I seem to remember that Milorganite was a product of the City of Milwaukee's
waste treatment system. Either that product or a similar one was found to
be high in heavy metals, which found its way into the plants. Why heavy
metals............. could be that some of the metal plating companies dump
their wastewater into the sewer system?

Robert

"James" wrote in message
om...
"Gello" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Hello all,
I was wondering if and how many of you have any experience with
humanure.

Thanks,
Gello


You can buy Milorganite which is processed sewage sludge. Probably
better for ornamentals because it might contain heavy metals and other
poisons people toss in the sewer.

Easiest way to use poop is the move your outhouse around regularly.
Each time you move it and fill in the pit with topsoil, you have a
pretty good patch for growing anything.

Farmers of Forty Centuries by F. H. King


"Gello" wrote in message
ink.net...

Doyou have any sources, that you can recall, that refer to it?

Thanks for the reference. I have that book somewhere......

Gello

"Pat" wrote in message
...
Farmers of Forty Centuries by F. H. King


"Gello" wrote in message
ink.net...

Doyou have any sources, that you can recall, that refer to it?

Thank you Len! I am sorry to hear about the failing health. Have you read
"The Humanure Handbook"? It has a very inexpensive and effective method in
it but it takes a good two or three years and involves a lot of hauling. I
am in decent health and 35 so I am up for hauling my own waste. I am, also,
interested in taking responsibility for my own crap (garbage/waste/etc.).
The world would be a better place if more did that.

Oh, btw, I have a interest in permaculture, also. I have Bill Mollison's
(sp?) book on permaculture that is a combo of permaculture I and II (I
think). It is a big hardback book. Heady stuff. I recently got Holmgreens
(sp?) book on permacultue design. Great stuff!!!

Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Gello

"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day gello,

not something i can answer in one line, but i sort of generated to
that way of thinking, or it could ahve been evolved. my health failed
badly on me i lost my career and the indipendence that gives, so
started looking ro reason and ended up at permaculture. this led me to
look at how we treat mother earth and her finite resources so when the
opportunity came i took the step.

if i had stayed in the 'burbs i would have still installed a drop
toilet (illigaly of course) just would be boasting about it to all and
sundry.

the way i see it sewerage still pollutes our waterways, and septic
pollutes the aquafa, and all should wonder at the wisdom that society
has developed that leads us to dump our cast off to a local authority
you know slam the lid, don't look at it lest it infest us, and push a
button to use valuable drinking water to flush it on its way. can't
imagine at the further wisdom of people moving to rural and using even
less available water resources to flush to a septic tanks and then to
a leach field!!??

then all i needed to do was research the different makes of toilets
and opted for the one that is the simplest in design, no moving parts
well apart from the lid hinge that is.

that's about it in a nut shell gello, but will gladly answer any
questions you may have feel free to e/mail me if you wish.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the
environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

Excellent! Finally, someone with actual experience and knowledge!

Thanks for responding. What encouraged you to use such a overlooked
resource and what resources did you use to make the decision?

Thanks,
Gello

"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day gello,

we have a composting toilet so when the end product has been composted
in the cycle of using the bin we add it to our gardens under a layer
of medium the plant roots only access it, not looking to any problems
as it has been sitting for over 7 months composting with the help of
worms. big diffeence between using raw sewage and composted poo, looks
just like any humus material you might create from most other
recyclable material no smell and no resemblence to its original form.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the
environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

"len gardener" wrote in message
...
g'day gello,

we have a composting toilet so when the end product has been composted
in the cycle of using the bin we add it to our gardens under a layer
of medium the plant roots only access it, not looking to any problems
as it has been sitting for over 7 months composting with the help of
worms. big difference between using raw sewage and composted poo, looks
just like any humus material you might create from most other
recyclable material no smell and no resemblence to its original form.

len
Some years ago I read that Wessex Water here in the UK were selling pelleted
dried sewage fertiliser, in addition to the spreading it on the
fields/injecting it into the soil that they do for farmers. Don't know if
they still do it or not. I have a feeling Norsk hydro may also have been
involved.

Steve

g'day gello,

no haven't read humanure book i have it though along with mollesons
'intro' to pc' have had a bit of a flick through that. yes more people
should take more responsibility for the waste they create and the
un-sustainable demands that they make on this planet. we send very
little garbage to landfill tip. there is very little recycling going
on at the tip also. at least 1/2 of what we see could be easily
composted such a waste of resource.

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/

"Gello" writes:
Yes, I have heard of the use of "night soil" not only in Asia but, also,
before the widespread use of chemical fertilizers in the US and Europe. Do
you have any sources, that you can recall, that refer to it?

