Fruits of the garden, and the Compost Toilet

Finally I finished the Compost Toilet... 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 possibly a working space as the rainy days are approaching...it's just behind the kitchen, against its stone wall...

I will not write much on this post, as pictures will speak for themselves, with a few comments...

I also wanted to post some pictures of a few of my little vegetable 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 !!!

The winter cabbages and lettuce, planted on the "sheet-mulch" bed made by the participants during the permaculture course, are doing very well... behind you can see the nectarine tree that improved significantly after I mulched around and planted some beans for Nitrogen fixing...

tomato plants came everywhere... actually, I didn't plant any of the tomato plants, they simply came along with the compost I used from last year´s compost toilet material...
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 make differently next time...

This was my first new building on my own... from scratch...

then the windows...that was another challenge... I recycled old glass I had found and just made a frame around it...

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 flies from coming in...the idea is to have 2 toilet seats...using one for 6 months 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 it takes to compost properly before using it...

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... I´m keeping it simple ...

the chimney for the smell and gases to escape...I painted it black at the end...here I was just trying out how I would 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 smell so strongly of pee as if it was mixed with the poo... I might collect it into a water container but not for now... I need to learn better about these things, and observe... for now, I´m following what I´ve been told so far ...

finally, the toilet seat... also all sealed so the flys have no way in... I made the good old mix of sawdust with white carpenter´s glue...
I just made one seat 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... a little detail...

 
And that's it ... a "compost machine" ...

It was exciting, and it´s not so complicated after all...