women peeing outdoors

SheWee seems like something to clean up...... just keep her trimmed up solves the no TP issue... when there is a group of people and you walk off, if you assume that everyone is watching you, you probably have an ego issue. My favorite spot to pee on is a mat of moss.. all is silent, no splash. I am 54 and wondering if I am going to have to deal with the sideways pee issue? hope not, I would have to learn how to lift one leg while squatting

I'm a newbie on the site and haven't laughed so much for years about the natural side of nature.

Years ago as a former sergeant in the british army I was out painting the town red with some brit sailors who were senoir rates off a nuc sub.

Somewhere along in the evening we collected six local gals and had a brill time full of laughter & general stupidity .

On the way back from a kebab shack the guys were wanting to strain the greens so to speak and quite openly a couple unzipped and started to walk down the street trying to write their names in the dust.
Not to be out done one guy bragged he could pee over a near by wall of about seven feet in height .
He didn't'make it , suddenly two of the ladies burst out laughing and said watch this .
.Feet shouder width apart and then one foot up on a car bumper both expertly cleared the wall with a full stream of pee after descretely pressing certain parts of their bits .

That was 40 yrs ago and it still makes me smile and chuckle , neither of them got wet either. We seem to have lost something in our so called civilized ways .
.

This is a long thread, and I will remind myself to get back to it.
Very interesting and entertaining.
We've all had our share of bloopers in this area of personal hygiene.
I won't expand on my own, however, at this time.

I have wondered at times if... a woman's hygiene is what drove civilization.
Women probably began to demand to have a decent and clean place to pee.

My opinion is that leaving bodily wastes freely around is un-hygienic.
I have done some camping in my time, and at established campsites it has
been my experience that they begin to stink when peeing anywhere is the rule.
When my husband and I camped... we ALWAYS brought a compact shovel.
The rule was -- you should always bury your bodily wastes... in an untraveled place.
If you didn't have your own tissue, then you found clean grasses or harmless leaves
to clean yourself. You can then sanitize your hands with crushed leaves, lemon juice, or vinegar.

If privacy is an issue, it is always the polite thing to do... to turn one's back.
Yes it is... a natural bodily function... however it is, a private thing.
As for solutions to improper latrines -- here is one idea that seems really very good.

composting toilet above ground, rotate every year, use wood shavings, ash
http://www.thatroundhouse.info

Last summer I discovered that the pumpkin plants loved my sons pee. He used it to grow a nice pumpkin. Even began to hoard it and not pee on my plants, just his. ' he'd say 'you're not getting my pee'!' And run away.
So I started to pee inside in a container and Pour outside. Worked fine.

I object to outside peeing for myself. I don't feel it is ladylike and I don't like the splash, and it always splashes.

This thread is 3 years old but i still want to put in my two cents.

Forget toilet paper for peeing! Look, you have a hand and there's probably dew on the grass, okay, to wash your hand. (letting it dry really doesn't work). Anyway don't you carry a water bottle with you wherever you go? (To wash the hand) Semi-dried leaves are the best if you want leaves, and they work for poop too - unlike dry crumbly leaves or totally green leaves. Snow works fine.
With a skirt and undies, you can just hold the undies over to one side. Takes both hands, because your other hand is making sure the skirt stays dry.
For the garden you want to dilute 10:1, so at home I pee indoors (private) in a small pail and add water, preferably leftover bath water or something else not wasteful.

Remember, men touch themselves there and don't even wash their hands.
When little girls and boys have peeing contests, the girls often win. Because you can direct the stream to where you want it.

I like to pee standing up, but it really only works when you're (a) naked or (b) skirt with no undies. Meaning, mostly not!

And if you're at a music festival or someplace with crowds, use the facilities. Crowds are the reason all this sanitation stuff exists - disease (not relevant with urine) and grossness (always available).

There's also the matter of urine as medicine. Great for burns! Just slather it on and leave 20 minutes. Serious burns, make a compress. (My example: A propane stove blew up in my face, blasted off an inch of skin. If I look really, really, really closely I can tell which side it was on - just barely. No, I did not enjoy lying for days under urine-soaked rags. But I wouldn't have enjoyed the hospital and plastic surgery either, and there's the money factor.

Um... Men SHOULD wash their hands... My sons are taught to and my husband does.

If I have to go I GO! Even in an urban area in a discreet place. But I have back issues. I have asked guys if they are married and if they are I'll ask if I can hold on to their belt or something so I don't fall over. Actually I did that maybe three times in a fishing spot--the men were cool about it--turning their heads or looking askance--whatever. In the woods I'd need to hang on to a sapling or sit on a log with my butt hanging over. I was going to bring up that there is a product for this but I see y'all beat me to it. I think wearing a minipad of some kind when not near facilities would be a good idea. I like the standing method but don't wear skirts much anymore.

Does dog urine have more nitrogen than human urine? Thinking about burned grass.

Has anybody here actually used the fem pee device?

Peeing. Everybody does it.

Addendum: I once had occasion to observe a woman 'pee with grace.' I had caught a ride with The Hog Farm on their old Greyhound bus. The first gal who had to pee took an empty coffee can, squatted, and simply peed into it in full site of anybody on the bus while looking straight ahead. (It was a commune.) I was like "wow."

I didn't read through all of the responses, but here's my solution and the best of both worlds. ANYONE, male or female, can pee into a container.

