bbart Hatfield

paul wheaton wrote:
The growing season for most folks is 90 days.  My growing season was about four weeks longer because I used raised beds.  And I have lots of other tricks up my sleeve to get it longer still! 

It's worth having a look at http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_winter_harvest_handbook:paperback , "The Winter Harvest Handbook". The author explains how they grow throughout a fair bit of the winter (slower when it's cold) in Maine using unheated greenhouses.

(A review of the book: http://gaiatribe.geekuniversalis.com/2009/04/21/book-review-the-winter-harvest-handbook/ ; more reviews can certainly be found - this just happens to show up highly ranked as I was looking for a URL for the book itself)

The paper doesn't seem to be anything special: they are the standard paper towels that, for example, the Dutch railways use (they seem to be somewhat fluffier than the rolls of brown paper often found in the US; a quick search indicates they may be known as "multifold paper towels" though I'm not sure if they're the same consistency).

Other layering mechanisms may work, but these towels have the benefit that they close off each layer (as it's being compacted), are compostable, provide balance (cf. saw dust in composting toilets) and sustainable (assuming a sustainable paper production). I can't immediately imagine another material that would combine those attributes.

I'm not sure that leaving the bucket outside for some time before it's composted would add much benefit: the immediate decay has been stopped with the paper layering. Just letting it stand outside (in the heat) might start an anaerobic or uncontrolled (too cold/too hot) composting cycle... so composting it once the bucket is taken outside and then letting the resulting compost cure for another year seems safer.

The video is QuickTime, so needs the player from Apple (or VLC or some other third party player that can play .mov files).

They indicate that the bag that is meant to collect the solids is perforated at the bottom. The usage instructions say that when a new bag is placed in the (solids) collecting bucket a first layer of paper towels should be laid down, which will then become the bottom of a sealed stack: they recommend to regularly pour a glass of water over the paper-towel-stack, as that will seal the stack. Quoting them:

“Fresh” excrement smells because it contains bacteria’s of the colon system. These bacteria die when the come in contact with oxygen. The paper covering the excrement is rich in oxygen. This way an odorless, tight packet of….'papier maché', is created. All you see when you look into the toilet bowl is a grey paper mass. Pour a glass of water over this heap every now and again and you have a perfect seal, and it will be of no interest to flies or other insects. The urine slides right of this heap and is drained away, thereby separating faeces and urine.

(from http://www.de12ambachten.nl/engwatersaving.html )

I don't see how any separating mechanism would be able to handle overly liquid faeces (caused by illness etc), though when a nonolet is installed in a regular house the urine may drain to the sewer in which case flushing the pipes would seem to be all that's needed. The 'autonomous' nonolet has a collecting tank that would need to be cleaned. A draining nonolet that drains to a filtering system should probably have a filter designed to be able to handle the occasional (limited) contamination (or have a drain that can prevent contamination: one that can be diverted or closed?).

The last paragraph are just my assumptions; I couldn't find an immediate answer on their site. I see that they have guided tours of their "underland house" and its facilities. I may go on one of those to find out more. If so I'll post a trip report.

While searching for some more info on permaculture sites in this neck of the woods I came across a not-quite-composting toilet the "nonolet": http://www.de12ambachten.nl/enggreentech.html#anker72066 has the building instructions.

(A short clip from a BBC programme is available on the site as well: http://www.de12ambachten.nl/bbctvfragment.html )

It's a quite simple setup ("variation on a theme"), separating urine from solids and covering solids with paper towels to block odours and eventually dropping the solids onto the compost pile (or in the green wheelie bin -- letting it be collected and composted into municipally run composting installations. The advantage in such installations is that temperatures are high enough for long enough to ensure pathogens are killed off...).

paul wheaton wrote:
I remember reading a lot about the icy ball about five years ago.  It is an interesting idea. 

It seems the problem with the icy ball was that it tended to explode, every so often. An updated variation of it seems to be in the works (though I've not been able to find anything more recent about it): http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/adam_grosser_and_his_sustainable_fridge.html