Lets Talk Poop!

[Chanley]

We have been experimenting with humanure at the nursery (shh! dont tell anyone what is in our compost pile there).

I would like to hear from others that have done this or are doing this.

I recently read teh Humanure Handbook and was forever changed. I will never flush a toilet again without seeing just how awful it is that I am crapping in my drinking water. Kinda crazy. also makes me wonder when I draw a glass of water from teh tap. YUCKO!!!


anyone else doing this?

[OceanMomma]

You know I was wondering only yesterday about this coz I remember we mentioned this before the boards went down. I currently macerate the baby's poo in rain water & feed it to a certain plant of dh's I figured it would be a good experiment & I'd get away with it - but only just. dd#1 is horrified I don't flush it away & dh made a comment about how I'd get "diseases" from "playing around" with the poo. Interestingly enough it's our most healthy plant by miles & I use heaps of seaweed etc on my other plants. The only other diff between the test plant & my others is I empty my herb tea pot remains in there too. My herb tea is usually something like nettle, oatstraw or raspberry leaf.

I think our problem is we're just too preconditioned to think poop is yuck. It spreads diseases, etc etc. It just amazes me that people will quite happily spread animal poo all over their vege patch without so much as a worry. I think I said before tho' that I'd be real nervous about eating veges from someone else's humanured garden unless they were really well cooked, so the prejudices do run real deep.

[Chanley]

Oceanmamma,

that is awesoem that you are using the diaper fodder for fertilizer.

I would highly reccomend reading the Humanure Handbook. It is so awesome. And I would reccomend you coming over for tea so we can talk poop! (HA! New Z to US, I AM dreaming).


Have you ever used the water from cloth menstrual pads? that is THE best fertilizer.

The only reason to be concerned about human poop that is not sterilized by compost is when the human is a meat eater or has an illness.

Apparently, they use this in China (uncomposted poop) it is called night soil.


ok i gotta run, more later.

[OceanMomma]

I haven't even seen the humanure handbook, but I'm planning on a composting toilet when we finally get our bit of land & build an environmentally friendly house on it.

I can't quite get the hang of mentrual cloths. It's that drippy feeling - always makes me feel like I'm leaking. I'm considering getting a keeper. So I s'pose I could empty the blood into something then.

I get what you mean about pooping in drinking water. On a thread I started about Saffron's excema, this lady said I should check the e coli in my drinking supply of water - yuck!!!

[slystr]

Cloth pads

I've used them for about 15 years now. I bought some, made soem from sweat socks( atheletic type), wash clothes, old diapers.... I always pour the soaking water on my house plants, garden plants (whenI have one) and my compost bin. It is great, seemes to keep rabbits & deer away from my plants, attracts dogs, cats and the occasional rat, which seem to keep the moles at bay.(I live in a city) I doit as an offering, womanritual style or I just dump it depemding on my time the season. I did refrain from pouring it outside when I lived in Downtown Madison WI in the dead of winter, not wanting red snow in the yard and having someone think I was a canibal.
one word of advise, dont let the stuff hang out too long before you deal with it. PU

[Chanley]

The humanure handbook can be found at any book seller.

I got mine from ebay a bit cheaper.

amazon has it. I highly recommend it. Even if you are just interested in compost. it is an incredible book.

the menstrual blood is an awesome fertilizer, heck it grows babies and does wonders on plants. I use it for my houseplants. Only time I fertilize them.

[Chanley]

No problem,

I am curious tho, you have made mention of tank water. What is that? I am not familiar with some of your terms, most I can gather from the context but the slang here and there are greatly different.

Will you please tell this yank about tank water?

[shine]

Here's a website!

got's some instructions too!

http://journeytoforever.org/compost_humanure.html


have fun!

p.s. I do the menstrual water thing too! Keeps me feeling connected.

[OceanMomma]

I was looking at some cob building resources & came across these 2.

The first one is a discussion board on humanure. http://www.weblife.org/forum/messages/14/68.html it's got some interesting threads there including one on composting humans.

The other is an on-line version of the humanure handbook

http://www.weblife.org/humanure/

btw not everyone is as dedicated as JW is with tank water. When I lived down the line a bit we all just had tanks ( often old concrete tanks ) that were filled from the rain water off the often painted roof. I was the only person I knew who actually ran mine thru a water filter & boiled it before I drunk it : It took me several years afterwards to get used to town water. It tasted like I was drinking someone's swimming pool water & it feels so rough on your hair.