I keep a wide mouth plastic container next to my toilet that I use for collection and toss the TP into the toilet. This also reduces the need to flush. (It just so happens that I have a plumbing issue, which requires me to open and close the valve behind the toilet, so this is an added benefit to me until the plumbing issue is addressed.). Also, being forced to go outside to empty the container multiple times throughout the day when I might otherwise be chained to my computer, keeps me more connected to my gardens. The container is easy enough to rinse and reuse.

I still haven't convinced my partner to collect his pee, but I'm building my case, as the new tomato seedings that are some of the beneficiaries are looking mighty healthy, and they have received no other added fertilizer. I think they are enjoying the recycled vitamin B supplements that I have been taking.

Paul, please post the link to that delightful Paul podcast with a woman on this very subject with many helpful starter hints on paperless peeing. Controlling pressure and stopping before the final few drops seemed key. All the more reason for us to do our Keegle exercises (besides the sex, ha). She also talked about how the soft tissues get mushed, even without underwear, and the need to adjust/separate before you start. Finally she discussed the final drip and the use of rocks and twigs, not leaves. She did not solve for me the position and squatting is not stable any longer, thank you for the suggestions above, perhaps I should "aim" more backwards. More practice is needed.

I was very pleased to read that it isn't necessary to separate pee from poop in your outhouse. I saw one design that had a trough to funnel pee to a bucket but I doubted the poop would actually stay dry. Long skirts are not practical in the woods, the prickly desert, or out hiking and where people congregate we don't want close contact with other's untreated excrement which left in the open draws flys. So some of the descriptions of the European method left me confused. I've heard that in Asia they squat and pee in a trench. So they already know the "paperless method?"

A note: President Jimmy Carter's Foundation reduced the frequency of female infections by simply putting up canvas booths for women to step into and pee. This was in a Muslim country and women have very strict modesty rules so they would go all day holding their urine in a country where men routinely pee (and poop) along the side of the road.

Here's a funny. I do pee outside. One day I was going about my business, & out of nowhere, a man appeared. I, slightly embarrassed, pull up my pants. The guy appologized & told me his gps led him down this awful hill. He was stuck on a large rock. I took him down to the neighbors, that I thought could help him. I announced myself & told them I had conpany. We went in, where the woman was bathing her small children. They had no running water, so the kids were standing in one of those metal wash tubs, while she poured water over them. The dad had just woke up & was still in his undies. I told them of the guys situation. The man stated, "I must have made a wrong turn." We burst out laughing. We live in WV, & thought of the movie. I told my neighbors how he had caught me peeing. We were all laughing by the time he left. I wonder if he was scared?

As a healthcare professional (and through first hand experience) I would advise a wider stance, dip a bit lower and push out that booty. The position will help older women better empty their bladders (positions change with weakening muscles after childbirth, menopause, etc). The position also makes aiming more accurate. Yes, I can urinate standing up and maintain clean hands (a bit of antigravity pressure above the mons works for this, ladies), after 12 natural home births and at age 58.

A physician, 45 hers ago, told me that women should not wear underwear whenever possible. Keep the temple aired out, fee of conditions predisposing to infections and bacteria buildup. So don't tell your macho guy that Commando isn't just for them


We owe Mother Earth to give back to Her what She has generously given to us -- it is refreshing to see many people discussing a natural process without embarrassment. Kudos, all!

When I was in grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, the Outdoor Club decided to take a canoe trip up the Wisconsin river, camping on sandbars along the way. The group consisted mostly of physics and astronomy PhD candidates (and myself - a Race and Ethnic studies person!).

Out of the dozen or so participants, there were only three women. One was a petite blonde Physics PhD candidate - she hailed from Minnesota and had the fragile porcelain doll-like qualities common to her Scandinavian heritage. Never were looks so misleading!

Over the next week - our delicate rosebud of a travelling companion proved herself to be the best canoe-ist of us all, one of the heartiest drinkers and... most wonderfully... an expert at peeing standing up.

As was our habit after pitching the tents each night, we would gather for drinking and star-gazing (lead by the astronomers) and stories of the origins of the universe (thank you to the physicist. We would start the evening sitting up but soon everyone would be a little too sloshed and we'd end up on our backs listening to each other's stories. The inevitable need to pee would rouse us and a drunken stagger to the trees would ensue. After a couple of rounds of this, a show of skills was called for and the guys were happy to oblige by writing out mathematical equations (no points if you didn't finish the equation) or lining up for distance shots.

We women watched on- critically - giving points for style, mathematical prowess and boldness.

Suddenly our porcelain doll stood up and burst into the line of distance pee-ers. Hoisting up her skirt, she jutted her hips out and splayed her labia. And shot a stream of pee that put the guys' streams to shame. While the mens' streams dwindled to trickles, hers shot out long and proud....and did I say LONG??

Finally she was done. Shocked silence reigned until one of the men started clapping. Bottles were passed to celebrate the queen of distance peeing and more creative peeing was expressed. Our porcelain doll even acquiesced to write her name in the sand. "Bonnie". She went back and dotted the "i" which involved completely stopping the stream and aiming with great precision to get the dot in the right place.

I don't know that I've ever been more proud of my gender!

This thread is gold... Literally.

My relatively simple solution to peeing outdoors literally took just a hammer, a few nails and a plank of wood.

I have one of the conventional three bay compost systems made with posts and tin already on the property I'm living on. It's nicely out of view of the house shielded by the chook house.

I took a sturdy plank of wood, and nailed it along the back side of the compost bay to the existing posts. Then I took a leftover piece of fake floorboard that was lying around and nailed it on top of the sturdy plank.

