Composting Outhouse

Although not exactly dinner conversation nor pillow talk, ecologically correct pooping is becoming a hot topic.  In these times of crisis we must re-examine the way we do everything (The Chinese symbol for crisis also means opportunity).  Building a sustainable society begins at ground level.  Often the solutions to our greatest problems are amazingly simple.  The question always arises, "what do we do with it?"

Pooping in water just ain't hip, haven't you heard?  But don't believe me, check out a book called The Humanure Handbook to get the real dirt on turning dung into duff.

Well don't just sit there.  Buy it!

What we think of as waste, is really a resource if handled appropriately.  Composting humanure takes it out of the toxic trail and puts it back into the cycle of life.  If done properly, all harmful pathogens are completely eradicated by the natural composting process.

So what do we do with, uh... it?  Well, here on the ranch we poop in 35 gallon galvanized trash cans with a dozen holes punched into the bottom.  We put about in inch of saw dust or wood chips on the bottom before the first plop drops (please excuse the graphicness of this story).

(The white streaks in some of these photos is actually snow falling from the sky in the month of June, oddly enough.  Not so odd here in Montana.)

Anyway, we have 2 buckets inside the outhouse: one of wood ash, and the other of wood chips.  We just throw in a handful or cupful of each in the can after every use.  TP goes right in and breaks down along with the rest.

When the cans are about three quarters full we scoot them out to our composting area out back and cover the load with about 6 inches of horse manure and then give it a good soak from a garden hose.  At that time we rotate by dumping the 2 cans that have sat the longest into a 5 foot by 5 foot log composting frame.  We usually do this twice a year, Spring and Fall.

We empty the cans into a composting frame after they have sat for about a year.  Then cover that with another layer of horse manure.  It's important to water it all down to aid the composting action.

Amazingly there is little or no offensive odors when we do all this, even at the outhouse.  When you throw a little wood ash and sawdust on top it really cuts down on smells and flying insects.  There is rarely any of either.