We have finally been able to do one thing that we have been wanting to do for a long time. And it may seem like a small thing at first, but it is actually the start of a huge goal. We bought this land knowing that the soil on the land is not the best, and in order for us to grow much of our food, we would have to significantly improve the soil. But we had a plan. The plan involved many different animal's manure, and ours was not excepted from that plan. Now, we have finally made it. Our first bucket of humanure has come.
And for some, this may seem gross. But I would argue that is merely because we, as a society, have demonized poop and even called it "waste." Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a crucial component of a healthy ecosystem. Without it, nutrients would be lost forever (or at least until the organism containing those nutrients died). However, that discussion is for another day and another post. So for today, I will just leave it at that, and we will celebrate this little victory and look towards the future of healthy soil.
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That right there was golden! If only all the people with huge bags of leaves around would use them for this purpose.
One day I will convince my husband of the need for humanure on our homestead. I will persevere...
Haha, well, you have our high-five to encourage you! When I first met Andrew, I may have thought his ideas were a little nuts (I was still somewhat a city girl, I guess), but now we're totally on the same page and on board with this humanure thing (and lots of other "weird" ideas). I'm so glad for his patience while I came around!
Was the Humanure handbook any good at helping to convince you? I'm debating getting it and placing it strategically in the bathroom ;)
Yay for you!!! I love humanure, such a crime that so much amazing fertiliser gets washed away with clean purified water - makes no sense!!!!!!!!! Well done! Kate
I know, right! It will be REALLY awesome in a year to see it all as dark and rich compost. And then even MORE amazing to see it put in the soil and life come from it once again.
It's the little things that make us happy eh!! :)
We've tossed around the idea of building a composting type outhouse on our future homestead. I hate wasting resources, even if the resource is 'waste'! 😂
Yeah, it is such a great resource. Free compost. Some of the richest compost you could ever have and it is free and refreshed daily. :)
How long does it have to "cure" in order to become good compost? I have heard of using human waste to fertilize strawberries (like in Mexico I was told not to eat them because of that), but never heard of turning it into compost. We live in Panama and the soil is amazing here. We can stick a stick in the ground and it will sprout - the proof is in all the limbs used as fences all around that are now full growing trees. I guess it's the volcanic soil. We do not have a green thumb, but we are trying to figure things out. This is an interesting idea. I sent it to my husband. We need to first figure out just regular compost and how to get that going maybe... And pick a spot for it. ;)
Here is a link to the FREE pdf of the second edition: http://humanurehandbook.com/downloads/H2.pdf. It will answer all of your questions in more detail than I ever could! But to answer your one question, you usually fill one pile for a year and then let that pile sit for year before you use it. Then it is good to go. Here in America, they actually use municipalities composted human waste to grow many vegetables (including strawberries), but they don't tell anyone!
Yeah, I had never heard of that before you mentioned it on the video. So crazy. People would be so grossed out if they found out. Thanks for the download. I will check it out.