What I ended up with is a little platform that is very easy to use. Just sit on the back of the compost bay with your booty over the edge and pee direct into the compost. No squatting, no shaking, just sit and wait for drips to fall. The edge of the tin is covered so doesn't dig into my legs. The fake floorboard is smooth so no splinters. So far it's working pretty well. Not sure how it will hold up in the rain over winter, but for now it works just fine.

Still working on convincing the bloke to pee on the compost instead of wasting it elsewhere.

Burra Maluca wrote:...
Incidentally, I have seen gypsy women peeing, standing up, on the wheels of their caravans.  It's a skill I've never bothered trying to master, but it was certainly fascinating.

Outdated question, but:
I've heard of this talent, and have experimented a bit in the shower. Do the ladies you observed face the wheels, like a man would do?

(A lot of female quadrupeds direct their pee backwards, which might also be do-able with human anatomy and forgiving clothing.)

-Erica

Another long late-night post; hope I'm not repeating myself too much!
This thread seems to have taken on a life of its own, and some things that may be discussed earlier are coming up again.

It's kinda like one long, archaologically-intact bathroom wall, in a way.
Except relevant to the matter at hand.

Linda Sefcik wrote:This is a long thread, and I will remind myself to get back to it.
..
My opinion is that leaving bodily wastes freely around is un-hygienic.
...
If privacy is an issue, it is always the polite thing to do... to turn one's back.
Yes it is... a natural bodily function... however it is, a private thing.

I think it's not the untraveled place, but the crowded place, where pee-stink becomes a factor. Nature's message that it's time to move on and let that area regenerate. Your campground may have a pristine view of the lake, but if it's starting to smell like pee, it's far from 'untraveled.'

If there are enough people that you have to worry about privacy, or there is a beaten path, then hygeine is a priority. When we gather in crowded places (winter lodges, festivals, Permie training groups), then we can relieve both the risk of disease and the stress of close quarters by attention to public hygeine.

Where old, hot-climate civilizations have a large population that can't be bothered (or can't afford facilities, or are not allowed access to existing 'public' facilities), the streets are known as unclean. Private washing becomes sacred, a matter for religious compulsion; and (ideally) wells are protected with well-designed infrastructure, separate troughs for watering livestock, and sometimes by strong taboos.
The streets are basically sewers/gutters you can walk in, and private homes are the clean 'nests'. There are often traditions of boiled-water drinks (tea, coffee), or alcoholic drinks (wine + spring water, small beer), or (relatively) sanitary fresh fruit or boiled syrup drinks (coconut, orange, etc), or mixed drinks containing all three.

You may prefer to live in an idyllic place that doesn't stink of other people's excrement (who wouldn't), but the reality is that such smells are a useful warning. Masking the smells without reducing the crowding can lead to unhygenic interactions. How many cat-holes does it take around a campsite before you are almost guaranteed to dig up someone else's partially-decomposed excrement, perhaps without noticing? Cat-holes are a good stopgap for uncrowded conditions and discretion, but they are not public hygiene.
Likewise, washing practices that lead to contaminated water sources are also a matter for public shame and taboo.
And composting toilet 'systems' that result in undecomposed toilet paper sometimes visible in the forest.
A pit-latrine, even if stinky, is probably more hygienic.
...
Compost, garden, and useful urine:
I like the compost pile in theory, but Paul's pile on an exposed hillside overlooking the highway is a definite exercise in timing or boldness.
A curtained, straw-lined pee-pit or strawbale toilet is great for workshops, to increase both privacy and available spots. It can be located to maximize nutrient value, while minimizing contact with infectious matter. (that is, if you dig a hole for a urine pit, it would be nice to plant something there or layer up the mulch to make a planting bed, instead of moving the urine-soaked straw afterwards.)
While fresh pee is (relatively) sterile, it isn't always 100% free of bodily contamination, and once out of the body it rapidly grows all kinds of biota. Pee-buckets and peed-in compost heaps are not sterile. Getting pee directly into gardens or loose soil, with timely dilution, is more sanitary than handling other peoples' pee.

I also find myself wanting to use menstrual blood as fertilizer, but this takes even more precautions to avoid very nasty.
- Dilute well (often while rinsing cloth menses rags),
- use fresh, if possible; change rinse-water every 1 or 2 days, and launder rags before the week is up
- use on non-food plants, e.g. forest trees and houseplants; or rinse well into the roots of non-root-crop plants (orchard trees e.g.).
- don't over-fertilize in one place, as not only will this have the usual bad effects on plants (root burn), but can concentrate pathogens that may be attracted to the proteins and fluids involved.

Anything that loves to eat your pee, blood, or whatever, is not something you want inside your body. So there needs to be a disposal cycle, in which those primary decomposers / pathogens are eaten by soil biota, and then the nutrients are cycled through plants as filtration, before there's any human contact again.

This is why pee, and all body fluids, are 'gross.' We are not supposed to mess around in them, especially someone else's.
If you don't think pee is gross, do what you like with it, but be aware that the 'gross factor' has high survival value if it leads to responsible hygiene in otherwise-ignorant people.
Eating poo is the grub's and scavengers' and decomposers' work. Most scavengers have physical adaptations to minimize the ill effects, which we lack.

While I think it's a little odd that we cage our poo, make sure that no seeds can possibly grow from it, and then laboriously sterilize herbivore poo to fertilize seeds of edible crops, it is a definite survival mechanism in today's crowded world.

The 6-foot-deep rule for outhouse pits came from observations that hookworms can crawl up to 4 feet from excrement, at a rate of up to 1 foot per day. With a 6-foot hole and a growing pile, it will still be a long walk for a hookworm to find its way to where you can pick it up underfoot.

