How To Dispose Of Urine On The Off-Grid Homestead
Lat year I started an experiment at my homestead. I used a bale of straw as a sponge for urine deposits. If you just go willy-nilly everywhere it turns the vegetation and leaves brown. Someone suggested I try using a straw bale. I was skeptical.
It has been a year, and the straw bale still looks like a straw bale. To my surprise it does not smell, and it never has! Once it breaks down to a certain point it can be used as compost. Throw it in a compost pile if you would rather let it age some more, or plant a plant in it.
Most of us have a phobia of our body's animal functions. The myth that urine is sterile has been proven wrong, but it is relatively sterile unless one has an infection. Urine has tons of historical uses, from whitening teeth, and laundry, to killing germs. But that isn't what I want to talk about.
The straw bale I mentioned above works unbelievably well. Easy for a man to use, a bit harder for a woman. Use bottle over night, and then dump it onto straw bale in the morning. Try it, you'll be amazed! A perfect simple solution, and a good accompaniment to your compost toilet.
Also I tried using urine on an indoor plant. One part urine to 10 parts water. Within a couple of days the plant had an upsurge in growth, and went deep green. I now use this tincture every couple of weeks. The plant is still thriving.
Your #1 Choice For Fertilizer
Recent scientific studies have shown urine is a safe and very effective fertilizer for cabbage, beets, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and pretty much anything else you want to grow. Urine boasts a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N-P-K) ratio of 10:1:4, plus more modest amounts of the trace elements plants need to thrive. The nutrients in pee are highly available to plants, too—an extra plus. One estimate suggests a family of four can produce the equivalent of more than 100 pounds of all-purpose garden fertilizer every year. Oh, and the best part? It's free! Oh, be still, my nickel-pinching heart!
Rodale
Waste is wasted resources.
[Grow more greens!]
![[Straw Bale Image, by Huw Williams: Wikipedia Commons]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Straw_bales_in_Tippecanoe_County,_Indiana.png){kind=link}
My buddy in the service and she said they did this on the reservation, they needed to do their bulk of their gardening in winter but overlaping into spring and then fall going back into winter.
They'd cut a circle in the top of the bale and would pee on the bales as well as water them it basically keept the soil warm enough that the plant could withstand the cool desert nights in the winter.
Had to do it this way because trying to garden in the sumer in Arizona just doesn't work.
Sounds good, and makes sense!
There is so much that can be done if we go back to our roots. It amazes me how complex we moderns make everything.
There is a renaissance going on, and I hope it continues.
I recently became aware of how to cut gears and make bloomery iron, I say became aware because it's not like I would say I really know how to do it; but I've seen it done on YouTube for what thats worth.
Gotta crash have a goodnight brother.
What is cut gears, and bloomery iron?
You too buddy, Goodnight!