My very first post on permies -
this one - was over fifteen years ago and about composting human poop.
I'm still using the same system, but it's getting harder and harder work for me to handle, and clean, all those buckets. Especially as it's really a job that needs doing start to finish in one session. So I think it's time I acknowledged those fifteen years, and admitted it's time for me to move on to a system that doesn't need so much input from me.
In the meantime, Iggy, one of my plushy dragons, wrote this poem with me in honour of the humanure system which has been part of my life for so long.
Fifteen Years of Humanure
Wherever I am, there's always poo,
There's always poo in Me.
And it's not only me, it's also in you!
It's in everyone you see.
Most of us just flush it away
But one day I just thought f*** it.
"There is no away!" a wise man had said.
So I began to poop in a bucket.
When my buckets were full and I couldn't find more
I constructed a compost heap.
Emptying buckets was a bit of a chore
but a job I wanted to keep.
Fifteen years passed, my life has moved on.
My spirit still willing, my flesh somewhat weak.
The buckets seem heavy, my energy gone.
I think the whole system needs a bit of a tweak.
There's too many buckets, the job takes too long.
Too much cleaning up and I'm no longer strong.
If we had one big barrel and fill it to the top
There'd be fewer to handle and then I could stop
dreading the day I have too many buckets
and wishing I didn't say so many f*** its.
When one barrel is full I can move to another.
Which overall is far less of a bother.
They can sit there a while, a couple of years.
No handling, no struggling, no cussing, no tears.
When two years are up they are ready to empty.
Just one at a time. Which for me is plenty!
Wherever I am, there's always poo,
There's always poo in me.
But instead of a bucket I now poop in a barrel
which will feed a willow tree...
written by Iggy
Burra helped...
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