I didn't catch the name of the composting book Doug. Is it in the Seymour book you linked above? If not can you let me know. We are building a camp this year. Thanks
Family farms in Japan, in the early '40-50's used "night soil" (human waste) to fertilize their gardens. My father told me that he was assigned there after WWII until 1953. He told me in the '60's when I helped with gardening on our small farm.
Thanks for this! I'm still a teenager but I'm planning to buy a small amount of land and build an off grid tiny house when I'm a bit older. I'd like to have a garden and some poultry, this video has helped with one of my bigger questions thanks a bunch!
Good for you. I make my own compost. I get free used coffee grounds from coffee shops, make bone meal, and calcium carbonate from eggshells, I add poopy horse bedding, pigeon and rabbit bedding, cardboard, egg cartons, and kitchen n garden waste. It all breaks down to rich compost. I pay £5 for a big tub of composting worms from the bait shop. You could save woodash from fires, and pine needles and cones.
Glad to see a young man keep up with these ways of living! In the ‘70s (when your information came from word of mouth, books, etc) it was all I wanted to do! I paid for most of the Foxfire books( May be useful to you also) on the old ways of living and learned as much as I could back then. I wish I had someone other than just my Great Grandmother to encourage me. She passed when I was 14, and without her to encourage me I never followed my dream. I’m 60 now and we live with one of our daughters and have leaned a bit more to a natural self sustaining way of life. It may be just beginning, but I’m so glad.
I’ve been doing this for 11 years (72 yr old woman living alone in Canada), with no problem. Never emptied more than 2 buckets at a time though! It’s important to have back up buckets in case there’s a snow storm or you are injured/sick and you can’t do that particular chore. Nice tidy set up Doug!
Yeah, when my buckets get frozen, I call them poopcicles 🤣🤣🤣 But seriously, I've dumped one, three, four six, ten and twenty. Been doing this for fifteen years, I prefer four, but six seems to be the number I usually dump at. Also, for me, cause I'm shorter than most people, it's easier to dump (weight wise) when they're half full.
@@lexiatel Or you could use 3 1/2 gallon buckets instead of the 5 gal. ones. I have bad knees, so I use my Luggable Loo, 5 gal. bucket when my water pipes freeze and I can't use my flush toilet. It came with the house. Jon in rural BC, Canada
This particular video has caused some of us to come out of our shells to see how nature is an eco system. Thank you for being so brave to bring out this kind of content. This is a brilliant subject and an eye opener.
They are calling it sludge where I live ppl arent real happy about it.I was always under the impression of not putting human poop on anything you would eat. I smelled it after a farmer spread it on their field and thought cow manure was much better. One borough uses a field of reeds, I thought that unique
2 days ago this came up on my feed. Me: hey you want a watch a video with me on composting poop? Husband: No Me: plays it on the Tv that night! Husband: not one word spoken between us. Video finishes Husband: play some more of those people's videos. Us: binge watching for 3 nights. Thank you, you two are amazing!
LOL it's almost the same thing as trying to get a man to ask for directions when you're lost but once they do come to that point everything moves smoothly forgive the pun 😄
😆😆 My husband and I are both really into homestead videos. We still dream of getting that off grid land, but we have to get things fixed up here first. But once we do, man will it be hard to leave all this stuff behind. A beautiful home, and a yard full of food. The problem is, the neighbors are right next door, and the regs say no animals but cats and dogs. The neighbors don't mind the chickens, but I doubt they'd go for any of the larger, noisier ones. 😞
I think the way you live -“closed loop system” is without a doubt the most Freedom Loving, environmental friendly, self reliant way to live the proves people don’t need government telling them how to live.
Thank you, thank you, thank you I so appreciate you being candid. I have been wanting to go off grid for a long time but never really understand what happens to the waist after you’ve put it in the compost toilet. This helps me get one step closer to my dream of living off grid. Thank you. I love all of your videos. I am totally blind, and all of your videos are very descriptive and clear and I understand what’s exactly going on even if I can’t see it. Thanks again.
Oh, Aubrey. All my love and prayers for you. I bet you could teach others a thing or two about lots of things in life. It's folks like yourself that give me hope.
@Omar Saavedra I have a smart phone that talks to me and I use different swipes and tabs and the dictation button to give my responses. It's accessible on any smart phone. I also have a laptop with a screen reader and I use key commands to navigate the Internet on my laptop.
My grandad tipped our toilet can from our outhouse into rotating trenches in the garden and when they had broken down to just soil grew carrots in the soil or potatoes.They tasted great. It had after all just broken down to soil.
I appreciate your laughter in the compost process. Clever words and clever system. You made me smile and laugh and that's uncommon these days to just have fun. Thanks.
You mentioned something very important about getting older. Those buckets are only going to get heavier as the years go by. It would be nice to come up with a system that removes the lifting. Maybe a special wheeled cart or using some type of mechanical advantage with pulleys to lighten the load so to say!
I change out the buckets when their half empty. I've been doing this for fifteen years, so I totally know the weight them over time. I also built my bins in a hill, so now I can stand at the top on a "dock" and dump from above down below. Barely any lifting then. I use a wagon to pull four buckets at time to the designated dumping area (I wont dump twenty, you need a big hole for that many).
@joyceann011 I envy you. I showed my husband all of those things as well, and he was like: you're genetically predisposed to see conspiracy theories everywhere you look. Basically, patting me on the head and sending me away. I have a son from a previous marriage & two little girls with him, and I want better for my kids! 8 want to teach them skills that can last them a lifetime! But their respective fathers have taken custody away from me for saying such things. My family has disowned me. They want to be suckling at the government teat for anything. What an inverted sense of personal responsibility & community we have built for America these days! I am just too broken down to even try to get things right for my kids anymore. I certainly cannot afford to fight the state. Sorry that was depressing. Truly, I am very happy & heartened to see others & other couples making it on their own! It gives me some satisfaction that not all people are as deluded by the safety of their government & cruel to their family members as mine have been. God bless! ♥️👍🙏🤷
goldilox369 This age we live in has been propagated and building momentum over the last 100 years. Yes I know the industrial revolution changed that bringing about a strong middle class who produced more and more products that would make life simpler. Instead of staying on that protective farm many bought into the lie that basically only stupid uneducated people were homesteaders or farmers. So here we are; the ones who are thriving and are happiest are the ones with the beautiful simple (hard working) life. Now to where you are. Your confidence here is that you have been validated by like minded people in this video. We all are examples of that confidence when we press forward doing what we think is right letting others live theirs lives good bad or indifferent. I think you stand more of a chance of influencing your children by the contentment you started living. Oh and also by trusting Christ’s words as your wisdom. Here is the highest wisdom: Search for Me with all your heart, and you will find Me! Onward! Will be praying for your success!!!