...
Dog pee yellow spots:
- Most natural soils can handle a certain amount of pee, but stressed or nitrogen-saturated soils do die off. The yellow spotting I've seen from dogs (and people) has mostly been with repeated use of the same yard in dry conditions. It might also be possible that dog pee on an over-fertilized lawn could push spots past the tipping point, killing the roots through salt burn (osmotic dehydration). Diluting the pee 1:10 with water (ten parts water), or up to 1:20 in dry conditions, will help a lot. Dog poop piles seem to have the opposite effect, creating lush green spots that out-grow surrounding areas.

I've heard that there's something different about female-dog pee chemically, but I suspect it has more to do with they are the ones most likely to pee in big spots on the lawn (the boys sprinkle horizontally, rather than making a big puddle in one place). We have had female dogs that had learned to sprinkle, and they didn't seem to produce dead spots.

...
Regarding Nadya's frustration with the splash: It depends a lot on what you pee on, and from where.
If possible, I find a pile of sawdust, a hole in a rotten stump or logpile, or an area with a lot of grass and pine-needles; these all reduce the splash for me. Peeing directly onto snow works OK if it's soft, but splashes if it's icy. Dry dirt, clay, any hard-packed paths, and certain kinds of vegetation make for more splash. I suppose a cat-hole might help too.
Bathrooms are not necessarily splash-free, either - especially if shared between men and women. There's just a 'delayed splash' effect, if you happen to sit down or brush up against contaminated surfaces without noticing they need cleaning.

If possible, I bring a little water for washing - and for diluting the contribution. (Concentrated urine can burn plant roots and also gets stinkier as it dries). I pee in the garden if it's wet enough; if not, then usually near a carbon sink like a dead log, to release nutrients when it rains again.
A light trickle of water, usually from behind if you want to pour rather than swab - or a couple handfuls of clean snow - dilutes and removes any drips. I don't mind 'blotting' with underwear if I've already washed.

A deeper squat helps reduce both the personal mess, and the splash. Slowing the flow also reduces the splash.

When young, I learned the "hang your backside over a log" method, and it's still reasonably reliable if you don't have the clothing or control for a squat. It gets the splash on the far side of something, not on your undies or boots.
But I find that sitting positions are a lot messier for me, and require more cleanup materials than a squat.
I am not quite bold enough to drag my drips across a mossy log as a clean-up tactic, though it could be done if you are confident you won't pick up anything infectious or painful.

If no water available, then I am alert for materials to blot / wipe with: grasses, mullein, pine needles, clean snow (if temperature not too far below freezing), or anything handy that does not have thorns or noxious properties.
I do change underwear more frequently, or a panty-liner or cotton pads are handy if it's near that time anyway.

...
Skirts: A matter of preference in today's liberal societies, but often a matter of social stigma in traditional ones.
My grandmother, from rural Wisconsin (neighbors can see you for miles) reported that modest 'good girls' always wore skirts in permies. You could wear pants on the farm, or under your skirts for warmth on the way to school, but if you were a Good Girl you wore a skirt. The modesty factor might be a nonsensical cultural relic, but note that there's no prohibition against wearing trousers as long as a skirt is also worn. So it seems more likely it's to do with walking 2 miles across country to town, and the chances that a girl might be observed if peeing anywhere along the way. Many traditional cultures have modesty standards for both women and men, and respecting them is courtesy.
(Americans in the Middle East are not expected to wear Muslim headgear, but are recommended to wear full-length sleeves or pants rather than casual shorts and skin-revealing gear. Again, this is as much for sun-safety as for modesty, but it's become a modesty courtesy as well. Well-brought-up midwesterners wear sweaters in winter; well-brought-up middle easterners wear skin-protecting clothing in public/outdoors.)

If modesty matters more than hygeine, a long skirt or mid-length skirt works. So do temporary 'tents' made with towels, coats, or whatever. Girls can keep watch for each other or make a partial shield while using the bushes, or the group can set up a 'ladies' room' for both peeing and other private functions like tending menstrual materials or nursing babies.
Men who have no problem peeing in public can often be quite upset by the sight of blood. I do think that blood should probably be buried, like poop, if not diluted and rinsed down into soils immediately for non-root-crop plants.

If hygeine and modesty are equally important, I find a short skirt or apron is handy. It gives me one more angle to hide what's going on, without being in the way like a full, long skirt. A work-apron or tunic over trousers/jeans is a nice compromise for backwoods work.

If hygeine matters more than modesty, I've let kids take their clothes off, pee, wash up if needed, then put the clean, dry clothes back on. Might be important if you're in a situation where clean, dry clothing is critical for survival, and not confident to avoid splashes or damp-blotting. Or at a summer camp/school, where you can have privacy to pee outdoors, but no guarantees of privacy from teasing if you smell funny afterwards.
...

I have grown up accustomed to the freedom to wear whatever I like, and to pee wherever it makes sense. But I have not grown up accustomed to all choices having equal consequences. I tend to be somewhat private when I pee, both to protect my reputation, and to avoid uncomfortable interactions with shocked people or teasing children. When a private place to pee is not guaranteed, then I choose clothing that allows me more control over my own privacy.

My own attempts to pee standing up will probably always be limited to the shower, regardless of admiration for others' skill.
...

EKW

Erica Wisner wrote:

Burra Maluca wrote:...
Incidentally, I have seen gypsy women peeing, standing up, on the wheels of their caravans.  It's a skill I've never bothered trying to master, but it was certainly fascinating.

Outdated question, but:
I've heard of this talent, and have experimented a bit in the shower. Do the ladies you observed face the wheels, like a man would do?

