Packing bedding into the composting toilet chamber
Although Mark and I
sometimes butt heads, I'm actually glad he's strong-minded and has his
own opinions. Yes, even when he's a non-believer about things
like composting
toilets.
If he was as gungho as me,
I'd probably play fast and loose with the carbon sources in the
composting toilet. But since Mark's only about 50% on board, I'm
putting in some extra effort to make sure there will be no flies,
leaks, or smells. That way, he won't be able to say "I told you
so", and our readers might inspired to follow our lead and slip a
composting toilet past their similarly unsure spouses.
Since I have them on
hand, I used spent sweet corn stalks and garden weeds to form a nest
inside the first compost chamber. I cut the corn stalks in half
so they fit flat on the ground, covering the earth completely, then I
set more corn stalks upright around the inside edges.
Next came the fluffier
garden weeds. I used a very heaping wheelbarrowful to loosely
fill the chamber about halfway full, then stacked weeds along the
inside walls (within the corn palisade).
The idea is that urine
and feces will get caught by this carbon net and won't be able to creep
out the holes in the walls (which are necessary for aeration) or to
seep out the bottom. Although it seems like a bad idea to fill
the bin halfway up before even starting to use it, the bedding material
will mat down as it begins to rot, so it won't really use up as much
space as you might think. Hopefully, it will still take a solid
year to fill the first chamber.
We're waiting on sawdust
before we put the composting toilet to the test. We'll have a
five gallon bucket of sawdust beside the seat to make it easy to drop a
scoop down the hole after each use, keeping the top of the pile just as
well sealed off with high
carbon material as the bottom and sides are. More on that later in
the week, hopefully.
(Doesn't this look like
it's a yoga pose? Maybe Compost Pile Warrior?)
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Are you going to put a liner in the sawdust bin? If you just dump the sawdust on the ground it would attract moisture, I think. That would mean rot in the summer and freeze in the winter.
It seems like a good idea to put a waterproof liner in the sawdust bin. Maybe fold in a tarp?
Roland --- Excellent question. I'm trying to decide about that.
In The Humanure Handbook, Jenkins recommends letting the sawdust rot some before using it. Presumably, prerotting helps because sawdust takes so long to break down, and because partially rotted sawdust would seed the composting toilet with good decomposing critters.
On the other hand, he also mentions bringing some inside for the winter so it doesn't freeze. I'm not sure if an unlined bin under roof would be a good halfway house or not.
One of the uses of sawdust is as an absorbent for spilled liquids. It works pretty well in that role.
So I'm guessing that a pile of dry sawdust left in contact with the ground would absorb moisture from the ground and become a pile of partially wet sawdust pretty quickly. Wether it would wet out completely is anybody's guess.
"If he was as gungho as me, I'd probably play fast and loose with the carbon sources in the composting toilet. But since Mark's only about 50% on board, I'm putting in some extra effort to make sure there will be no flies, leaks, or smells. That way, he won't be able to say "I told you so", and our readers might inspired to follow our lead and slip a composting toilet past their similarly unsure spouses."
I whole heartedly love that thought! I am gonna have to try to think more this way. thanks
Roland --- I agree with your thinking. On the other hand, partially wet might be okay --- human waste isn't all the wet (especially since we sidetrack most of our urine into other parts of the garden). I suspect we'll just have to use some trial and error and see.
Irma --- Looking on the bright side is one of the many good things that Mark has taught me.
you remind me a lot of my great grandma. She was of native american descent, of the Taino tribes of the Greater Antilles. You are like a modern day Pocahontas, the disney character not Matoaka, although Mark can be your John Smith if need be.
This comment is totally unrelated, take it as a thank you both for sharing your experiences. This blog is my first internet stop. I am sure that when you find your venue to get social and share the knowledge its going to be a Huge success.