Humanure
Question
January 23, 2021
Do you have any resources for composting humanure? We just bought a forested Pinon property at altitude in NM in the Pinehill/Candy Kitchen area in the Zuni mountains, and are gradually making it a sustainable home with compost, gardens, and eventually chickens and a horse or two. We want to use a composting toilet and, for now, an outhouse. Do you have any resources to help us organize and properly use human waste? Thanks!
Answer(s)
Answer by JZ: Great to hear of your interest in composting humanure. I grew up with an outdoor privy(outhouse) in the East.
One fine book on this topic is Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins – available on Amazon. He also has a new one: Compost Toilet Handbook, early 2021.
A composting toilet is a fine idea which, depending on your construction, will make it easy for you to harvest your finished compost. If you will be using the cold process composting in your privy, then you may have, for safety, a 3 year composting cycle. If you set up a hot process method, then it would be 6 -12 months cycle to finished product.
Note: there is a fine working group in your area | Work in Beauty | New Mexico | Regenerative Farming
They have composters in their group who may offer advice.
Hope that this is helpful. Let us know if you have more questions. Best.