Yup - facing the wheels standing with a rather exaggerated 'pelvic thrust' and using the fingers to kind of pull everything upwards to get the flow more forwards. Plus, if I remember rightly, a rather broad and slightly sheepish grin when they looked over their shoulder at me as they didn't know how the little girl sitting on the bank was going to react to the sight. It was a *very* long time ago...

We are often out hiking in remote places so I stand or squat, depending on terrain, and usually look for a clean-looking rock, Spanish moss, or some other type plant material for wiping. Yes, my shoes do get splashed sometimes - have to really spread the legs wide... Also have to make sure I'm not using poison oak for wiping or anything with grass seed that could get stuck in an unmentionable spot (happened once - made the doctor's day!) When we are in our camper that doesn't have a toilet, I sometimes use a container if there's no privacy or it's very cold out (quart yogurt ones work well - and you can put a lid on till morning, then throw it out over nearby ground or down a pit or vault toilet). I've also started using a container at home since there is no privacy from male neighbors and I really hate wasting resources. I do have to pay attention to placement of the container so I don't get urine splashed about. I usually top this off with water and then dump the mix into the compost pile - fastest composting experience I've ever had! The paper used for wiping urine at home also ends up in the compost... Some day I aim to have a full humanure system - I'm originally from the Netherlands so this stuff really makes sense to me.

Just rereading this thread with interest. And it brought to mind a few more fun and exciting peeing experiences.

--Growing up I enjoyed sailing. Not in big, beautiful yachts, but in oversized dingies with sails. As a family, we would often take our boat out into the Indian Ocean for for several hours. Our boat didn't have a bathroom. What it did have was an open centerboard slot (slot opening was probably about 24" long and 2" wide maximum). If you had to pee, you straddled the centerboard slot, pulled your bathing suit aside and carefully arranged yourself so the majority of the pee went down the slot. Not such an easy feat when your tiny sailboat is going up and down wave swells taller than the mast (imagine peeing while riding a bronco) and your dad is telling you he's going to laugh if he hears "tinkling". (Thanks dad!)

--Years after peeing down the centerboard slot, my cousin and I took a road trip from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. The drive was slightly more exciting than usual (that's a pretty flat, "nothing" drive) because it was tumbleweed season and they were blowing all over the place like in a bad Western movie. One exceptionally large car-sized tumbleweed even pursued us down the highway for a bit before a semi came from the other direction and the passing suction finally got it off our tail. Well sooner or later, drinking all that liquid crossing the desert, you're gonna hafta pee. Thing is, rest stops are few and far between. Finally my cousin could hold it no longer and we pulled over.

There was NO cover. While the open car door protected her from one side, the other side was still open. The wind was still blowing and soon a 4 ft tall tumbleweed came tumbling our way. I ran out to snag it as it went by. Silly me, I forgot that dried tumbleweeds are pretty spikey! Anyway, I dragged the tumbleweed back to the car and we made a makeshift enclosure with the car door and tumbleweed. I stood braced against the open car door to keep the wind from blowing it shut and toppling my squatting, peeing cousin. She carefully held the tumbleweed near the base. I was forced to stick my hand deep into the upper branches of the tumbleweed to stabilize it from the top.

All was going well until it was time for her to pull up her pants. This is when she let go of the base of the tumbleweed. Without that anchor, the thinner top branches snapped off in my hand and the tumbleweed gleefully resumed its former tumbling. My cousin was caught with her pants pulled half way up facing an oncoming semi who gave her an appreciative honk on the air horn.

--2 months ago, I attended a water harvesting presentation given by Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. He exclusively uses an outdoor composting toilet. He also has an orange tree that is next to the path between his house and the composting toilet. He said he picks an orange as he passes by the tree, peels and eats the fruit, retains the peel and uses it as TP after he goes. Apparently this provides one with a "fresh, clean scent".

--By far, my most favorite place to pee outdoors is in my outdoor shower. I'm already naked, there's no need to worry about splashing as I have the ability to be clean in a jiffy, my diluted pee goes down three different drains, each watering a different infiltration basin filled with shade trees and vines, and during grape season, I can pick grapes growing from this greywater (and pee fertilizer) as I shower! Win/Win/Win!

I am part of an ultramarathon canoe/kayak community of amazing men and women. We have several races that are multiple days long and if you're a competitive team ... well ... the real competitive ladies don't pull over to go pee too much. One year I was fortunate enough to be one of the men as part of a 2 woman/2 man racing team (yes, a very fast 4-person racing canoe) and we entered the Missouri River 340 and trained well together. As you might expect, racing 340 miles non-stop can put a person off their BM cycle but we're drinking gallons of water and other hydration and we do have to pee while racing. The women in our community take several approaches ... depending on how hard core they are in this crazy racing community.

1 - They keep a little plastic bowl/lid (Tupperware like thing) under their seat. When they have to go, they simply slide forward on their canoe seat, pull their shorts aside and tinkle in the bowl and dump it out and rinse it in the river water. Put the lid back on the bowl and slide it back under the seat. This only means the woman has a down time from paddling of about 30-45 seconds. Remember, we're racing and minutes matter even in a race of 50 hours.

2 - They simply let the pee flow in their clothes while continuing to paddle. Once done, she may splash a bit of water on her groin to dilute the pee in her clothing. After 50 hours of racing with days of hot sun and three other people's worth of stuff, you can imagine the science experiment that is going on in the bottom inside the canoe. These are the hardcore gals ... and as you might expect, the fastest.