I knew a woman who migrated from England. She said that she grew up near
a golf course there which fertilised the grass with human waste. She
related how every spring local gardeners with hand trowels would descend
on the greens to help themselves to the abundant tomato seedlings that
sprang up everywhere!
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

"Gello" writes:
I was wondering if and how many of you have any experience with
humanure.

It is in use in Australia. Formerly, Sydney disposed of its sewage into
the sea, causing long dark plumes offshore down the coast and leading to
pollution of the beaches when it got washed up during storms. Now, solids
are filtered out, dried and sterilised by leading-edge technology, and
sold as fertiliser. Most is composted before being spread around on parks,
lawns, plantations and the home yard by landscapers. You do catch your
breath when passing a park or yard where the fertiliser has been spread,
but the odour vanishes after a few days. Its composition is closely
monitored to ensure there are no problems of chemical contamination. The
recycling/reuse of sewage sludge has been more successful than anyone
originally dared hope, and it's a model that the world is starting to
follow. I think microwaves are used in the drying/sterilising process.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

"John Savage" wrote in message
om...
"Gello" writes:
I was wondering if and how many of you have any experience
with
humanure.

It is in use in Australia. Formerly, Sydney disposed of its
sewage into
the sea, causing long dark plumes offshore down the coast and
leading to
pollution of the beaches when it got washed up during storms.
Now, solids
are filtered out, dried and sterilised by leading-edge
technology, and
sold as fertiliser. Most is composted before being spread
around on parks,
lawns, plantations and the home yard by landscapers. You do
catch your
breath when passing a park or yard where the fertiliser has
been spread,
but the odour vanishes after a few days. Its composition is
closely
monitored to ensure there are no problems of chemical
contamination. The
recycling/reuse of sewage sludge has been more successful than
anyone
originally dared hope, and it's a model that the world is
starting to
follow. I think microwaves are used in the drying/sterilising
process.

Microwaves - that's cool.

AFAIK, a week of 150 degrees F will kill the human pathogens, and
time/aging take care of it, too, wrt humanure.

The problem with the night soil thing in Asia is 2-fold, as I see
it. It isn't aged/composted/heated to kill the bad stuff, and a
lot of those people don't have a good clean source of drinking
water, so their water's contaminated by it.

flick 100785

--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in
newsgroup)



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On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:55:32 +0000, belly wrote:

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:15:59 GMT in
.net, "Gello"
graced the world with this
thought:

Even if it is composted and aged for several years?

a couple years? Why are you bothering?

No offense, but I'm curious what spawned the need to use human feces for
fertilizer when there are so many better options available other than
human, that you plan on waiting years to use?

What better options would you recommend? Do you know a richer source of
organic fertilizer that costs less?

What better use of the feces?

Why pull the nutrients out of the garden and, when we have digested them,
send them off to become a problem somewhere else when there is a definite
need for them locally?



Bill

--
http://cannaday.us (genealogy)
http://organic-earth.com (organic gardening)
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il Tue, 18 May 2004 00:32:12 -0400, Anonymous ha scritto:

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 14:55:32 +0000, belly wrote:

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:15:59 GMT in
.net, "Gello"
graced the world with this
thought:

Even if it is composted and aged for several years?

a couple years? Why are you bothering?

No offense, but I'm curious what spawned the need to use human feces for
fertilizer when there are so many better options available other than
human, that you plan on waiting years to use?

What better options would you recommend? Do you know a richer source of
organic fertilizer that costs less?

What better use of the feces?

Why pull the nutrients out of the garden and, when we have digested them,
send them off to become a problem somewhere else when there is a definite
need for them locally?

As you say.

Someone's invented eco-toilets that start the composting process at
source. I think the only thing difficult about human waste is the
contaminants in it. All those drugs and viruses I believe.

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/ab...ng_toilets.asp

As for years. Better that than no more clean waterways. At least
plantation foresters know things can take years and it doesn't seem
to stop them planting trees. Someone also had no problem using an
industry that will take thousands of years to clean up. I wonder why
we balk at a paltry few years to clean our own messes up?

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]

yes bill,

exactly recycling at grass roots level so to speak.

tghe conitioning of modern society dump it puish a button and let
someone else look after it then protest when they pollute our
waterways with it, and waste good drinking water in doing so..

but even sillier using that same good drinking water to flush coloured
water away!!

len

snipped
--
happy gardening
'it works for me it could work for you,'

"in the end ya' gotta do what ya' gotta do" but consider others and the environment
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gardenlen1/