WORM TOILETS
With our 10,000 visitors to the farm each year, toilets have been an ongoing topic of discussion for a long time. I'm an outspoken promoter of waterless systems and believe Sir Albert Howard, godfather of modern scientific composting, was absolutely right when he dreamed of 25-house diamonds, all with a southern exposure, with 1 acre in the center managed by a master gardener who also composted all the human excrement as a complete recycling soil fertility program.
But alas and alack, human poop has become a taboo subject. The early plantation outhouses with up to 6 holes in one room (preserved along Virginia's James River plantations) assault modern American prudish sensibilities. Talking about human poop is forbidden in polite conversation.
But when people come to the farm, they need a place to go, you know? Over the last couple of weeks, we've been researching, brainstorming, designing and cogitating about an alternative to the porta-potties we've always had. In short, I don't like 'em. And I really don't like the idea of all this fertility being exported. For centuries, rural Chinese farmers had outhouses adorned with flowers to lure passersby. This was foundational to fertility.
When you consider how long (40 centuries?) the Chinese held onto their soils and fertility, it makes the American experience of radical deterioration in two centuries seem sinful. And it is. But not everyone who visits Polyface shares this desire to close the loop. And government agents really don't like to see human excrement. Between navigating regulations of what's allowable, people's sensibilities about what is acceptable, and not overloading our own staff with hygiene maintenance, it's quit a conundrum.
The beauty of porta-potties is that we pay $5,000 a year and somebody else deals with it all. Out of sight, out of mind. Pick up the phone, pay the bill. Easy peasy. But it violates our theme of putting back. With the help of our mentor Darren Doherty in Australia (founder of Regrarians), our own experiences and lots of head scratching, we've come up with a 4-unit building that will be our large spring construction project.
Over the years, here on the farm, we've built and operated 3 outhouses. We've never cleaned one out; the worms do it all. The permaculture style moldering toilet is the only one I've seen with a chamber big enough to actually compost. The problem with it, though, is that you need twice as many holes as you use because you have to lock off holes to give the material time to compost. That's a lot of construction. Darren's advice, coupled with our own experience, is to harness worms to do the breakdown.
We still had the problem of clean-out. Who wants to hunker down in that chamber and shovel out the goods? Especially when fresh material is on top? We plan to custom-build a long shovel-type trowel for the tractor front end loader that can reach in and bring out the core of the excrement pyramid, where it will be nothing but beautiful worm castings. The chambers never have to be completely cleaned out, so leftovers keeps the worms happy and inoculate the next batch.
A vertical pipe in the chamber sucks air through vent holes in the top corners of the receiving chamber to pull air through and out. This negative air pressure helps evaporate liquids and keeps odors out of the toilet holes. Don't worry, we're using bona-fide heads, not wooden outhouse construction. It'll be state of the art and we hope will become another innovative signature piece showcasing our practical commitment to regeneration.
We're trying to pick a name for it. I came up with Wormy the Pooh. Travis, my grandson, came up with Can of Worms. Now we're going to vote:
Question of the day: Would you rather use Wormy the Pooh or Can of Worms?