3 - About every 40-50 miles there is a checkpoint that we have to pull over on the river bank and sign in and then can take off again. Most teams use these checkpoints to meet their support crews to resupply the boat (food, meds, hydration, repairs, etc.) and the ladies take the opportunity to hop out of the canoe and squat down in the river while the support crew is busy. This is the most popular technique. But, it means you may have to hold it for a while. At 9 miles an hour, it takes a bit to go 50 miles.

I have to imagine this can't be too healthy for a gal's hygene -- any of these techniques, but it's what they do in the name of crossing the finish line ahead of another team.

Did I mention we're crazy?

Oh yeah, we set the mixed team racing record that year.

I grew up farmgirl, and out in the field or mowing ditches, you used the great outdoors. I am much older now, and in the city, but have some space to do things.

I am A and B, depending on many factors. I have put up a couple of straw bales to anoint near my compost and arranged a few of the pallets so nobody can see that I'm out there making good soil. My DH who would collect jugsful for diluting to anoint the lawn, is now using the bales too when he's working at the shop. I have fixed it so I can squat with some support (something to hang onto) and have my biodegradable TP I can bury in the compost pile when done. There is nobody downwind in any direction I have to worry about either, but I have found that it's not that stinky even on a HOT day. I also don't tell others why there's some disreputable half rotted straw bales in that one enclosure, if asked I say it's the core of the next compost pile waiting for me to start it. Oh. [oh, btw, I put them non stringed side up.... takes care of splash pretty much]

Late at night, or in the house, I use the indoor plumbing; or a call of nature of the number two variety.

Out in the field I learned quickly on how to arrange myself for the slope, and something to lean on as I tripoded (the third leg being the tree or post I was depositing near) to make life easier... two years ago, my DH finally seen me do a field squat and he was surprised mostly that I had method, madness, and man I was going to split a seam if I didn't. Women CAN go outside too, guys just have a better dispenser; I said with a straight face.

Someday I may be doing 100% outside but for now I'm still a 'mind my neighbors seeing' and a 'method of convenience' woman...

While I prefer a ladies room I'm not bashful about peeing outside. My husband and i like to explore trails and ghost towns. No ladies rooms there so peeing outside is the only choices
If I have to pee outside I pee on small flowers or into a clump of grass. TP is a must for this girl. I don't like damp panties. Usually I drop my TP where I just peed or give it a toss in the bushes
We had a boat until just a few years ago. It was a eeighteen foot Starcraft. Just six seats a windshield and a canvas top. There was no toilet on the boat so when I had to pee I did it over the side.
When I had to pee i got my TP then went to the side of the boat and unzipped my jeans/shorts and pushed them and my panties to my knees. I sat on the back of my legs on the side of the boat.
This got my rear over the river. I then peed in the river. Finished I wiped and dropped my TP in the river. As I stood up I pulled my panties up followed by my jeans/shorts.
TP dissolves quickly so no problem tossing in the river.
Be sure to hold on to the boat so you won't fall out while your rear is over the side

So I'm neither an A or B. I simply pee wherever I happen to be. If I'm way out on the edge of my property, that is where it is happening. If I am inside, inside it is. Of course I'm famous at the local urgent care clinic because I came in with cement burns (someone really should have told me cement was corrosive) because I cemented my duck pond naked. I didn't want to get my nice clothes dirty.....

now I know not to cement a cement pond naked! that is totally something I would have done too!

Owie, Danielle, that is NOT the 15 min of fame you want.

Now that it's cold I'm doing my business indoors and my straw bales can fend for themselves until it warms up again. Yes I'm a fair weather lady these years.

I have my clothes sorted into Chore Clothes A) can be seen for brief periods downtown as I forgot something and need to fetch for project in progress, B) too ventilated or otherwise not visible in polite company-cohorts helping you with the project just have to suffer; Civil Clothes: not quite chore clothes, you can go downtown and shop in these, etc. Dress B) for going to doc or out to eat at order at counter and they bring you food place. Dress A) Weddings, Funerals, Picture sitting, and Court.

I also have 'car' clothes for working on tractors, pickups and cars, I took fabric paint and wrote 'car' on them. Spouse doesn't get in trouble then, he can find the clothes he's supposed to wear. (Speaking of which, he just came over from shop to do #1 indoors, he claims with windchill it's too cold to use the bales)

I speak from personal experience. I really hope that you will never need to know this. It took me a while to figure out the details, as I was so upset at being in a wheel chair when I wanted to be out gardening, that I could not think straight. I was a lot happier after I figured out these details, because then at least I could stay outside longer and do ditsy things like collect seeds while sitting in my wheelchair. So I will share the details with you, although I hope you never need to know this.

I will spare you the story of why I was in a wheelchair.

It is a big pain when you are outside in a wheelchair to go inside to pee. It may not be necessary.

It is a very good idea to be prepared with some toilet paper in your pocket. Lots of toilet paper so you can keep your hands clean. If the toilet paper is unbleached, it is easier on the environment.

First of all, it is simplest if you are not wearing underpants. Several Naturopathic Doctors have told me that it is healthier not to wear underpants, as the air circulation prevents problems. I was not wearing underpants. If you insist on wearing underpants, all I can say is good luck.

In general, it is best to keep your wheelchair on a smooth surface, so it does not get stuck on uneven ground or tip over. Peeing outside in a wheelchair, I kept mine on the concrete driveway, in a spot where no one would see me pee. In order not to have the pee run down the concrete driveway and, in a day or so in Summer, smell really bad, I pulled the chair to the edge of the driveway, right next to the grass. The pee landed on the grass...here is how....

