The Flooded Compost Toilet Adventure.

Hay for throwing down the pooper.

The human manure is completely turned into worm castings after 4 months.

Mona Lisa tells us how to use a compost toilet;)

We haven't posted anything for quite some time perhaps in mourning for our friend Matt who was the poster....is that even a word? Anyways don't worry Matt isn't dead but he did have to leave to find a "real" job. We miss his gentle wit. Unfortunately you will just need to put up with me for now:)

So much has been happening here at the Farm but for now I'll  bring you all up to speed on the compost toilet....does it work...as in does it stink?  You see the compost toilet is situated right off the kitchen....NEVER..an ideal location but it couldn't be helped as that is where the original toilet was  situated when we bought the house. Due to our high water table on the farm the sewer is just plain pathetic...as in backing up. Gord thought that a compost toilet would work well. I on the other hand was a little less enthusiastic as I have endured many failed attempts with icky toilets in the past...but being ever adventurous and out numbered..two guys to one me...I had to surrender.I even tested out the design for the peepee bowl (stainless steel bowl from Ikea. Sorry Lalana it was pressed into a higher service) as ladies plumbing bits are a little different that guys.Anyways the design appears to work quite well. Poop goes straight down into a barrel in the basement and then the deposit is covered with a dry material ...such as hay...wood chips or soil. Peepee goes into the bowl with a hole drilled into it ...hole is attached to a hose and is directed to a five gallon bucket ...also in the basement. Peepee bucket is emptied once a week and is used to fertilize the fields. Amazing growth happens when plants are watered with urine. Now all this worked well. Sometimes when the wind blows a certain direction..such as down the vent stack...a waft of blow back assaults my delicate nasal passages. When that happens I do one of two things..I either throw more soil compost down the hole or I wet a towel and place it over the toilet seat. Usually though I find the entire thing quite inoffensive.
A few days ago I noticed that when ever I washed my hands in the sink I could hear what sounded like water running into a barrel. Not a good sound as anyone who composts knows that to much water will absolutely kill...dead the microbial action in your compost as well as drown the poor worms who are busy eatin' and poopin' to their little hearts delight. When I finally convinced Gord to check out the problem the house was smelling majorly yucky...light 10 incense sticks yucky. So he wandered down to check the problem out and sure enough the silly sewer pipe was backing up and dumping the grey water right into one of the capped off holding barrels. What a mess. It took an entire afternoon for Gord and Ty carting buckets of wasted human manure out to feed the trees...and covering it up..so that Minnie (Lalanas' dog  or more honestly Lalanas' accessory  because she the dog is all blinged out with a pink sparkly doggy collar)wouldn't go and roll around in it. Ty did very well at this crappy job..although he did request me to switch jobs because my job was to dig up a small bucket of earthworms to "seed"  the new barrel.  I sidestepped the change by reminding him  of the Liquid Beauty   story..



but non-the-less he was hoping to bond with Gord in a different way.
The happy ending to this learning experience is that the guys dug a new dry well for the grey water so flooding won't happen again. Only 1 of the 4 compost barrels was ruined. The one barrel that was ready for "the great unveiling or uncapping" turned out fantastic...all the human manure was composted...so no smell and the worms were abundant..happy and they certainly were busy in the dark..because there are thousands of wiggling babies.....doing what worms do best....eating, pooping and generally making magic soil .
This little experiment worked quite well and now all we need to do is finish the decoration of the pooper...a few tiles ought to make it less of an eyesore and I would love to find a wooden toilet seat as I'm not a fan of plastic. Also one bit of advice ...I read that we can use moss instead of toilet paper for us ladies....not such a great idea...really...I tested that out for 3 days..oweee:(
This adventure gives new meaning to the saying,"Take care of your own crap"!
Bye for now, Hare Krsna, Kokum (Grandmother in cree) Lal