Chris Dalton

I have been composting our humanure and pet waste for about two years. We used our compost this year. I corresponded with Joseph Jenkins before we started and inquired about composting cat poop because of all the misinformation I have heard. We have not test our compost yet, however our pile has reached nearly 140 degrees Fahrenheit and has held there for several weeks. I have no doubt this has cooked the crap out of our crap. That said I have one issue with composting cat waste -- the clay clumps and forms giant balls of clay, which are not very nice to work with. What I have been doing since is taking the cat litter and dumping it by a dead tree in the woods. I cover it with leaves and let it be. We have gone on poop patrol and placed our dog feces in and have had no issues. Could we? It is possible and would only be determined through a proper compost analysis.

Does anyone know if I can just walk through the forest and poke cloves into the soil and grow them all over our homestead? I am thinking I can because we have wild chives all over the place. I really love the idea of foraging for our garlic and the diversity it would provide on our homestead. Thanks.

I am nearing the end of my first year composting my humanure. From what it sounds like your pile is not wet enough. I do not agree with the nitrogen recommendation because your poop and pee should have plenty of nitrogen in it. If you are getting saw dust from a company that uses kiln dried lumber the moisture in the wood has been removed and you will need to really wet your pile down to get the moisture needed.

Do you separate your poo from your pee? If so, I would suggest you stop. We poo and pee into one bucket and dump the contents right into our compost pile. We use rotten hay, leaves, and straw as our pile cover material. I dont think our pile dropped below 80 degrees in the dead cold of winter. We get our sawdust from local sawyers who are making lumber out of hardwoods.

I look forward to this. I have started massive hugelkultur beds in the past week. We have already started our seeds inside and they are growing. I will get seeds into the ground tonight and cover them with cloches. If this works then I will start my gardens this way in the future. We only have 384 sq ft of house space in our tiny cabin, which poses a challenge when trying to start your seeds inside. I know cold frames would help, but as you all are aware, there are hundreds of projects to do, and only 24 hours in a day.

Great job Paul. Its pretty cool to see a down to earth, normal man, wearing overalls on a TED Talk. I really want to use the RMH and the Wofati home on our place but I honestly have no idea on where to start and the scope of such a project. I have the land but getting your head around such a job is daunting.

A big hello from the Ozark area in MO. Paul why don't you plan to heat that pile up with humanure? We are using the system outlined in the Humanure Handbook on our small homestead. Our compost pile has been holding a steady temp of about 140 degrees for several weeks now. Seems like the perfect addition to get things going.