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Dry outhouses offer a sustainable alternative to conventional flush toilets, aligning with permaculture principles of resource conservation and waste reduction. A well-designed dry outhouse, strategically situated on an elevated point to encourage water runoff, utilizes a pit for waste collection. To mitigate odors and promote composting, sawdust is a crucial element. A "no pee" policy, though challenging for women due to anatomical differences, helps maintain a dry environment, crucial for minimizing pathogen survival and groundwater contamination. This "dry" approach allows the waste to essentially mummify over time, becoming poop-jerky after two years. This aged material, though technically safe for vegetable gardens, is ideally used to nourish "poop beast" trees like willows, poplars, or cottonwoods, as part of a "willow feeder system." For optimal functionality and user comfort, urine diversion mechanisms are essential, particularly in mixed-gender settings. This separation of urine, a valuable fertilizer, further reduces the volume and toxicity of the solid waste, facilitating easier handling and nutrient cycling. The dry outhouse, therefore, presents a low-cost, eco-friendly sanitation solution that embodies the essence of permaculture's closed-loop systems.
The SKIP (Skills to Inherit Property) program, hosted on permies.com, utilizes a badge system based on the completion of practical projects called "Badge Bits" (BBs). These BBs, categorized under 22 different aspects, encompass a diverse array of skills crucial for sustainable living and homesteading, aligning with the principles of permaculture. To earn a badge, Skippers must complete a predetermined set of BBs within a specific aspect, demonstrating their competency in that area. Badges are tiered, starting with the Sand badge, which signifies basic proficiency and requires approximately 5 hours of work. The next levels are Straw, Wood, and Iron badges, representing increasingly advanced skill levels and significantly greater time commitments. Examples of BBs include carving a wooden spoon (Roundwood Woodworking), building a hugelkultur garden bed (Gardening), installing a light fixture (Electricity), and mending a hole in clothing (Textiles). By completing BBs and earning badges, Skippers showcase their practical skills and dedication to sustainable living to potential "Otisies" (landowners) looking for suitable successors for their properties. Moreover, the completion of BBs contributes to the overall goal of "skipping the rat race," empowering individuals to acquire the skills and experience needed for self-sufficient living.
Hugelkultur is a raised garden bed building technique where wood is buried ("soil on wood") under soil. Hugelkultur, which means "hill culture" in German, can be implemented on a small scale in backyards or on a large scale, as demonstrated by Sepp Holzer, a renowned permaculture practitioner who uses hugelkultur in his terraced gardens. This technique involves layering logs, branches, twigs, and even whole trees, creating a foundation for the bed. This buried wood becomes "a sponge to hold water", reducing or eliminating the need for irrigation. As the wood decomposes, it attracts beneficial microorganisms and creates air pockets, leading to nutrient-rich, fertile soil. Hugelkultur helps gardeners "grow a typical garden without irrigation or fertilization". This technique can be used to grow garden plants like "rhubarb", "potatoes", and more. Hugelkultur is an example of permaculture design, which emphasizes sustainability, self-sufficiency, and working with natural systems
Made of ancient diatom skeletons, diatomaceous earth is edible to mammals but deadly to insects. De scratches through a bug's waxy exoskeleton coating turning their innards to teeny tiny bug jerky.