We had a composting toilet at a cabin. Worked great and the “waste” broke down in reusable compost that we put on our trees. It was an awesome solution and no smell. When we stopped using the cabin we now use that toilet in our garage shop off the garden at home. So nice nice not to have to run from the garden to the house!!
I think it is great that you are responsibly taking care of your "waste". We are generating so much trash everyday and if we all could come to an understanding of what it takes to deal with all the trash we create, we might stop doing that.
Amazing. Even when using small buckets like these it's not a hassle. All you need is a place for it to rest. I went from using small buckets to much larger wheelie-bins so I don't have to empty them until it's all decomposed. I have four that I switch between. Thank you kindly for this video. All the best from Sweden
Thank you Doug for explaining the whole process and really getting down and dirty. I have wanted to do this for so long but haven’t figured it out. Doug you are hilarious. Stacy you are amazing. I watch your videos all the time and my 4 year old son loves to see what you two get into. Thank you for sharing with the rest of the world. Cheers!!
Oh my goodness! Awesome video! You & Stacy have answered so many off-grid bathroom questions for me. What a great way to live sustainably on our planet.
Awesome! We are off-grid with no septic and we weren't sure how to incorporate the compost on our homestead. Very exciting, thank you so much for sharing!
For those worried about bacteria and toxins in waste, another way to do this is worm composting. A study (sorry I don’t have the citation handy) found that worms eat bad bacteria and digest it, yet maintain a gut flora of beneficial bacteria that they then spread with their own castings. Another study found that the worms somehow cleaned toxins out of mine tailings, which had quite high levels of toxins. Nature is awesome!
Ronnie in VA works don’t eat just bacteria you knob, nor do they somehow eat contaminated earth, survive AND selectively remove “toxins” from the earth as they eat it and poop it out. You don’t have a citation handy because you don’t have a published paper. Sorry.
@@codename495 Actually they can. Unlike you, instead of just arguing without any knowledge, I looked it up and easily found links to articles explaining both studies. I love how people refute without any evidence to back it up yet they think "they" are the intelligent ones. Here's the links. www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/earthworm www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120816133420.htm
Many of the leached metals are very toxic. Reeded Water plants do very well in soaking them up. Composting that growth allows Nature to recycle them. The CNO CYCLE is GODS WERKS. Even Uranium is natural. BE NAUGHT YE SCARED ! Plutonium is the ugly man-made stuff. FEW OTHERS are so ugly as that disEASE. SEEMS EASY TO DOMINATE BY THREAT TO CONTAMINATE.... ~sighs heavily~ THE PEN, AND GODS GIFTS OF MEEKNESS... HUMAN RIGHT OF BEING, AND POSSESSIONS, PRIVATE, REAL, AND ESTATE. www.constitution.org
Very informative Doug. I’m not sure why people get their knickers in a knot when someone offers information on another way of doing something. It’s not like you are telling them they “HAVE TO’ do it your way. I’m not a homesteader but I admire the wholesome and healthy lifestyle. I appreciate your willingness to share even the touchy topics. I do wonder if this is a system that our Stacy could maintain if, God forbid, something happened to you . . . or when you both reach advancing years? I’m sure you two have already taken that into consideration. I absolutely adore seeing your interaction with all the animals. You and Stacy have a very blessed life. 💓💐😊
You both are so helpful. My husband and I have 4.5 acres in Pauma Valley, CA. It is rural but we are still on grid. I've been watching your videos since Christmas and your so encouraging and wonderful teachers for living more resource fully. Your home and animals are beautiful. God Bless You Both and keep up The Lords Work!!!
One of the reasons that their compost or shall we say the initial product of P and poop is because they are not eating the standard American diet with processed food and a lot of junk. They are processing real food so they get real compost and that is super important to think about. The other thing is when you stop eating processed food and hydrogenated fats which is pure poison your poop doesn’t stink if your gut is working right. One of the reasons their poop really doesn’t stink a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are very consistent in eating fermented foods so they have probably a very good gut flora.
Hubby and I did buckets in the van when we were traveling. I assure you that there is no smell. The buckets ended up in the compost pile when we got home. Although we used peat moss instead of saw dust.
This is by far the best video on the topic. There is too much prejudice and lack of understanding the simplicity of compost toilet. Just built my first compost toilet a while ago and the buckets are filling in nicely. I am following this same process with the difference of separating the liquids and toilet paper. Thank you so much Doug :)
it is possible to make cesspool in the garden and every six months pump it over the compost area without manual handling and using buckets. they have wind power source at their location .
Hello there Doug and Stacy. Thank you both for the information you guys share. I know that homesteading is more work that we see, but watching your progress shows it is all worth it. Thank you for discussing the composting toilet...Stacy in another video and Doug in this one. It makes this seem like a great alternative to pluming and a great way to save water and money. I am planning my homesteading future and have been learning a lot from you two as well as other sources. I will be doing this alone, so watching the work being done to grow the farm and be sustainable will mentally help me prepare very well. There are three main reasons that I keep watching your videos; 1) you two make a great team and are normal people (not faking excessive happiness to gain views/ subscribers) 2) share very valuable information and don't avoid subjects that most are not able to gracefully discuss 3) Your animals love and trust you guys (Rambo is Doug's guardian...or adopted Doug as his dad lol). Animals are not happy and do not trust in negative environments, so that says a lot for the time and energy you put into your home, farm, and farm family. I don't comment often, but felt that you guys should know that your awesomeness is very obvious. Keep up the great work, and thank you for sharing your experiences and advice with honesty! :)
Yes, I had many doubts! I can’t thank you enough for opening up your piles and sharing it & your humor with us! You funny 😄!!! I sure do appreciate it Doug. Thank you!!!!
