Starting a New Humanure Compost Pile

[WhatTheHeo]

Interesting this gives me an idea for my preps for SHTF

[korpsefck]

i thought humanure was making compost out of dead bodies?

[fluffatronix]

I lay a news papper on the floor crap on it then wrap it in 3/4 sheets like a portion of chip's then sling that on the compost no filthy buckets needed!

[Bajoogy]

What is the normal cost of having the sawdust trucked to your site?

[jcjenkins01]

I just got a 10 ton load delivered for $125.00. That will last a few years.

[sunzoo1]

What would you think about using ash instead of sawdust? its more readily available if you own a fireplace has great moisture absorption and because it is being recycled is probably more green than Aquiring sawdust

[jcjenkins01]

Microorganisms don't eat ash.

[fluffatronix]

@sunzoo1 I just use dry dirt its free!

[jcjenkins01]

Read the Humanure Handbook.

[YourNewHomeFromRPM]

What do you do with the gray water from showers / kitchen sink? Is it OK to redirect this directly to a garden etc? Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[jcjenkins01]

Read the Humanure Handbook.

[YiuTeub]

Thanks for the tips. I will post when our new house is built. Although we would like a microflush toilet. I dont want to see my doodie. So cleaning will be a rotational drum system and take it outside VIA compact utility tractor. The bins will be in our basement garage with the toilet above that.....ideas?

[YourNewHomeFromRPM]

Mr Jenkins, thanks for your vids. We are getting ready to purchase a "country home." If we have no septic system, I am very interested in this method of removing waste.

I have a couple questions for you and other composters. Do you have running water and electricity in your home I see in the vids? What do you do with your bath/shower/sink waste H2O? If you have no water or elec. how do you handle those items? Are you completely off the grid?

[jcjenkins01]

I was off grid first 10 years, not now. Gray water drains by gravity and doesn't need electricity. We carried water for ten years or used a hand pump.

[mcplanetearth]

people should learn about this, if our government continues to devalue it's currency and essdentialy crash our economy (what's left of it ) we will lose basic things we take for granted like our sewage treatment plants. You all should read how city state and local government is having to shut down due to the ruined economy .

[terrafemina]

... I just bought our peice of country living and this is on the list!

High on the list.

thank you for taking the time to post the video!

Yay for earth friendly living

from

Vancouver Island

[FishyMoe]

eughhh cant stand the sight of that crap coming out of the bucket. If I did my own system I'd have some kind of pump or something so I wouldn't have to see it. Once it's composted you cant really tell it apart from regular compost in my opinion.

[1too3fore]

Made it thru my first year but plan on waiting 3 more years to harvest for my garden. I have a 5 bin system, eventually 2 will be dedicated to humanure composting. I now separate urine from the solid stuff to cut down on the trips to the pile to make deposits. I now calculate it will take 2 years to fill a 4' by 4' by 4' bin.

[guyglowmore1]

hay works pretty good if you line the bucket bottom with it. i also use oak and pine leaves and needles but they take a long time to decompose. been humanure composting over 20 years and mostly it works good but sometimes gophers, squirrells and even coyotls have been in there so now i cover with chicken wire.

[1too3fore]

I am building the biological sponge for my next humanure bin out of weeds. Over the winter, the weed pile should reduce in volume by the time I add my first deposit in April, 2010. So that's option to getting hay or straw.

[Gunnarsguns]

Do you realize that one of the greatest empires ever on earth...(china) is built on top of a human shit foundation for its agriculture?

[carringtonblush]

Thankyou Joe Jenkins for setting an example to the world... Create fertlity not waste. I am using only mowed-up leaves as a cover material in the bathroom and your method is working a treat. What astonished me is the lack of odours at all stages of the process (depositing, storing, emptying) - who would have guessed. No-one in the household has even noticed what I'm doing. To anyone considering doing this, crikey, just get a bucket and some leaves/sawdust and give it a go! 5 stars!!

[1too3fore]

the latest thing I've been doing is to mow over weeds and use that as the cover material as well as putting some material from a non-humanure compost pile to incubate the thermophilic organisms. This incubator pile is made of leaves, grass clippings, mowed weeds and lots of coffee grounds from a local coffee shop. This gets the new deposits really hot really fast.

[1too3fore]

what are the dimensions of your compost bins?

[Eivob]

You're a hero!

[donsevere]

Dear mr. Jenkins. I really want to thank you for your fearless work and for participating on this public forum!

The only "green" sawdust I can find is somewhat coarse. I put 120 crappie carcasses in and it seems like no matter how much sawdust I put in there is still alot of ammonia coming out. Not to mention WICKED rotten fish smell. But DANG if it ain't cookin like a sombich in there. 150 deg.

Is finer sawdust gonna help with these things?

I have access to timothy grass. Better?

[jcjenkins01]

You can cover it enough that it won't smell. Grass is good. Maybe your sawdust is too coarse.

[1too3fore]

try sprinkling gypsum granules, it will react with the urine to create ammonium sulfate and help eliminate the odors.

