The humanure thread

[Wannabefree]

For those who are doing this..I think you should remember to not use any waste from a person who is on medications...antibiotics or regular usage of heart meds and such. Wouldn't that be a valid concern? Just my 2 cents.

sorry Neko already brought that up....guess I should completley read before replying

 

[Dunkopf]

Just as a funny aside to point out cultural differences. When a collection bucket was mentioned I thought of this.

I used to go to a Chinese restaurant buffet. I used the bathroom occasionally and noticed the toilets plugged up quite often. So one day I go in the bathroom and there's a trash can in each stall and a sign telling patrons to put their toilet paper in the trash because the toilets kept plugging up. You probably don't see that very often.

 

[saraltx]

For those who are doing this..I think you should remember to not use any waste from a person who is on medications...antibiotics or regular usage of heart meds and such. Wouldn't that be a valid concern? Just my 2 cents.

sorry Neko already brought that up....guess I should completley read before replying

Interesting point. I hadn't thought of that and would need to research it more to decide if that would be an issue. I'll be interested what others have to say about this. Luckily, I'm not taking any regular medication and I expect to be the sole contributer.

 

[saraltx]

Just as a funny aside to point out cultural differences. When a collection bucket was mentioned I thought of this.

I used to go to a Chinese restaurant buffet. I used the bathroom occasionally and noticed the toilets plugged up quite often. So one day I go in the bathroom and there's a trash can in each stall and a sign telling patrons to put their toilet paper in the trash because the toilets kept plugging up. You probably don't see that very often.

I actually used to temporarily live some people here in the US who did just that for the same reason. They said their plumbing wasn't very good since the house was old.

 

[Dunkopf]

Just as a funny aside to point out cultural differences. When a collection bucket was mentioned I thought of this.

I used to go to a Chinese restaurant buffet. I used the bathroom occasionally and noticed the toilets plugged up quite often. So one day I go in the bathroom and there's a trash can in each stall and a sign telling patrons to put their toilet paper in the trash because the toilets kept plugging up. You probably don't see that very often.

I actually used to temporarily live some people here in the US who did just that for the same reason. They said their plumbing wasn't very good since the house was old.

Well I could understand that. In a restaurant though?. You have to have been born in a different culture to think that customers would be ok with that.

I've been in Europe and they have some weird toilet facilities. Lot of dry urinals that the proprietor just hoses out at the end of the day. In Italy I used toilets that were just holes in the floor you squatted over. I was just pointing out a cultural difference.

 

[saraltx]

Just as a funny aside to point out cultural differences. When a collection bucket was mentioned I thought of this.

I used to go to a Chinese restaurant buffet. I used the bathroom occasionally and noticed the toilets plugged up quite often. So one day I go in the bathroom and there's a trash can in each stall and a sign telling patrons to put their toilet paper in the trash because the toilets kept plugging up. You probably don't see that very often.

I actually used to temporarily live some people here in the US who did just that for the same reason. They said their plumbing wasn't very good since the house was old.

Well I could understand that. In a restaurant though?. You have to have been born in a different culture to think that customers would be ok with that.

I've been in Europe and they have some weird toilet facilities. Lot of dry urinals that the proprietor just hoses out at the end of the day. In Italy I used toilets that were just holes in the floor you squatted over. I was just pointing out a cultural difference.

Ah, yes, for a restaurant to expect guests to be okay with that does seem a bit different. Pretty interesting actually, how much those things are culturally influenced. I've used the Italian toilets you're describing before. Just recently I heard in Japan and Korea there are "courtesy buttons" in public bathroom stalls that you can push when you think your business will get "noisy". I makes a flushing sound to tune out your "noise".

 

[Dunkopf]

I actually used to temporarily live some people here in the US who did just that for the same reason. They said their plumbing wasn't very good since the house was old.

Well I could understand that. In a restaurant though?. You have to have been born in a different culture to think that customers would be ok with that.

I've been in Europe and they have some weird toilet facilities. Lot of dry urinals that the proprietor just hoses out at the end of the day. In Italy I used toilets that were just holes in the floor you squatted over. I was just pointing out a cultural difference.

Ah, yes, for a restaurant to expect guests to be okay with that does seem a bit different. Pretty interesting actually, how much those things are culturally influenced. I've used the Italian toilets you're describing before. Just recently I heard in Japan and Korea there are "courtesy buttons" in public bathroom stalls that you can push when you think your business will get "noisy". I makes a flushing sound to tune out your "noise".