I've been using this system for a couple of years. It is BY FAR my favourite system. City folk will need to know this if their toilet system ever breaks down, if you go camping, if you're on a road trip, etc.
Dear sir, I don't know how I happened by your channel. But, I'm so very glad I did. I gotta tell ya I've never seen compost done your way. It's absolutely necessary (i believe) for people to know this stuff. The way the world is now, I don't think it's going to be very long when it all comes crashing down. Just my opinion but my family has been taking steps already to be prepared. When I showed my men folk your video here, they were wondering how they were going to take care of that very problem. It's absolutely simple your way plus giving back to the land. It's great. Thank you very much for solving they're worries. We will be watching more. Look forward to it, God bless and take care.
I had to watch this video twice because I was laughing so hard the first round watching your goat act like my dog 😆 Then the turkey 🤣 Thank you so much for sharing this information. We all don't wanna talk about this but it needs to be shared on methods that work.
Excellent content!! I’m with Stacy, I think this method is less messy than the conventional one, especially when you have your husband clean the buckets!! Love it!! Great job!!
This is a really stupid system within 5 seconds I came up with a better one dig a big hole put an outhouse with wheels above said whole poop until it's full cap it with dirt move the out house
@@RatatRatR if you move to a rural area where there is no plumbing/sewer? and if you don't, what are you going to do if the socialists take over,no electric to power the water or sewer?
I found your channel recently and I enjoy them so, I admire how you are able to live off grid. When I was a little girl I would visit my grandparents in Puerto Rico, they had a small farm with pigs, chickens, a few cows and no electricity. It was the best time, looking forward to seeing some more of your videos.
I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I love it! I hate flushing toilets, they stink like stale water! One thing I'd like to point out though. I don't like dumping mine all at once, the most I like doing is six buckets (which is about a week or so at my place). A week is not long enough to cook the solid waste and toilet paper, so if you don't wanna see that, you'll definitely wanna let the buckets build up. Secondly, if you let them sit for any length of time, make sure you secure the lids tightly (you can buy a lid pryer to open them up later) and store them in a shady spot. The sun will make the buckets brittle If the lids aren't on tight enough, it'll breed bugs, particularly gnats and flies.. This uses about a gallon of water total per bucket. Which means it's a huge water saver (each flush of a normal bucket is about half of that). A bucket in my house lasts about two days. Peat moss is an excellent cover material, though some might be against it. I like sawdust better (a raw, untreated kind), but there aren't any sawmills where I'm at. When using peatmoss in my experience, I've learned you must add extra fiber to the pile (peatmoss and human waste never seems to be enough to create the temps you need to make it cook). Adding shredded cardboard helped BIG time, so now I just add a little at the bottom of every fresh bucket to help with that. Plus, when I dump the buckets in the pile, I layer some between each bucket. I think it's totally awesome that your guys (the content creators) have the same exact cleaning system that I do. I also pour the water from bucket to bucket! 🤣 I dump everything in my compost. Even meat products. The book is against this, but only because it attracts animals, which I don't mind (and if they are pests, I take care of them). But chicken carcusses will be near dissolved in six weeks, with the occasional bone here are there. These piles should cook at least one year, starting at the point when you stopped with the final bucket (in my home, it takes three to six months to fill a 4x4x4 cube with two to three people, but as I said, I put other stuff in the pile; anything biodegradable). You'll get about 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume of soil back. And that isn't a lot of you're like me and don't have a lot of animals to help you with make soil 😂 I have six bins in a row, I use one for weeds and "cold" compost items (vegetation, no meat or animal waste), one for my chicken coop poop, one for just leaves, on for cooking, and the left over ones for my current dumping. You can set it up just right, where by the time the one is doing cooking, it's open for rotation.)
Congratulations Doug, you dealt with a touchy subject very well. I still felt bad for you having 25 buckets to deal with.. XD Last time I bought Miracle Grow Potting Soil, 2 types, & a couple of years ago, it said in the ingredients that it in fact did contain Human Manure. So, there you go. People are paying $8. a bag for Human Manure in their potting soil.
You have probably the best off grid homestead I have ever seen... super clean, up to date, not falling apart or put together with scrap this or that...
Humanure is a great compost setup. Great Grandparents did the outhouse. This is much better. They would dig the hole & have the hole when moved to next location. Everytime they dug a new hole they would use that dirt to fill the last hole & plant fruit & nut trees there. Only 1 per hole. So it started out quite a ways from house but they had those buckets that sat in a corner for times they wouldn't have made it. Over 30-40 years they got much closer to house and the orchards grew up around it. Those trees wouldn't bear for at least 2 years so it worked well. This way makes more sense in today's society and in the way you live. Those buckets ate no worse than diaper pails. Believe me after 5 kids I know. So. 1 pile per year ? Do you keep 2 or 3 going all year long? Do you leave much compost behind to restart the next one or do you just dig a dirt pile to start?
He posts a link to the humanure handbook. I think you want as many piles as you need in a year’s time. The faster/hotter your pile, the more it breaks down, the fewer you need. Stick with the science and don’t rush the pile. Let sit for a year after it’s completely full. You can use a bit of starter from the full pile for your new pile. You shouldn’t have to keep borrowing from other piles, as that wastes effort.
Klaa2 no. It's mostly processed out through the filtering effects of soil & rain & used up in growing the tree. Although most folks don't realize that stuffs in pretty much every part of the planet these days anyway.
