Seeking feedback from folks who used the willow feeders at Wheaton Labs

We are looking for testimonies, stories, reports, notes, experiences from people who've used the willow feeders at Wheaton Labs.

Here are some points you can answer. Or you can write your own account and ignore these.

- how was the smell? while using it and/or nearby
- ease of use: was it intuitive to figure out what to do?
- was the seat and height comfortable?
- was the cover material easy to apply?
- ventilation, cleanliness, etc.

Thank you!

Hello Liv!

I love using the willow feeders at Wheaton Labs!


I much prefer them to regular toilets.  Even if it is winter and cold, I would way rather use the willow feeders!

 - First, because there is no splash.  Does that bother anyone else?  I just think it is super gross that sometimes toilet water splashes on me when I poop.   A willow feeder uses no water.  I am just pooping onto a mound of sawdust.  

 - Second, there is no poop smell.   If I go into a bathroom and it smells like poop, I think about how the tiny airborne particulate from someone else's poop is going in my nose.  That is so gross to me.  In a willow feeder when I open up the lid it is just sawdust.  If I am unsatisfied with how much the person before me covered their poop, I can just add more sawdust.  

 -Also I am really nervous about using a bathroom and leaving it stinky.  Then someone else would be smelling my poop and I am really uncomfortable about that.   When I use the willow feeders, I add plenty of sawdust so my poop is covered.

 -I am super nervous to poop when someone might hear me pooping.  The willow feeders I have used at Wheaton labs are out away from the other buildings so I feel I can poop in peace and privacy.

I've used several Willow Feeders (WF) over several months living on the lab, as well as various events over several years. Most of the time there was no unpleasant smells, I think once or twice I could smell an odor out of 100+ uses. In those cases, either someone didn't use enough cover or the pile of poo in the can became steep and required a little jostle of the can to get things to settle, so the cover material can cover it all. Otherwise the cover material slides down the steep sides, leaving the poo there a bit exposed. A solar powered fan was added which addressed that while the sun is out, as well as a flag that pops out when the door latch is closed, so others can see if it's occupied without walking up the slope to call out. I found the instructions in the WFs understandable, and the lights on a timer made it easy to use when it was dark outside.

I have used the Willow feeders at the lab. It’s hard to get over the outhouse feel of it. And the ones with the multiple holes so you can share with a friend. I didn’t like that in the army and I still don’t like it. I guess the worst part was when you finish your business and you have to cover it.  The flush  and forget, at least for me, seems better than having to look at yours and everybody else’s and cover it. I did like that. It wasn’t a “see how they run” situation where you count how many mice come in before you get it covered up. And the urine separator toilet seat seems to be a tricky part to build and plumb, but necessary as those two bodily functions can be tied together for a lot of people.

I would like to see a good design and hopefully manufacture of the pee separating toilet seat. Tim Barker and I kicked around adding a separate bucket filled with activated charcoal for the toilet seat pee and the urinal.  Once that was all soaked in, we were going to use on garden or maybe sell bags of it at the Missoula farmers market as organic garden additive.

I thought that the willow feeders were super pleasant and I loved the beautiful wood look to the willow feeders and the showers. There was no bad smell and it was pretty easy to figure out how to use. Stepping up and then turning around onto the seat was a little awkward ergonomically at first but is not hard to get used to. The extra love and care put into it (artwork, etc.) made it very welcoming.

I was extra conscientious of the pee traps. They were small and I wasn't sure if I could aim into them right. It was also sometimes a pain keeping the cover material from getting all over them and then once you get some stuff on them how do you get it off without getting pee on your hands? The two seats were a little weird but convenient for my husband and I not to hold up the line for super long if there was a line outside. Maybe there could be a way to turn one of the seats into a big pee trap for times when you just have to pee and struggle with peeing without a seat.

I was thinking maybe they should add a part to the Willow feeder movie about how it would be great couples counseling to use in pairs. Lol.

I think the hard sell will be to make it kid, an idiot, proof. I think the toilet has gone to the point like a lightbulb and pretty much anybody can flush or change one. If someone could come up with a design where it automatically loaded unloaded the cover material maybe seat actuated that would be a better selling point.

I noticed that when the temperature dropped well below freezing, the Chateau by the Abby was kinda stanky.  

Not to be too critical, it was still much better than a public toilet that has lots of former meat, allium and cheese passing through it XD

It also didn't have the south facing exposed black exhaust pipes like the basecamp design if I recall correctly.  Guessing that's the standard now.

Be sure to cover how the current  ventilation system works during very cold cloudy conditions.

Maybe there should be a little spring motor fan in the stink exhaust with the crank right by the throne?

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/viu2nn/a_swiss_windup_fan_from_the_1910s_a_spring_motor/

Pretty sure I'm gonna do one in the RMH for no smoke back in startup ever : )

On my first use, I was surprised that the Willow Feeder smelled like wood shavings. That's it. Pleasant and ever so slightly earthy.

On subsequent uses, I was charmed by hearing birdsong and seeing sky while 'toiling.' Again, surprisingly pleasant, and fundamentally different than a 'mainstream' indoor, hermetic water-closet-pooper.

Absolutely better than any kind of 'mainstream' vault toilet or portable-toilet. I feel those can't even be mentioned in the same breath as the Willow Feeders at Wheaton Labs.