Oct 3, 2010

Fruits of the garden, and the Compost Toilet


Finally I finished the Compost Toilet... well, there are still some details here and there, but I can always use a rainy day for that... I have other priorities now...I'm just starting another shed for fire-wood and possible working place as the rainy days are approaching...it's just behind the kitchen stone wall...
But anyway, I will not write much on this post, as pictures will speak for themselves, with few comments...
I also wanted to post some pictures of few of my little veggetable gardens... I didn't garden much this year, but I still have enough for me not to need to go shopping :-)


nice cherry tomatoes, peppers and egg plants...they like each other very much...and basil is in the mix as well :-)

nice water melons as well !!!

and the winter cabbages and lettuce, planted on "sheet-mulch" made by the participants of the permaculture course... behind you can see the nectarine tree that improved significantly after I made a mulch around and planted some beans for Nitrogen fixing...the tomatoe plants came everywhere...actually, I didn't plant any of the tomatoes, they simply came along with the compost I used :-)

Anyway... I just love seeing plants grow...
Now the Compost Toilet...

It started like this... I made a structure with Mimosa poles, against the existing wall from the terrace...

I easily made the floor, and then I started to build up the walls, and the door frame... that was more challenging... I already noticed things I would made different, but hey, this was my first construction alone... from scratch...

then the windows...another challenge...

my idea was to support the roof frame on the walls, so I had to keep going...

the door!!!

the 2 chambers below, all sealed with mosquito net to prevent flys to come in...the idea is to have 2 toilet seats...using one for 6 month or a year...then close that and move to the other one for another 6 months or a year, while the first chamber is composting... I need to check how long does it take to compost properly...

the doors for each chamber, with mosquito net as well... I didn't bother to make proper doors as it would be harder to close it well for the flys, and also because I will only have to open each one once a year or so...keep it simple :-)

the chimney for the smell and gases to escape :-) I painted it black at the end...here I was just trying out to fix it...

the pee collector detail...so the pee will go through this pipe straight into a strawbale which is also inside the chamber... this will make a good compost as well, and it will not create so much smell as if it was mixed with the poo... I might collect it in liquid to mix with water , but not for now... I need to learn better about that :-)

finally, the toilet seat... also all sealed so the flys have no way in...
I just made one for now, but I will have time to do the second one later... another thing to do on a rainy day :-)...

the outside door handle... little detail :-)
That's it ... a "compost machine" :-)...

It was exciting, and not such a big deal after all :-)