@Klaa2 Klaa2: I would suggest using woodchips instead of straw for the carbon content, as they have a much higher fungi to bacteria ratio and are able to breakdown most pollutants. It is also beneficial to gardens as weeds don't like a fungi dominated soil, whilst vegetables do well and trees prefer it. Your soil life will of course improve considerably with added carbon of wood chips. If you find you need regular antibiotics, I would suggest your diet is too high in sugars and carbohydrates and/or you are not letting your body build immunity by fighting it's own battles. I don't mean to be rude, but I have noticed we humans are a great deal more reliant on medications now and are not healthier for it. If it was life threatening, I would take medications, otherwise I just expect my body to do what it is designed to do.
Maybe the flower bed, only manure in my garden comes from earthworms foraging the leaf litter and composted vegetation. Avoids any complications associated with animal waste. Not telling you what to do,just telling the world what I do.
I've been a subscriber for a few months now and am continually amazed and excited to watch and learn how y'all are thriving off grid! Doug and Stacy, you are truly an inspiration and I thank God for your hearts and courage in sharing your lives and loving stewardship of your land and animals and fellow human beings.
Doug, would it be a good idea to go to a bait shop and buy a package or two of worms to put into the compost pile to make it break down better/faster and add some good critters to your soil?
This is a hot compost where the bacteria creates a high temp (120 to 150 F), so don't add worms. The worms will naturally come when the temps go down though. Worms don't like temps above 80.
The Humanure Handbook by Joe Jenkins tells everything you need to know. The thermophilic microbes in the poo do the work by heating the pile up to 123 degrees to kill toxins and parasites. With worms is vermicomposting and that is a different method but won't kill toxins and parasites.
Great information from start to finish. Most informative! Btw, loved your Turkey sidekick❤️ It was looking like he was showing off some! Animals have so much personality 💕
That is called an outhouse. However, you could build it over a 50 gal drum and then move the drum to the compost pile. every 6 months. but you still must add sawdust or other organic material to the drum of poo
Linda Homestead Wantabee The idea was to not have to waste effort repeatedly handling waste. So basically what you said but just make the drum the compost bin then.
Put the outhouse on wheels. Dig a hole and put the outhouse over it, and then when the hole is full of shit you cover it up and start a new one somewhere else
@@Brad-ir7dv : I use this same system and over the years have given great thought to ways to streamline it, but there really isn't any better way than dump the buckets. I've also lived with an outhouse and that's a REAL pain in the butt, literally if you get stung by wasps or bit by spiders who've made their home under the seat. Btdt, and it ain't fun. Plus you'd have to go outside multiple times a day every time you need to "go". Trudging that far in pouring rain or freezing cold is just plain horrible, more so when you're warm in bed and suddenly feel the urge. Ugh. And can be a nightmare if you can't find your flashlight, especially in spring when the snakes wake up and start hunting again - they hunt mostly at night. No chance of putting it close enough to the house to connect it either - these things really do need to be a ways away in case of possible smells, rainwater runoff, room to maneuver when hauling the compost to the garden, among other things. So yeah, I'm still dumping my buckets and washing them out. It's really not that hard compared to dealing with an outhouse, especially if you do it every couple weeks instead of once a winter.
It sounds like the whole process with the sawdust (or peat moss, coconut coir), you put a good amount of it in the bottom of the bucket, sprinkle a cup or half cup on the "fresh deposit" each time--that dries it out and keeps it from what you would think would be a darn big stink in the bathroom. Everybody says it does not smell.
I know this comment was left 10 months ago; but, I have to tell you a story, if you're still around. I went outside one day to give my chickens a treat. My husband was talking to a neighbor at our mailbox. We let the chickens free range during the day, in our yard. I yelled chick, chick, chicks & they came running! Our neighbor looked at my husband & said, "my mother had chickens, when I was a kid, I'm 70 yrs old & I never knew you could call chickens". I still laugh when I think about it.
I thought you were going to put the rain run off and collector from the roof over the hay. I was so looking forward to seeing the set up. It was cute how you wrote, that you work for your wife and she owns the place. That's a real man!
Armed American Patriot right? That’s exactly why I love them 😍!! I really appreciate and enjoy watching them all they do together. Beautiful, powerful, deep, refreshing, and humbling because we don’t find too many good Down to earth people these days. They are my inspiration
Thank you for being so descriptive! This gives me a more clear idea on how to pursue this in case I want to stop using my septic system. Always looking for videos on how to be more self-sufficient. God bless the two of you you are truly inspirational.
Thank you for being so candid, we just started doing this system on our own little homestead and it's been superb for us. We do have a separate bucket for #1 that we just empty in remote locations, but looking forward to the compost we're "creating"...up to 6 or 7 buckets and yes, if you cover your #2 well enough it doesn't smell afterward. I wish this wasn't so taboo or weird to people...it's amazing.
Thanks for showing the process Doug. Seeing how the cleaning of the buckets goes is a valuable nugget. Composting poo is how it should be done everywhere. We could save so much water that is just flushed away.
The issue is Americans think it's so gross. A familys best os to keep their bacteria together. And not mix w others. It has to break down before use gardening w fresh poo not wise at all also keep urine sepatate. Dolute it and it's great. For gsrden. Has to be diluted ot it woll burn roots
OMG i had a great time watching this one. We are also in our eighth year for the pail method. I used to say compost, but most think it is some fancy toilet lookalike thingy thats costs big bucks. We know some people that live simple or off grid but wont do the pail. Lol Thank you for being so real on the subject!! Peace!!
Wow! That's a lot of poo but that compost does look great. Poop is yuck but it's yuck whether we see it or not. This is such a great system that is far better for the environment than flushing it down!
If people had easy access to plastic buckets and sawdust/shavings 100 and more years ago, nobody would've been using outhouses. That's my theory. And hosing out buckets every so often is much easier than cleaning toilets, I can say that as a former hotel manager. Start with brand new buckets that have no scratches in the sides and they clean up very easily, I've been using 8 buckets for a year and a half now. Thank you for doing videos like this, showing your previous videos to family/friends helped me explain to them why they shouldn't freak out because I don't have a flush toilet.
Hi Doug. We use composting toilet as well. We got the lid from a company called sepperat in Sweden I believe. It separates the pee from poo and gives a great dry bucket of goop.
