time to share a bit of the past few days. My mom is out on a trip this week, and so dad and Naomi and Maddie are here to volunteer and hang out. So far it has been a great week.
I did get sick in the beginning but i've been juicing as much as I can and taking naps when i can. I head out on a trip Saturday and need to be in good shape by then.
Monday during the work day I worked with Camille. Camille came up to volunteer for a month from Reba Place in Evanstan Illinois. She has become a wonderful friend. And she has brought just the right energy to get projects done that we've been wanting to get done for some time.
One of these is the Humanure -composting toilets. We took an evening to design our toilets and the composting bins and to select the sight for each. Last friday we built one of the toilets, and finished the last one the next day. We used them all weekend but found it necessary to add the shelter over the toilets on Monday b/c of rain and heat. The last thing that we need to do is build the composting bins themselves. I have a book called The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins, which we used as a resource. A great 'tell all' resource. I had a great time planning and problem solving on this project and it is great to see folks actually excited about using them. Not only will this save on water consumption but it will also give our septic a bit of a break. And in a few years we will have more fertilizer for the gardens. Yehaw!Here are some pictures...
If you want to learn more, check out The Humanure Handbook
This will be continue to be a learning experience. Thanks Camille for helping us get this
up and started!!
2 comments:
Nice work, MR! Using the paddles for the shelter was a nice touch :) If you're into humanure (which you clearly are) you'll be happy to know that I found the National Parks Service humanure-ing it up on the Chilkoot Trail in Alaska/BC. Their composters were very tall thrones with ample space to walk under and turn the pile. I didn't catch what they were planning on using the end-products for (in the middle of the wilderness, no less), but their motivation seemed to me more rapid decomposition in a highly traveled area. Maybe the Forest Service should try it in the BWCAW.
I love it! If it weren't so far to walk, I'd come up and try them out myself... but I guess I'll have to wait it out on that one. Where are they, anyway?
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