[guyglowmore1]

i read your humanure handbook when it first was published and have been doing it ever since. don't have much sawdust so i use the rakings of pine needles and oak leaves, mix them with nutshells and what ever's abundant...and it works good. it's more primitive than yours but my garden has thanked me 1000 times. feels really good to compost everything. when i visit the city it feels so strange to poop in the water now. p.s. don't do meat, that helps. thanks for inspiration

[joejjl]

If you have to buy sawdust and have it hauled in by a dump truck with a huge combustion engine, then use hay which could be used instead to feed animals ...I don't see the point.

[jadedrakerider]

How much green house gas is used by one load "every few years"?

[donsevere]

You really should look into the BTU's it takes for sewage treatment. And what is the endgame of this. Really this is more about keeping our water clean and plentiful.

[1too3fore]

I used semi-rotted compost to cover the poop in the buckets. My compost is non-humanure made from grass clippings, leaves, weeds, horse manure, hay. The advantage of using compost is that it helps to neutralize the odors better.

[ynnadnnyl]

human waste has pathogens that are missing from animal waste. I've heard that people who have eaten food fertilized with human waste become really sick. stick to cow manure or or plain plant based fertilizer

[donsevere]

Dont be such a misinformed pussy.

[ynnadnnyl]

You talk like you've been eating your own manure. You must be one of those liberals who wants fairness for all unless they have a different opinion than yours. As far as being misinformed I'm just repeating what I heard scientists state on a documentary. But you obviously didn't read the first two words of the second sentence that says " I've heard" butthead

[donsevere]

I've heard that right wing Jackasses have a world view based solely on fear and love authority and being told what to do. I have also heard that Walmart is hiring. Go get ya some soda and hamburger there and do it every day and see how sick YOU get. Might as well get a diaper while your at it.

My comment was kind of in fun. Don't be such a pussy Jim.

I am way more left than liberal. Thank "leftists" for 8 hour work day and the middle class... butthead... hahahaha....

[1too3fore]

the key is to let it compost for at least 2 years after doing thermophillic composting. I also turn my humanure piles every 3-4 months to ensure thorough heating.

[ynnadnnyl]

Thanks for a civil reply. I'm still not sure I would give it a try though. Have a hard time with the thought of that tomato, carrot or whatever growing from my own poop. Then again, it can't be much worse than cow manure :)

[1too3fore]

You're too funny! LOL! Research has shown that the human pathogens don't live very long outside the body but like Jenkins says, time takes care of those that might not get broken down by the heating process. A thermometer is a good idea. If you place your deposits in a hot enough center and maintain that environment for only 24 hours. Usually piles remain hot for 2 weeks. I plan on using my first stuff by 3/2011. By that time it should be clean stuff. But I understand your trepidation.

[ynnadnnyl]

Ok since I"m too funny and on a roll

Does the thermoter go in the poop in my butt or or the poop that has already exited :) Please no comment donsevere, cause I think I know your answer :)

Just havin fun

[1too3fore]

hmmm, interesting idea, poop out compost, then you can add it directly to the garden! Wow, what a great idea!

[AquarianAgeManifest]

I find that our elected officials make a fine humanure pile.

[jcjenkins01]

Why didn't you add the grass to the humanure pile? It makes a great cover material. The sawdust being from Walmart makes me wonder whether it has any additives.

[jcjenkins01]

How do you know you're not getting any heat? Do you have a thermometer in it? How long is the probe? Are you collecting and composting your urine as well? What is your location like (dry, wet, etc.)?

[utubedaveg]

I have a 26" compost thermometer. I also built a pile of grass that I received from a friend that bags his grass. That plain green grass pile was 160 degrees. My pile of humanure about 90, about a two degree rise. Yes all buckets included urine and feces. I am going to start adding more greens when I dump the buckets. We had allot of rain this year(Iowa) & I add the rinse water. Pile does not seem to wet though. My sawdust is from Walmart. Could it be treated even though it says all natural.

[mogley369]

maybe you need worms?

[1too3fore]

worms don't do it to generate heat, try going down to your local Starbucks and adding that to the pile or even a little dirt from the garden. Dirt will have the micro organisms that generate the heat.

[utubedaveg]

I bought your book and have been filling the bin

all summer. My bin is pallets so about 4'x4'. I am very pleased with no oder, either in the bathroom or the compost pile. My problem is I am not getting any heat out of it. Maybe a few degree rise but not much. I have dumped not only buckets from the toilet but table scraps, two big carp, a rabbit, and lately garden refuse. Do I need more greens? I now feel guilty about using old fashioned flush toilets when gone from home.

[jcjenkins01]

Leaf mould should work just fine.

[scrumptiousvittles]

Great video. It's pretty much exactly how I envisioned it after reading the "Handbook".

How well do you think partially composted leaf mold would work in comparison to sawdust and hay/straw? In other words, would you reckon it's possible to run the whole system using exclusively leaf mold as cover material?