I lived in the brush of Alaska for years. Anyone 100% off grid or bush living will easily understand that this is a GREAT system! Thank you for sharing! Shalom
Thank you so much for taking the time to teach us all some of the most basic things....stuff we'd need even if we didn't live on a farm, but were without power for a really long time
Thank you Doug for sharing this amazing idea, and I’m sure it’s good., I have some empty land, with no septic, 1 RV for me and my kids, and 1 RV for my brother and his family., They will be more brothers and sisters later on ,,, getting stuff started on our land, but, yup ,,, I don’t think we need to worry about a septic tank.,,, Not worth it., it will take some time to get used to it, but,,, It’s possible and doable,,, you and Stacy have a very nice homestead, good job to both of you, working hard to find peace and happiness and self sufficient,,, May God protect you guys in everything there🙏😊
Thank you so much for sharing this information. It is very hard to learn about lost skills like this in a more urban or small town setting because many people don’t see the value in it unfortunately. Much appreciated.
That is why I will have a "green funeral" as well. I don't want that toxic famaldyhyd [sp] in my body vessel, in the soil, nor, do I want the toxins in the waterways. Just wrap my body in a linen blanket, put a mason jar of daisy flowers next to a 5×7 photo of me smiling - and then put me in a biodegradable simple pine box. www.nfda.org/consumer-resources/planning-a-funeral/green-funeral-and-burial
I’m just learning it all now, I’m so amazed by it all and can’t understand how we waste such a valuable resource down the drain, with all the commercial farming land with probably poor soil health... crazy. Crazy
We had to leave our home, long story... We rent a trailer now, still try to keep off grid in some ways, but we can't compost toilet any more... And it is the one thing I miss the MOST!!! I hate flushing toilets, hate it!!! Love your system, and will do this again some day!!!
Teila Sherwin I hate toilet paper 🧻 Tried to convince my family to stop once ... we can use cloths and I’ll even buy a separate washer... nope. I hope you are blessed with a new home so you can poop in a bucket again.
My friend, you are 100% correct ... that compost does not look like poop and the odor is actually a pleasant earthy smell. People need to get get over their silly aversion to using humanure. That stuff is *GOLD!!!*
Don't know what to call the contents of the buckets? How about *"Processed Foods"* ? Relates rather well to what's on offer in packets from the supermarket.
Love you guys!! Awesome channel. I'm in English chef living and owning my Gastropub in Warsaw, Poland!! Watch you every evening, longing for spring to come!!! You rock! I admire your real craftsmanship, especially in the build videos. Nice one guys!
This is such an amazing answer to this question homesteaders might have had about human waste & composting. In the end, Nature takes care of us! Blessings to you both!
I'll be going to the composting bucket method soon, thanks for the up close and personal. Seeing how you handle it makes it less intimidating. Thanks, for sharing!!
@Blue Skies Read The Humanure Handbook. It is filled with all sorts of graphs and charts showing how safe this is WHEN DONE CORRECTLY. The key is the use of cover materials (sawdust, leaves) between all deposits.
@Blue Skies Sorry, but you sound like a hypochondriac to me. What exactly do you think happens to human waste when you flush it into a water treatment plant or a septic tank? I'd argue that both of those methods pose a greater hazard to human health than composting it. If human waste were that dangerous, we'd all be dead by now.
@Blue Skies a few years ago, my mil told me about a home remedy for parasites the her mama told her about, which was to place a root of poke salat into her chicken water. So, I found a little information on this and learned that it was used by everyone as a broad spectrum treatment for parasites. There really wasn't too much information other than it was fed to animals, cooked and eaten by humans and even a tea was brewed from the roots for consumption. I don't know if this could be effective in treating you, but if you haven't tried it may be it could be worth a look. Have you ever heard of this before? Thanks. Hope you are doing well.
@@dragonmammma I am familiar with parasites and their life cycles since I raise animals and need to keep them worm free. I'm careful because parasites can gain immunity and can kill. However Earth is a closed loop and to think that by flushing waste into an anaerobic water system that we are getting rid of it is short sighted too. I'd rather compost and break the life cycle. I also agree with Stacy, the wet mold producing area around a sweating toilet in the warm time of the year has it's own negative health rammifications. What I have found with my animals is when they are fed well and healthy they are much less susceptible to parasites and disease, so taking that into consideration as prevention is important too. Sounds like you have some good experience with this system. I appreciate the encouragement.
Thanks for watching the video, if you would like a good read here is the book -------> www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-f6690c8d
HAVE A GREAT DAY! 🤠👍
OFF GRID with DOUG & STACY
Y’all will be ordering more copies, right?!🙏
Can I ask why you don't use grass to fire up the compost faster in the warm weather?
I didn't catch the name of the composting book Doug. Is it in the Seymour book you linked above? If not can you let me know. We are building a camp this year. Thanks
How can you use that compost, especially if you are going to sell it at the farmers market.
Family farms in Japan, in the early '40-50's used "night soil" (human waste) to fertilize their gardens. My father told me that he was assigned there after WWII until 1953. He told me in the '60's when I helped with gardening on our small farm.
Thanks for this! I'm still a teenager but I'm planning to buy a small amount of land and build an off grid tiny house when I'm a bit older. I'd like to have a garden and some poultry, this video has helped with one of my bigger questions thanks a bunch!
Smart man
Good for you. I make my own compost. I get free used coffee grounds from coffee shops, make bone meal, and calcium carbonate from eggshells, I add poopy horse bedding, pigeon and rabbit bedding, cardboard, egg cartons, and kitchen n garden waste. It all breaks down to rich compost. I pay £5 for a big tub of composting worms from the bait shop. You could save woodash from fires, and pine needles and cones.
Glad to see a young man keep up with these ways of living! In the ‘70s (when your information came from word of mouth, books, etc) it was all I wanted to do! I paid for most of the Foxfire books( May be useful to you also) on the old ways of living and learned as much as I could back then. I wish I had someone other than just my Great Grandmother to encourage me. She passed when I was 14, and without her to encourage me I never followed my dream. I’m 60 now and we live with one of our daughters and have leaned a bit more to a natural self sustaining way of life. It may be just beginning, but I’m so glad.
