What about the bathroom
If you were reading my latest posts, you know I purchased an abandoned house I intend to live in, and it doesn't have a kitchen, or a bathroom. So you might wonder, where do I go for bathroom stuff?
Let's start with the easy stuff, showering! I've already gotten used to not using a real shower. For a year now, I've been heating some water, putting it in a bucket and washing with that, I love it. However I couldn't really do it in the house, as there is no drain, floors would get wet and dirty. And outside, well. Illegal.
I looked around and realized I can do it in the shed. I'm sheltered from view, and the floor is ground. The water will evaporate. Showering in the shed felt amazing! You basically get completely naked in what feels like outdoors and then pour a lot of water on yourself, it's freeing, refreshing, feels like doing something crazy even though it's normal. The well water is freezing cold so it feels incredible in the heat. I'm happy with that solution for the summer, will think of something in the winter.
The property has a field toilet, and before you think that's weird and outdated, the neighbours also use a field toilet. So it's normal here. It is however, very old, and I just peeked in it once. It didn't look great, the sitting place was a styrofoam board with a hole in it. I decided not to use it.
My plan for a toilet was to build up a compost toilet, I had already picked a location, I'm just waiting to gather up enough bricks to put together a composting area protected from the animals. I also need to gather enough leaves and hay to make it into a proper composting pile; this also takes care of the smell. I've been reading 'the humanure handbook' and if what it says is true, composting can eradicate any pathogen and bacteria given enough time, and create the perfect fertilizer for the garden. I'm excited to try it.
The neighbours actually asked me about this, and I suggested the term 'composting toilet' to them, assuming they've never heard of it, but to my surprise, they told me they actually use all of the stuff from their field toilet for garden fertilizer. With one catch; they don't compost it first. They just gather the stuff in the fall and dig it into the soil. From what I've read that's not the ideal way to use it, because there's still going to be pathogens and bacteria harmful to humans, but it's also how they do it in some areas in asia, and it's kind of okay? In the way that there's more chances for infections, but most people do just fine. The neighbours were very proud of this and bragged about how beautiful their garden gets after getting so much nitrogen.
I was overall surprised people were doing that already; most of the stuff I learned online and thought were 'new smart methods of doing things' are just implemented here already. Even stuff I've never heard of, like building whole structures out of unbaked clay mixed with wheat husk! Nobody has heard of the 'no dig garden' though, and people are extremely skeptical of it, insisting I need some digging tools. They also see the tall grass as an enemy I need to be rid of asap, while I just see, nice grass, very enjoyable, 10/10. So we are having some disagreements about how to go about things, but it seems like a composting toilet will be received just fine.
