Marta Cundari Valsania

Having searched without success for older topics, I hope to find many solutions to these projects.

We are purchasing 1 cubic meter (35 cubic feet) of both saw dust and wood chips. We also have about half of this amount of sand piled up in our garden, close to the main entrance. Even if it's a fun playground for my toddler I don't enjoy staring at it and seeing it becoming lower and more spread for every rainfall we have.

So my question is: how do I build 3 structures for keep each of sand, sawdust and wood chip in place? Everything is welcome: stories of success and failures, pictures, videos, words that will help my research.

The reason why I write under the "composting" forum is because wood chip and saw dust will be used for composting different compost. Hope it's okay that I make the pile of sand freeriding in the same post.

Thank you in advance!

Burton Sparks wrote: Presumably an existing exterior toilet option exists but you prefer indoors, and you have access to a reliable source of carbon cover material. How cold does it get there?  To what extent are building modifications an option? Does the building have a second story?

I greatly appreciate you sharing your experience.

Yes, there is an outhouse/garage/workshop where also the outside toilet is located now. This is a tangent, but one of the incongruence - in my eyes - of the municipality rules is that poop from outside toilet is not regulated. This means that it's okay to just dump poop and bark in a hole on the property, and that's okay. I assume the reason is that in this area of Norway there are lots of cabin built and being built. Usually one uses cabin recreationally so the quantity we talk about in those cases are much much less than in our case. Still, I think it would be beneficial for people to learn how to handle and use humanure in the best way possible. So in my dream I'd like to make a system that people can learn from. End of the tangent. Thanks again for your comment on sizes of your system. How many years rotation do you use then?

What where you thinking with "building modification"? We are indeed about to build a bathroom in the main house, the only personal constraint is economical :/

How cold it gets here? It's rare to get to -4F, but it happens. Between november to february the avarage temperature is around the 30sF

Thank you, everyone. I'll keep this thread updated when we get to the next steps.

I live in Norway, where we bought a house from 1922 without an inside bathroom. Great for us, but not as straightforward solution for the municipality.  The last they wrote us is that "other solutions than septic tank will probably not be accepted". Well, I accept the challenge and I want to present a project that they will just say yes to.

But I need some inputs!

I'm still in the process of reading the Humanure Handbook. The idea that I currently explore is a 4 chamber compost. So that it would take me 4 years since the harsh temperature we experience here equals to more time for "bad" bacteria to be gone.

What do you think in general about this solution? Would you consider others?

I struggle to make sense of some aspects of this 4 chamber system. The thing is that both us and a neighbor have a dwell we have to avoid contamination into. Should 60 feet away from those in air distance be a good enough buffer?
Also, my idea for building this compost system was to use pallets. Mixing garden scraps and poop for a year before moving to next chamber. The thing is that pallets would still have some contamination to the ground. Even worse when big rainfalls strike. Would a roof be a good enough addition to make this less of a problem? Or should I try to make the bottom part more or completely closed to leakage? How would you do this?

All ideas and meanings are very welcome. I've been reading some other posts here on permies and got very motivated to set up this system asap.

And just to mention, since I was forgetting: the idea would be to have a separated toilet so that urine can be spread in different areas also.

I tried to buy the SKIP book bundle deal, but we live in Norway and there is an error when paying with PayPal, saying we have to choose international shipment if available.

Is it not available? 😢

I'd like so much to spread skip here.

I did laundry by hand and I learned that my baby's wool onesies get cleaner this way than in the washing machine with wool program.

At home we only use lin oil soap, here's the link of the one we actually use, which is produced in Sweden: https://atlaspreservation.com/products/linseed-oil-soap/. The word "biodegradable" appears in  lin oil soap with natural scents which is marketed as hand soap: https://atlaspreservation.com/products/linseed-soap-cedar-eucalyptus-500ml
Another link from another US reseller: https://www.earthandflax.com/product-page/ottosson-linseed-oil-soap-5-liter

There are two items "missing" from the folded piles because i wanted to dress both me and baby with some warm wool. Balancing this lack: even though I only washed one sock by hand, there are two lilac socks in the last picture! This is because the other sock had being waiting for months to find back its old companion which had been missed under couch. Now they found their place together again and thy can share their different washing adventures.

My partner and I have sketched different ideas to keep our chickens warm in the Norwegian winter. The problem is that we have lots of uncertainties about chickens needs which makes it hard to choose the design.

We are moving to a smallholding in three weeks, where there are 7 chickens (they're "older" 3 years old chickens gifted from a neighbor who didn't want them longer). This will be our first winter together. I gathered much inspiration from reading many posts on permies and Paul's article.

The chickens live in a room in the barn constructed with big logs and it's pretty spacious, too spacious for 7 chickens and a small heat lamp too heat. What we want to create is a smaller space inside this room so that the warm lamp will be effective in warming up the smaller area.

We want this space to be an inviting space for the chickens to roost and sleep and "chill" on the coldest days. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the following:
1) which size do you think is appropriate? Balancing between effective heating but enough space for them to exist in there if the bigger outside room is too cold
2) which height is appropriate? Giving that they have access to the bigger room (and also to the outside when appropriate)
3) should they have water also inside this smaller house (plan is for them to have free access to the outside room where there would be water available - given that it won't freeze)
4) do they need a sand bath space in the smaller room? Is it enough to have it in the bigger room?
5) what else is necessary for them to have a good winter?
6) is it okay - both for them and for energy efficiency - to have an open floor in this little house? We were maybe just thinking poles they can jump on as a "stairs"
7) would a design as simple as 4 walls made with bales work?

This was one of the longest and most mindful dish washing experience I had. So greatfull for what I learned from it!
1) I use a lot of water just rinsing my hands clean, something I can easily accomplish with a towel instead
2) I need just a tiny bit of water dripping to rinse the dishes

At home we only use lin oil soap, here's the link of the one we actually use, which is produced in Sweden: https://atlaspreservation.com/products/linseed-oil-soap/. The word "biodegradable" appears in  lin oil soap with natural scents which is marketed as hand soap: https://atlaspreservation.com/products/linseed-soap-cedar-eucalyptus-500ml
Another link from another US reseller: https://www.earthandflax.com/product-page/ottosson-linseed-oil-soap-5-liter

I choose some of our kitchen utensils very much in need for some oil.

The reasons why I chose flaxseed oil are: 1) I had a gallon at home 2) I don't have walnut oil at home and didn't want to purchase it now 3) I was reading through the previous submissions and found this article that I read: https://treeboard.com/blog/nine-myths-about-linseed-oil-and-flaxseed-oil/

Is this one of the longest threads here on premises? Here I'm adding my post to it.

I swept the floor and I appreciated the links suggesting the best posture to sweep.