Yay Zoomers!! Carry the self-sufficiency torch 🕯
Yes! Good for you!!
I'm glad some one has the guts to post a video of such.
Jared Colahan
Is “guts” a pun? Gross.
Someone has a scat fetish. 😒
@@vasaradragonsbane5580 seems to be most of the people commenting on this video honestly I'm not even sure why I'm watching this
Ya this is a pretty crappy video “joke” don’t get shitty with me.
@@TrollHiddenCave You may need the info one day.
I’ve been doing this for 11 years (72 yr old woman living alone in Canada), with no problem. Never emptied more than 2 buckets at a time though! It’s important to have back up buckets in case there’s a snow storm or you are injured/sick and you can’t do that particular chore. Nice tidy set up Doug!
Yeah, when my buckets get frozen, I call them poopcicles 🤣🤣🤣
But seriously, I've dumped one, three, four six, ten and twenty. Been doing this for fifteen years, I prefer four, but six seems to be the number I usually dump at.
Also, for me, cause I'm shorter than most people, it's easier to dump (weight wise) when they're half full.
This is so cool. Wish I could come live for a week or two with you. I would love this. Your blessed
Yes I feel one bucket at a time would be enough for me.
@@lexiatel Or you could use 3 1/2 gallon buckets instead of the 5 gal. ones. I have bad knees, so I use my Luggable Loo, 5 gal. bucket when my water pipes freeze and I can't use my flush toilet. It came with the house.
Jon in rural BC, Canada
@@JonTanOsb I would suggest using the 5-gallon bucket. It fits around the toilet seat just right. Just don't fill it all the way.
No wonder Stacy likes this method better than having plummed toilets-Doug does the toilet cleaning!
😂😂😂
LOL!
She's very wise!!🤭🤗😂
🤭🤣😂
😂 win-win
This particular video has caused some of us to come out of our shells to see how nature is an eco system. Thank you for being so brave to bring out this kind of content. This is a brilliant subject and an eye opener.
They are calling it sludge where I live ppl arent real happy about it.I was always under the impression of not putting human poop on anything you would eat. I smelled it after a farmer spread it on their field and thought cow manure was much better. One borough uses a field of reeds, I thought that unique
“This is Doug he works for Stacy, she owns the place,” 😂😂
You guys are fulla good stuff & Im so glad you share it! God bless you both!
2 days ago this came up on my feed.
Me: hey you want a watch a video with me on composting poop?
Husband: No
Me: plays it on the Tv that night!
Husband: not one word spoken between us.
Video finishes
Husband: play some more of those people's videos.
Us: binge watching for 3 nights.
Thank you, you two are amazing!
The exact same scenario happened with me and my husband now he starts telling me about the videos before I get a chance to watch.
LOL it's almost the same thing as trying to get a man to ask for directions when you're lost but once they do come to that point everything moves smoothly forgive the pun 😄
I especially like the us at the end
😆😆 My husband and I are both really into homestead videos. We still dream of getting that off grid land, but we have to get things fixed up here first. But once we do, man will it be hard to leave all this stuff behind. A beautiful home, and a yard full of food. The problem is, the neighbors are right next door, and the regs say no animals but cats and dogs. The neighbors don't mind the chickens, but I doubt they'd go for any of the larger, noisier ones. 😞
Never know how one will quickly change their mind 😊
I think the way you live -“closed loop system” is without a doubt the most Freedom Loving, environmental friendly, self reliant way to live the proves people don’t need government telling them how to live.
Joyce, big secret..... there are more of us than them
@joyceann011 they could try.
@joyceann011 Too true !!!!
I'm inspired.
How do you get approved from the county for this?
Now this is a REAL Homestead! Wow. What a beautiful place you and Stacey have. Tfs.
yep, looks like a dream
Tfs what is this
Thank you, thank you, thank you I so appreciate you being candid. I have been wanting to go off grid for a long time but never really understand what happens to the waist after you’ve put it in the compost toilet. This helps me get one step closer to my dream of living off grid. Thank you. I love all of your videos. I am totally blind, and all of your videos are very descriptive and clear and I understand what’s exactly going on even if I can’t see it. Thanks again.
Oh, Aubrey. All my love and prayers for you. I bet you could teach others a thing or two about lots of things in life. It's folks like yourself that give me hope.
@Omar Saavedra I have a smart phone that talks to me and I use different swipes and tabs and the dictation button to give my responses. It's accessible on any smart phone. I also have a laptop with a screen reader and I use key commands to navigate the Internet on my laptop.
My grandad tipped our toilet can from our outhouse into rotating trenches in the garden and when they had broken down to just soil grew carrots in the soil or potatoes.They tasted great. It had after all just broken down to soil.
You could bury the waste and grow a fruit tree on it. This is jusr the cycle of life.
@@heatherofthemountains 🙏❤🙏
I love the turkey following you around, reminding you that you are on his property.
I appreciate your laughter in the compost process. Clever words and clever system. You made me smile and laugh and that's uncommon these days to just have fun. Thanks.
You mentioned something very important about getting older. Those buckets are only going to get heavier as the years go by. It would be nice to come up with a system that removes the lifting. Maybe a special wheeled cart or using some type of mechanical advantage with pulleys to lighten the load so to say!
I change out the buckets when their half empty. I've been doing this for fifteen years, so I totally know the weight them over time.
I also built my bins in a hill, so now I can stand at the top on a "dock" and dump from above down below. Barely any lifting then.
I use a wagon to pull four buckets at time to the designated dumping area (I wont dump twenty, you need a big hole for that many).
No! Please dig a pit latrine, in the meantime.
@@lexiatel Excellent idea!
oh geez.... you guys are freaking amazing. I talked with my husband about doing this and he just looked at me like I was absolutely insane.