The trick is to support yourself securely on one butt bone, and holding tight to the wheelchair, (you have to hold on tight so you feel secure, otherwise you will not be relaxed enough to pee) hang the other butt bone out as far as you can away from the wheelchair seat so you do not pee on the wheelchair seat, and pull up your skirt so you do not pee on your skirt. Brace your two feet as far apart as you securely can, so you do not pee on your feet (I was glad I was wearing clogs before I figured that out) .....and then you are ready to go. You only need to hold tight to the wheelchair with one hand, and you can use the other hand to dry yourself. It is a good idea to have the toilet paper in your hand and be ready to go. I dug a shallow hole and buried the toilet paper.

It greatly improved my life when I figured this out.

Best of all is not to have to be in a wheelchair, but if you have to be, this is one way to have a little more freedom and happiness.

I hope you never need to master this.

I am very happy to report that I am no longer in a wheel chair. I was out gardening on this sunny 50 degree day in Portland, Oregon and did not even need my cane. Doing what I love heals me faster than anything else.

So glad Pamela that you are now chair-free.

We have had a return of warmer days, for a stint, so once more I can anoint the bales, that are indeed starting to look truly like decrepit and turning into some good compost. I have a few more good days here so I need to build a new enclosure with some donors from the pallet pile and get a few more bales out from under the tarp and get them propped up correctly....

I've just ordered a Go Girl. 3 pack! I am going to keep on in my backpack ( I have 80 acres I hike a lot) one at the compost toilet until I get a urine separator, and one in the truck. A friend once told me the best garment to wear when you are camping if you are a woman is a skirt... not saying she is wrong. I also keep some cut up pieces of an old flannel pillow slip, a little dab will do ya! toss them into a coffee can or baggy when hiking and wash out in a bucket, hang dry on the shrubs. The Go Girl just takes a few mls of water to rinse on the go from my water bottle. Done, Number 2 is still a pain in the ...

hhahahaha no topic should be taboo! The humanure booklet was great for appreciating the benefits of our own waste... Nothing helped me see more clearly that I should be recycling as much as possible!

Its all about how you stand when doing your business ladies!! I have several little elevated mounds of dirt, next to my hot compost heaps with a small swale inbetween. So basically Peeing down hill or in a dug out/whole, helps to avoid the splashes and wet feet but honestly if you have bad knees, this could be harder for you.. Trick is to widen your stances ladies or so I have found. lol.

I was not comfortable peeing outside during the day as our fence has not yet been rebuilt. I was really cautious going outside for that very fact but after a while, I have found I simply prefer to use my waste as a resource! I live outside in a tipi, and reading up and the HUGE benefits of urine in compost, I am moving quickly towards a compost toilet for future usage!


It has taken me ages to get comfortable enough to pee outside and eventually i came up with a version of a shee pee/1-2litre bucket that I can dilute and use directly on the garden!


Good luck ladies

I admit I didn't read the whole thread, so apologies if this is duplicate. I have health/strength/knee issues so if I squat, there I am, stuck with my pants down. I have a medical supply commode chair that I plan to put out under my trees, and move periodically to another location. That way the pee helps the trees, I know which tree gets it that day, and I can get back up. At my current location (I'm in mid move to a new place! Yay!) I have one over my compost pile.

I have various issues so my pallet enclosure does have a few grabbies and that, and a few slats so I can 'sit' without being stickered back there. I have a few enclosures built, some with actual compost cornered n them, and the one that is in use with bales is not really noticeable. I have one with bales and no assists yet, I will move the ones I made from the ones in use once they have turned into .... next step compost. My neighbors don't know, If someone does see the bale in use, I just say 'compost experiment' and I have other things about my workspace that are there just in case my gyros wobble, so it doesn't look strange I have things to grab onto wherever I'm working (I fell in a pumpkin patch once, bounced off some rebar, and took two hours to crawl out of there to house, so now I have grabholds!)

How do folks know when they have added enough pee to things like bark dust mulch (far from my favorite kind of organic matter...some is left over from the previous steward of this land....might as well use it) or straw bales or compost piles?

With living plants, first I see them greening up, and then when they turn brown I know I have gone too far, and learn to stop when the plants look more healthy.

But with piles of organic matter, how do we know what is enough?

Suggestions about seats and handles to hold onto are helpful. Whatever works, I say. It is important not to waste these precious nutrients. I am so happy to be able to discuss it openly. This should not be a taboo subject.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Yes, thank you, I am delighted to not be in a wheelchair any more!!!

Wow, seven pages? really?

OK well this is an amazing thread, but I admit I haven't read the whole thing.

Here's what I was going to post and was going to start a new thread but I think it's been addressed here:

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but laziness is its deadbeat dad. In my case, I was sitting around thinking about the women feeling a need to pee indoors thread--well, that's a lie, I was sitting around thinking about myself. And how I've just eliminated 2 reasons for getting out of bed in the evening after I've gotten under the covers--don't have to brush my teeth with hydrogen peroxide, spit, and rinse a toothbrush anymore, thanks to the natural dentistry thread, and don't have to floss because toothpicks!, and so the one last frontier is pee. And I had the thought, Mason jar with tight lid! Well, someone posted that the hospital collection things are better than that, so my idea was already had and they'd already solved the problem of how you can get some pee for the garden without having to pee outdoors. Also, I use the garden shed, just looks like I'm rummaging, and I suppose you could outfit it for women too.

My blind housemate by the way just uses a pee pot with no lid on it or anything, then in the morning I hear her banging down the stairs with it and she pours it down the toilet. I would love to put it to better use, but we already have an excess of nitrogen in the compost pile...guess i could have her leave it on the porch and I'd pour it on our extra dead leaves.

