Okay, I decided to start this thread to continue the discussion of humanure that began in the toilet paper roll thread. I'm very interested if anyone has made experience with this, and any tips they might have.
I have been interested in the humanure thing for a while and actually kind of started it yesterday as an experiment to see if I want to stick with it. I live in the city, so I'm limited to a small compost bin I made out of one of those black plastic garbage containers. I recently emptied out my old compost in this year's garden. I decided against starting a separate compost pile for humanure, but rather to mix it in with my other compost. I realize I'll have to be sure to get an appropriate mixture of green and brown materials and let it sit for a full year once it is filled up. So at that time, I'll have to make a second compost bin. I'm in Texas, so temperatures do get very high in the black container in summer, which according to my reading so far should help kill any fecal bacteria.
For now, I'm using a basic bucket, and I'm still experimenting with the cover material. Sawdust seems the most common, but I read that other materials including dry leaves will also work. So I raked my yard and have a few containers of leaves to use. I hope to find more bags of leaves on the curb or something.
To avoid having to use too much cover material and getting the compost too wet I'm using a separate bucket for pee. I pour that in a watering can, add water, and pour it directly into the vegetable garden as fertilizer (making sure not to get it on the leaves, but on the soil below.
As I said, I just started this yesterday, and my main concerns right now are 1) making sure the compost won't smell and 2) being really sure it is safe before I use the humanure compost for my vegetable garden - as that is the only place where I have use for compost right now.
Any suggestions or insights?
I have been interested in the humanure thing for a while and actually kind of started it yesterday as an experiment to see if I want to stick with it. I live in the city, so I'm limited to a small compost bin I made out of one of those black plastic garbage containers. I recently emptied out my old compost in this year's garden. I decided against starting a separate compost pile for humanure, but rather to mix it in with my other compost. I realize I'll have to be sure to get an appropriate mixture of green and brown materials and let it sit for a full year once it is filled up. So at that time, I'll have to make a second compost bin. I'm in Texas, so temperatures do get very high in the black container in summer, which according to my reading so far should help kill any fecal bacteria.
For now, I'm using a basic bucket, and I'm still experimenting with the cover material. Sawdust seems the most common, but I read that other materials including dry leaves will also work. So I raked my yard and have a few containers of leaves to use. I hope to find more bags of leaves on the curb or something.
To avoid having to use too much cover material and getting the compost too wet I'm using a separate bucket for pee. I pour that in a watering can, add water, and pour it directly into the vegetable garden as fertilizer (making sure not to get it on the leaves, but on the soil below.
As I said, I just started this yesterday, and my main concerns right now are 1) making sure the compost won't smell and 2) being really sure it is safe before I use the humanure compost for my vegetable garden - as that is the only place where I have use for compost right now.
Any suggestions or insights?