😂😂😂😂😂
you saw my comment and replied! why does this make my day ? :) xoxo have a good one yourselves.... thanks! @@OFFGRIDwithDOUGSTACY
@joyceann011 I envy you. I showed my husband all of those things as well, and he was like: you're genetically predisposed to see conspiracy theories everywhere you look. Basically, patting me on the head and sending me away.
I have a son from a previous marriage & two little girls with him, and I want better for my kids! 8 want to teach them skills that can last them a lifetime! But their respective fathers have taken custody away from me for saying such things. My family has disowned me. They want to be suckling at the government teat for anything.
What an inverted sense of personal responsibility & community we have built for America these days! I am just too broken down to even try to get things right for my kids anymore. I certainly cannot afford to fight the state.
Sorry that was depressing. Truly, I am very happy & heartened to see others & other couples making it on their own! It gives me some satisfaction that not all people are as deluded by the safety of their government & cruel to their family members as mine have been. God bless!
♥️👍🙏🤷
goldilox369 This age we live in has been propagated and building momentum over the last 100 years. Yes I know the industrial revolution changed that bringing about a strong middle class who produced more and more products that would make life simpler. Instead of staying on that protective farm many bought into the lie that basically only stupid uneducated people were homesteaders or farmers. So here we are; the ones who are thriving and are happiest are the ones with the beautiful simple (hard working) life.
Now to where you are. Your confidence here is that you have been validated by like minded people in this video. We all are examples of that confidence when we press forward doing what we think is right letting others live theirs lives good bad or indifferent. I think you stand more of a chance of influencing your children by the contentment you started living. Oh and also by trusting Christ’s words as your wisdom. Here is the highest wisdom: Search for Me with all your heart, and you will find Me!
Onward! Will be praying for your success!!!
Same me too
We had a composting toilet at a cabin. Worked great and the “waste” broke down in reusable compost that we put on our trees. It was an awesome solution and no smell. When we stopped using the cabin we now use that toilet in our garage shop off the garden at home. So nice nice not to have to run from the garden to the house!!
I don’t think the building codes allow us to build a house without septic
I think it is great that you are responsibly taking care of your "waste". We are generating so much trash everyday and if we all could come to an understanding of what it takes to deal with all the trash we create, we might stop doing that.
So TRUE!!
Nope. 99 percent is too lazy. Only when forced would that happen.
Amazing. Even when using small buckets like these it's not a hassle. All you need is a place for it to rest.
I went from using small buckets to much larger wheelie-bins so I don't have to empty them until it's all decomposed. I have four that I switch between.
Thank you kindly for this video. All the best from Sweden
If everybody lived like you two wonderful people do, the world would be a paradise, we could create Eden again!
I love this comment ❤
Thank you Doug for explaining the whole process and really getting down and dirty. I have wanted to do this for so long but haven’t figured it out. Doug you are hilarious. Stacy you are amazing. I watch your videos all the time and my 4 year old son loves to see what you two get into. Thank you for sharing with the rest of the world. Cheers!!
Oh my goodness! Awesome video! You & Stacy have answered so many off-grid bathroom questions for me. What a great way to live sustainably on our planet.
Awesome! We are off-grid with no septic and we weren't sure how to incorporate the compost on our homestead. Very exciting, thank you so much for sharing!
@The Grumpy Horticulturist how long to be fully, fully cured?
For those worried about bacteria and toxins in waste, another way to do this is worm composting. A study (sorry I don’t have the citation handy) found that worms eat bad bacteria and digest it, yet maintain a gut flora of beneficial bacteria that they then spread with their own castings. Another study found that the worms somehow cleaned toxins out of mine tailings, which had quite high levels of toxins.
Nature is awesome!
Ronnie in VA works don’t eat just bacteria you knob, nor do they somehow eat contaminated earth, survive AND selectively remove “toxins” from the earth as they eat it and poop it out. You don’t have a citation handy because you don’t have a published paper. Sorry.
Ronnie in VA: I believe in the worms. They work great.
@@codename495 Actually they can. Unlike you, instead of just arguing without any knowledge, I looked it up and easily found links to articles explaining both studies. I love how people refute without any evidence to back it up yet they think "they" are the intelligent ones. Here's the links.
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/earthworm
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120816133420.htm
Many of the leached metals are very toxic. Reeded Water plants do very well in soaking them up.
Composting that growth allows Nature to recycle them. The CNO CYCLE is GODS WERKS.
Even Uranium is natural. BE NAUGHT YE SCARED !
Plutonium is the ugly man-made stuff.
FEW OTHERS are so ugly as that disEASE.
SEEMS EASY TO DOMINATE BY THREAT TO CONTAMINATE....
~sighs heavily~
THE PEN, AND GODS GIFTS OF MEEKNESS... HUMAN RIGHT OF BEING, AND POSSESSIONS, PRIVATE, REAL, AND ESTATE.
www.constitution.org
@@bahnsidhes thanks for the links
Not many people will open up their piles on TH-cam - seriously, you KILL ME DOUG!
GOOD DOWN TO EARTH MAN !!
My mother did all this 65 years ago I was raise this way and we where very happy
The Homestead is so beautifully laid out and the human waste compost is cool
Very informative Doug. I’m not sure why people get their knickers in a knot when someone offers information on another way of doing something. It’s not like you are telling them they “HAVE TO’ do it your way. I’m not a homesteader but I admire the wholesome and healthy lifestyle. I appreciate your willingness to share even the touchy topics. I do wonder if this is a system that our Stacy could maintain if, God forbid, something happened to you . . . or when you both reach advancing years? I’m sure you two have already taken that into consideration.
I absolutely adore seeing your interaction with all the animals. You and Stacy have a very blessed life. 💓💐😊
You both are so helpful. My husband and I have 4.5 acres in Pauma Valley, CA. It is rural but we are still on grid. I've been watching your videos since Christmas and your so encouraging and wonderful teachers for living more resource fully. Your home and animals are beautiful. God Bless You Both and keep up The Lords Work!!!
