The combination of urine and solids I used to find did create some 
smell problems. Finally, when burying the heap I do not add any more 
sawdust as the ratio is better without it. I just bury it in the 
existing heap, occasionally add a handful of lime and a little green 
grass or the like. It remains uncovered because we found that rodents 
loved it covered. There is never any smell in the heap or any flies 
but in the summer I do have to water it sometimes for optimum worm 
conditions. The biodynamic rule is that if you want to use humanure 
on crops, put it through worms twice; so we generally put it through 
another composting. However we are also connected to the sewer and to 
get off that we will have to go legal ie some expensive system which 
will probably be a "wet" system (that I don't like) to retrofit 
because there is no space for a chamber beneath the existing 
toilet.!!!!
Cheers,Su Dennett
--
David Holmgren & Su Dennett
Holmgren Design Services
Hepburn Permaculture Gardens
16 Fourteenth St,
Hepburn. 3461.
Australia.
Ph/fax 0353483636
Email holmgren@netconnect.com.au
Website http://www.spacountry.net.au/holmgren