I finally got around to reading this thread, and I think it's great! Funny. Informative. Reassuring. I even learned a trick or two. It took me a while to get through all seven pages, but it was a good book substitute. BTW, just for the count, I'm an outdoor pee-er myself. Hubby negates my vote....he's a confirmed indoor pee-er, city-boy all the way.

Su, tell him don't be bashful, it's wonderful he's so considerate of making others jealous.

Maybe add a few feet height to the bale enclosure might help. Maybe he has bashful kidneys? Mine is envious that sometimes he does, and I never do.

I was wondering if anyone had commented here anytime recent (shows 3 yrs ago as the "beginning" LOL) finally made it back to a more current post I've never really had an issue with peeing outside, as a kid or as an adult, I've always tried for a little privacy when i've had to do it. The only issue or concern i had, was if i had to poop. If my 15 yr old read this forum he'd probably give me a "See, I was fertilizing the yard with what i used to do" sort of look. LOL Of course if i would have found this blog 11 yrs ago, we would have been right on track.
I taught all 3 of my boys to "water" grandpa's tree when they were old enough to hold their hoses, grandpa (my dad) has a "spot" out by his shop that he pee's at (we all pee at) when we're out & can't wait or don't want to go clear into the house to do the deed. As a kid/teen, I used it frequently....height of laziness some would say. But that's how they all got potty trained, by going outside to water the weeds or the trees & then we worked on 'aiming' inside using the toilet. My daughter......try as i might, she adamantly hates to pee outside in anything other than the outhouse (if we're out on an adventure), she'd rather burst a bladder than to pee out in the wilderness. I've tried since she was a little bitty thing too. One time we went out on an adventure & we both really had to go, but the forest toilet's were too far away to walk to & i wasn't going to try to get back to the truck squeeze my bladder into a seat to go to a stinky outhouse. So i told her to suck it up & let's do it over there off the bank by a tree. Of course........her brothers thought we found something great & had to come investigate. I told them unless they wanted to see their mom's big bare butt, they best relocate themselves. So for my daughter she's totally in need of privacy & less of an obvious "splash" area than i am. As long as the wind doesn't come up the wrong direction & make things splash on my pants (which has happened ) I'm good. I seemed to have had a bigger problem when i was doing long haul trucking with my x-husband & had to go, the only "hidey hole" i had was the tires & they weren't very supportive if you were using the rim to lean against or hide in LOL That was the first time I had an issue with privacy LOL I didn't want to have a cop pull over behind us (especially while i was in the midst of my work) to question what we were doing & why were we doing it LOL At night wasn't too bad, except when it was windy & cold....not good times then LOL
I might have to see if i can get one of those "shewee" things (i hate the name) for my daughter to see if it'd help her any. Could have used one of those when i was over the road LOL we only had the bottle or the hose & the hose wasn't exactly created for women to be using

Wow, many thoughts spring to mind on this topic. Like: Peeing outside requires practice, most of us don't do it often enough to be really comfortable doing is occasionally. There is a funnel object, not sure the name, to allow females to "stand and deliver" without getting splashes on your shoes. I would like to know if any one has tried that method?
On a trip to the Baja, the permanent campsite had a large pee tree. It was a 40 foot tree, with a walk under canopy of branches. It had a built up screen of dead hedge piled around it. on the left ladies, on the right, gentlemen. ( I didn't check out the guy side at all, sorry for my lack of curiosity at the time,. Who knew I go completely hippy this late in life). Anyways.... The ladies had 2 foot sized perching rocks, which held you above the floor, by only 4 inches, but it worked great. no splashes. The amount of urine was increased but only for short amounts of time, and I think it would be similar to an animal territory marking post which receives a lot of scent marking by animals. And the rain of course would dilute and distribute it. It was planted 1/2 mile from the beach, so sand. Not my circus or my monkeys. just saying.
I think pee for the garden is good, in measured doses, if you're smelling pee maybe ease off a bit. I like the hat idea for collection. That would work great as part of a humanure (sp) system/composting toilet component. Also, free fertilizer.

Peeing outdoors is a way to give back to the land...and it's FREE! A free gift! Homemade, if you will! lol I've been able to pee outside for as long as I can remember. I agree that there is a public decency factor no doubt, but if you have the opportunity to help the Earth, why not?! I prefer to squat, but I can use the device also. My only two issues are #1: Menstruation (it can still be used for compost, but it's a little too messy for outside business) and #2: Having to wipe (some people do, some people don't -->toilet paper is also compostable tho!). Win-Win!

I have built the first couple of bales into a hot compost pile now, and they will be this fall's dressing for next spring's crops. I built new enclosures from the ever-available pallets and we are working on the next bit. Adding a few corner cross braces allow me someplace to hang onto and neigbors and drivebys do not see what goes on there. Having a cooking pile now adds to the 'oh that's going to be my next compost pile' that I can tell the curious.

Deb Rebel wrote:I have built the first couple of bales into a hot compost pile now, and they will be this fall's dressing for next spring's crops. I built new enclosures from the ever-available pallets and we are working on the next bit. Adding a few corner cross braces allow me someplace to hang onto and neigbors and drivebys do not see what goes on there. Having a cooking pile now adds to the 'oh that's going to be my next compost pile' that I can tell the curious.

Hey Deb. I like the corner brace solution! Such a simple idea! Do you happen to have pictures that you could post of this?

can't believe no one knows about this; http://www.amazon.com/Go-Girl-Female-Urination-Lavender/dp/B003BEDUS6