Stromatolite Hatfield

Here's a great resource:

[size=14pt]Download/play podcast on "The Under-appreciated Resource in Feces and Urine"[/size]

May 9, 2011

Worcester resident and design ecologist Buzz Ferver discusses the nutrients available in human feces and urine, why it's a shame to defecate in toilets full of  clean water, and what you can do to husband your water and "wastewater" resources.

Ferver frequently references The Humanure Handbook, which can be purchased in locally owned bookstores or at the author's website, where it can also be downloaded as an e-book.

Carl Etnier, whose home boasts a Humanure-inspired sawdust toilet and a Swedish, urine-diverting toilet, hosts.

Yes, it's fine as long as it's not used on vegetables or fruit trees.

The contamination of our excretions with medications is one of the reasons we don't simply use dried and composted sewerage on crops. The other reason is that a lot of idiots dispose of toxic waste down sewers (pesticides etc).

The only cautionary note I would sound is people who are taking medications, such as hormones or antibiotics, or are on chemotherapy.

I've heard a SheWee is better than the Whiz.

vibrantenergies wrote:
The Missouri Ozarks is the place to be! Land is cheap and abundant. There are lots of like-minded folks who are truly decent people willing to help friends anytime they can. There are only a few counties with building restrictions, and several with none at all! If you're interested, I can give you some info to start your search in the area.

-Mike Snyder

You're right, my bad, he is in Tasmania. Too cold for me!

Getting the compost hot enough for long enough will kill all parasites.

The other route is to leave it for 12-14 months. All cysts will be dead by then.

There is quite a lot of what has been called "fecophobia" in this thread. Most of us have E Coli. on our hands a lot of the time (as tests have proved, showing that you can culture E coli from telephone handsets and all sorts of surfaces).

In most of Asia and Africa, toilets are a hole in the ground over which you squat (a position that is the most efficient for defecation because it removes the "kink" in the colon that you have when sitting). They do not use toilet paper; they use a small container of water to rinse the anus (not sure if women also rinse the vulva). The anus is actually cleaner after this than it would be from wiping with TP. The hand is also rinsed, and washed (sometimes with soap, sometimes without). This has not led to an increase in disease that we know of.

So, no need to sterilize things. I really recommend the book Humanure to you all; in it a lot of this hyperventilating over germs is debunked. There's quite a lot of unnecessary fear around these issues in western societies, mostly caused by the TV advertising we all see for antimicrobial sprays and soaps etc.

Actually I know of one permaculturalist who moved from the US to New Zealand. I emailed him a few times.

His name is Steve Solomon and he has written an excellent book (which I own) called
Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times

I have his email address if anyone wants it

lukofthedraw wrote:
What do you think the dangers of moving out of the states?

I moved from Las Vegas to Australia. Unfortunately, real estate is incredibly expensive here, and they have a housing bubble, even worse than the US, and it has not burst yet!

I'm patiently waiting for prices to come down.

New Zealand is a better option: good soils, good rainfall, and according to scientists, it will not dry up with global warming the way the south western US is (Lake Mead is in real trouble, for instance).

This great thread is incomplete without pointing people to three of the best books about the general topic of using our valuable excretions (urine, feces) to make us independent of fossil-fuel based fertilizers and increasingly scarce potash. I refer to Humanure, Holy Shit and Liquid Gold

I post links to Amazon for readers (mod, feel free to delete if this contravenes rules):