I have already shown you photos of my self-built eco-loo at the Greek Hovel. Now for part two the Humanure pit. Sadly someone half-inched the two posts I had purchased to corner this up so I shall now have to buy four posts at some stage soon. But the base pit is sufficient for now.
It has been built entirely out of wood found on the property (of which I am proud) and is located just outside the outer snake free redoubt. However one of the snake repellent canisters is nearby so it should be in a relatively safe zone.
The theory is simple. You deposit a bucket of humanure – that is human waste plus loo paper, plus the flowers we throw in after use to remove odours. On top of that you put a pile of fibrous material, i.e. grass. The heap will pretty son start to operate at a warm old temperature and the microbes start to get digested.
The 2014 “vintage” will in this climate be ready for harvesting, to use as manure for the olive trees in the olive manuring season of January 2016. Next year a second pit will be built to mature in 2017. By 2016 pit one will be available for use once again.
In a region where water is not unlimited avoiding a flush loo is environmentally friendly. The great John Seymour (the guru of self-sufficiency with whom my late mother corresponded at length) once said that 99% of what comes into your household should stay there. We may not achieve that at the Greek Hovel but the plan is to use solar power and with eco-loos and composting to shoot for that target.
The process has started…