I love it when people use the cell phone in the bathroom. Coutesy button.

 

[animalfarm]

Yeah, night soil, icky icky icky... Not a good thing and not at all the same thing as composted. Spreads disease and really doesn't do as much for the soil as composted manure. Runoff from raw manured fields is nasty.

This is one of those issues where you will always have people on either side of the line No worries, its what makes us human

Oh, but animalfarm, the folks at the humanure hacienda (Jenkins family) compost meat all the time. If they have a dead critter, they throw it into their one compost pile. They rotate through 2 piles, 1 per year for a family of 4. Their thoughts are that if it died from a disease, instead of leaving it for another critter to eat & get sick, compost it and kill the disease. They keep a wire cover over their compost to keep critters out.

Think about the forest floor. Birds & small mammals die, they fall the leaves and get covered by more leaves, branches & such. Bugs come in, eat what they want and the rest...rots. Nature doesn't even heat up her compost, she just ages it Isn't the best soil you have ever seen under old trees, where stuff has been piling up for years & years? There were dead critters in there at one time.

I don't know of any one who spreads raw manure on fields. It would burn them and it is illegal. When a farmer talks of spreading manure, it is composted just as humanure is. We also have to follow rules as to when the manure compost can or cannot be spread to avoid runoff. Think of the fields as a big garden. It simply doesn't make sense to waste all the nutrients and hard work and fuel to get them on the field by letting them run down the drain. At least to me it doesn't, but there are always bad apples in the barrel I suppose.

Not saying you can't but generally one shouldn't put meat or cheese in the compost; the stench from anaerobic composting can be great. It depends upon whether we are talking mice, chickens or dinosaurs. If one has a decent sized compost pile, a sufficient amount of time to handle it and no neighbours to complain well.....best to study up on composting do's and don'ts before deciding that one.

Meat breaks down differently then plant material and the process usually starts with a scavenger of the animal species in conjunction with the bugs and microbes. If not, hikers and campers wouldn't be enjoying nature quite as much as they do.

 

[rebecca100]

Holes in the floor? That sounds scary. I have issues with holes that I can't see the bottom of. Wouldn't bones and such not compost if you threw, say a chicken, in the bin?

 

[FarmerJamie]

Yeah, night soil, icky icky icky... Not a good thing and not at all the same thing as composted. Spreads disease and really doesn't do as much for the soil as composted manure. Runoff from raw manured fields is nasty.

This is one of those issues where you will always have people on either side of the line No worries, its what makes us human

Oh, but animalfarm, the folks at the humanure hacienda (Jenkins family) compost meat all the time. If they have a dead critter, they throw it into their one compost pile. They rotate through 2 piles, 1 per year for a family of 4. Their thoughts are that if it died from a disease, instead of leaving it for another critter to eat & get sick, compost it and kill the disease. They keep a wire cover over their compost to keep critters out.

Think about the forest floor. Birds & small mammals die, they fall the leaves and get covered by more leaves, branches & such. Bugs come in, eat what they want and the rest...rots. Nature doesn't even heat up her compost, she just ages it Isn't the best soil you have ever seen under old trees, where stuff has been piling up for years & years? There were dead critters in there at one time.

I don't know of any one who spreads raw manure on fields. It would burn them and it is illegal. When a farmer talks of spreading manure, it is composted just as humanure is. We also have to follow rules as to when the manure compost can or cannot be spread to avoid runoff. Think of the fields as a big garden. It simply doesn't make sense to waste all the nutrients and hard work and fuel to get them on the field by letting them run down the drain. At least to me it doesn't, but there are always bad apples in the barrel I suppose.

Not saying you can't but generally one shouldn't put meat or cheese in the compost; the stench from anaerobic composting can be great. It depends upon whether we are talking mice, chickens or dinosaurs. If one has a decent sized compost pile, a sufficient amount of time to handle it and no neighbours to complain well.....best to study up on composting do's and don'ts before deciding that one.

Meat breaks down differently then plant material and the process usually starts with a scavenger of the animal species in conjunction with the bugs and microbes. If not, hikers and campers wouldn't be enjoying nature quite as much as they do.

First, welcome!

When you say fields, are you talking vegetable fields already planted? Farmers around here go straight from the barn to the field. The only time it piles up is when they can't get to the field because of the weather. Maybe we're talking about two different things?