Human Urine for Compost, Start to Finish

Your All Quacks !!!

Like many of you I can't wait to sink my fingers into some dirt. I daydream about what I want to plant and what stage the plants will be in what month. I can visualize all the green sprouting forth from a little hard work, giving my family back in abundance.

At the moment one of my compost piles is in the center of my straw bale garden. Just waiting to be put to good use on this years crops. Over the long hard winter I filled it with all my vegetables and fruit scraps from my kitchen. Along with coffee grounds and hair from a few kids haircuts. I didn't put urine on it because well.......seemed kinda weird, but I'm sure my husband had the occasional late night stroll and may have contributed. Also when I've mucked out the rabbit pen his dropping have made their way to the compost heap. Currently I have two compost areas...One is as I said in the center of my straw bale garden border and the other is a movable huge storage tub that I put holes in so the rain etc..can drain. I use the storage container one for most of the rabbit droppings, lawn scraps and dead plants etc. I ended up with two compost areas because the straw bale garden border is near to the back door so the ease and convenience of just opening the door in the dead of winter and tossing the banana peals was to alluring to pass up. The problem is that I will have to shovel and rake it out before I start my no dig straw bale gardening again this year. Also I am new to composting and I didn't realize that seeds from say green peppers and cantaloupe etc..are not supposed to be put into compost because you might get unwanted plants. But I say what could be unwanted about a organic plant? but then again if your into the LOOKS of your garden and you ahve a row of say lettuce and a pepper plant appears in the row or you have beautiful zucchinis growing and a stay cantaloupe vine appears OH MY! not really!!! I might end up using that compost heap in it's own little area and see what comes from it. Maybe that would be a neat experiment to see what plants find their way to life from just a compost heap.

Anyhow...the last few days that's it's been sunny and kinda warm I went out to turn the heaps and WOW what beautiful black soil I found! I never thought I would get excited over dirt but this made my heart go pitter patter. I couldn't believe that bush branches, and fruit and veggies and rabbit Poo, hair, urine, coffee grounds would turn into something so rich and nutritious and repeat the cycle by feeding my upcoming plants.

When I first decided to do this straw bale garden it was on a fluke. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't..and I didn't really care that much. I mean I remember planting a few sparse gardens over the years and they did great without much involvement once I planted them. Well something changed for me last year and will forever have changed me in the upcoming years. I found I really enjoyed the experience of gardening from the starting process through the composting "ending" stage and how it meant so much more than just getting something from it. It's for me about giving back to the earth too. About doing what the GOOD LORD meant for you to do. To tend something with your time and energy and respect it. Respect the fact that you can FEED your family, and you can replenish the earth as well.

I don't know. Basic's is what I'm trying to get back to. The simplicity in the world that is often faded out with sounds of electronics or a busy schedule. I want to sit down at the table and eat what I've grown with my children and husband. I want us to give thanks for having the ability of this great earth to provide year after year a harvest.

If you read my blog at all you might remember the post on chewys little chewers. Yes, I had a caterpillar problem and maybe slugs..Well I tried and it worked somewhat; using garlic water and dish soap. This year though I decided to add two live additions to eradicate the pest problems of the past. Our new additions are a pair of cute little ducks named Nitzy and Nori...the five year old name them!

Once your plants are established and of reasonable size you can have your chickens or ducks troll the area for any little buggy delights. I researched them and many people said that they will be hearty guards of your pottage as long as they don't take a liking to eating them. To prevent this you have to have your plants at a hardy size that can resist a nibble or two and still thrive. Also they will eat the grass and weeds! Well I am going to give it a try. Another plus is that they can share a larger pen with our mini-Rex rabbit. I might try it when they are older and see if they get along. In the meantime they are living in a storage tub, with a heat lamp in the bathroom and take the occasional dip in the tub.

PS: For less than twenty dollars I got two ducks and a massive bag of feed. Very economical!!! pestbuster!!!

ChewOnGreens--

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Green-not my favorite color!

Green-proven that if you pick that color for a car your SMART (proven? really?)

Green-became an enemy, when I became a Golf widow (used to have an overwhelming urge when traveling on the highway and seen a particular golf course; to throw a exploding projectile onto the 18th green and snicker devilishly as I imagined all sorts of plaid clothing fly into the sky in a cloud of smoke he..he...he ...exclaiming FOUR!!!!!!!!! (ahem! sorry, got carried away) Geez...where would I get an exploding projectile. Hey! where would I get an exploding projectile? LOL..just kidding......or am I....

Green-makes the world go round-that's why I'm stuck in the vortex never quite spinning with the rest of the world...No green!

Green-A project (experiment really) I'm trying.......called Straw Bale gardening--

I have found there isn't much information out there about straw bale gardening. When you do find information there aren't many pictures of the process. So I decided that I would teach myself through trial and error and see what becomes of it. I don't claim to have a green thumb, and my only success story previously is that I have a few house plants that are still alive and thriving. I tried a traditional garden last year and was overwhelmed with weeds. I didn't see any fruit of my hard labor and that almost did me in on gardening. Most articles I read about Straw bale gardening seem to market the idea to those that can't bend much (like the elderly) or those that live in apartments, or don't have the yard space. All of those reasons are good ones of course but I decided to try it because it seem out of the normal realm of gardening; that appealed to me.

1) Get a few straw bales and set them up anyway you like-be creative-(make sure the twine around the bale isn't touching the ground) I put a sheet of black plastic down first because the bales need lots of water and the plastic helps retain water. plus, if you decided ( I did) to use the bales for a border and plant Lasagna style in the center (more about that later) then you will need to layer the center up (more later) and plastic is the first layer.

2) after you have set the bales up on the plastic-soak them everyday for 3-4 days. The other articles I read suggested using ammonium nitrate to soak the bales (but it is not found easily in USA) regulated etc...I had no luck finding this...so I experimented and soaked the bales with Miracle grow once. (really soaked each bale; you need a good nitrogen soak up)

3) The next day I covered the tops of the bales with blood meal, then manure, top soil.

4) Give your bales time to cool down, and start planting about four days after the Miracle grow. Plant- 2 plants per bale(just dig, cut or wedge down into the bale). If you do seeds (pushing them just barely into the bale) cover them with a thin layer of top soil and thin them out over time as they begin to sprout.

5) water often-straw bales require more water than traditional gardens.

6) Experiment-I can only offer the results thus far with my own straw bale experiment. I think I have already become obsessed. I have better results in the first week and a half than any other type of gardening I've tried. I also bent the rules a bit when planting. Because you get less area to plant, I decided to put a few plants like vining ones in between the bales at the bottom so that they grow out and into the yard. This way giving myself more available planting spaces...also I planted inside my rectangular shape. I decided in this area to try Lasagna gardening which is another alternative gardening style to the traditional dug garden.

The process of the center area of my garden is Lasagna style.

1) first we already laid the plastic.

2) cardboard or cardboard paper or newspaper.

3) top soil, blood meal, manure, compost--mix it into each other with a hoe etc...

4) loose straw

5) take the plant with a handful of topsoil and push it into the straw, firming it into the compact soil, and bringing the straw in close around that plant.

6) water, water, water.


Both of these techniques have saved me tons of time. I am a mom of four, and I don't have time to dig and weed. These techniques work great and my plants are doing wonderful!!


ChewyChews--