One of the reasons that their compost or shall we say the initial product of P and poop is because they are not eating the standard American diet with processed food and a lot of junk. They are processing real food so they get real compost and that is super important to think about. The other thing is when you stop eating processed food and hydrogenated fats which is pure poison your poop doesn’t stink if your gut is working right. One of the reasons their poop really doesn’t stink a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are very consistent in eating fermented foods so they have probably a very good gut flora.
Hubby and I did buckets in the van when we were traveling. I assure you that there is no smell. The buckets ended up in the compost pile when we got home. Although we used peat moss instead of saw dust.
This is by far the best video on the topic. There is too much prejudice and lack of understanding the simplicity of compost toilet. Just built my first compost toilet a while ago and the buckets are filling in nicely. I am following this same process with the difference of separating the liquids and toilet paper. Thank you so much Doug :)
It's a "shitty" job... but someone's gotta "doo" it 😁💚
Butt!
Where there's muck ther's Brass ..... icas ;0)
Then let nature transform the digest components back into the original form. 4step: eat, excrete, compost, fertilize.
it is possible to make cesspool in the garden and every six months pump it over the compost area without manual handling and using buckets. they have wind power source at their location .
@@libertyfivefivesix lol!!
Hello there Doug and Stacy. Thank you both for the information you guys share. I know that homesteading is more work that we see, but watching your progress shows it is all worth it. Thank you for discussing the composting toilet...Stacy in another video and Doug in this one. It makes this seem like a great alternative to pluming and a great way to save water and money. I am planning my homesteading future and have been learning a lot from you two as well as other sources. I will be doing this alone, so watching the work being done to grow the farm and be sustainable will mentally help me prepare very well. There are three main reasons that I keep watching your videos;
1) you two make a great team and are normal people (not faking excessive happiness to gain views/ subscribers)
2) share very valuable information and don't avoid subjects that most are not able to gracefully discuss
3) Your animals love and trust you guys (Rambo is Doug's guardian...or adopted Doug as his dad lol). Animals are not happy and do not trust in negative environments, so that says a lot for the time and energy you put into your home, farm, and farm family.
I don't comment often, but felt that you guys should know that your awesomeness is very obvious. Keep up the great work, and thank you for sharing your experiences and advice with honesty! :)
Your hometead is beautiful may God continue to bless your family ♥️
Yes, I had many doubts! I can’t thank you enough for opening up your piles and sharing it & your humor with us! You funny 😄!!!
I sure do appreciate it Doug. Thank you!!!!
I've been using this system for a couple of years. It is BY FAR my favourite system. City folk will need to know this if their toilet system ever breaks down, if you go camping, if you're on a road trip, etc.
I've watched you for many years, you've come a long way. I admire you
We raised four kids with this system and also had NO SMELL and amazing compost.
I also grew up with this system. I was embarrassed to invite friends over but looking back now, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
@@benb7727 Fortunately for our children, all their friends were raised the same way so the only thing they hated was cleaning buckets lol
luvmymountain yes those buckets 👍
@@luvmymountain But if you had a regular toilet, they would've hated cleaning that, too!
oh man where do you guys LIVE? :( I wish I could have joined you.... seriously seems like a great way of life if you do it right @@luvmymountain
Dear sir, I don't know how I happened by your channel. But, I'm so very glad I did. I gotta tell ya I've never seen compost done your way. It's absolutely necessary (i believe) for people to know this stuff.
The way the world is now, I don't think it's going to be very long when it all comes crashing down. Just my opinion but my family has been taking steps already to be prepared. When I showed my men folk your video here, they were wondering how they were going to take care of that very problem. It's absolutely simple your way plus giving back to the land. It's great.
Thank you very much for solving they're worries. We will be watching more. Look forward to it, God bless and take care.
These people may or may not have a college degree but they are truly among what I called SKILLED LABOR. This is the SKILLS we need MORE of.
And yes, there are some degrees lol
Exactly!
I had to watch this video twice because I was laughing so hard the first round watching your goat act like my dog 😆 Then the turkey 🤣
Thank you so much for sharing this information. We all don't wanna talk about this but it needs to be shared on methods that work.
I'm envious of everything you two are doing. Keep going and God Bless you.
Excellent content!! I’m with Stacy, I think this method is less messy than the conventional one, especially when you have your husband clean the buckets!! Love it!! Great job!!
This is a really stupid system within 5 seconds I came up with a better one dig a big hole put an outhouse with wheels above said whole poop until it's full cap it with dirt move the out house
@@rondavis2791 that's not too much work at all and it beats having to handle poop
I mean, you could also just live in civilization like normal people, use toilets, and not to have to deal with big buckets full of your turds at all.
@@RatatRatR if you move to a rural area where there is no plumbing/sewer? and if you don't, what are you going to do if the socialists take over,no electric to power the water or sewer?
My wife has never cleaned a bucket in 11 years, and I don’t mind in the slightest!
I found your channel recently and I enjoy them so, I admire how you are able to live off grid. When I was a little girl I would visit my grandparents in Puerto Rico, they had a small farm with pigs, chickens, a few cows and no electricity. It was the best time, looking forward to seeing some more of your videos.
I've been doing this for fifteen years, and I love it! I hate flushing toilets, they stink like stale water!
One thing I'd like to point out though. I don't like dumping mine all at once, the most I like doing is six buckets (which is about a week or so at my place). A week is not long enough to cook the solid waste and toilet paper, so if you don't wanna see that, you'll definitely wanna let the buckets build up.
Secondly, if you let them sit for any length of time, make sure you secure the lids tightly (you can buy a lid pryer to open them up later) and store them in a shady spot. The sun will make the buckets brittle If the lids aren't on tight enough, it'll breed bugs, particularly gnats and flies..
This uses about a gallon of water total per bucket. Which means it's a huge water saver (each flush of a normal bucket is about half of that). A bucket in my house lasts about two days.
Peat moss is an excellent cover material, though some might be against it. I like sawdust better (a raw, untreated kind), but there aren't any sawmills where I'm at.
When using peatmoss in my experience, I've learned you must add extra fiber to the pile (peatmoss and human waste never seems to be enough to create the temps you need to make it cook). Adding shredded cardboard helped BIG time, so now I just add a little at the bottom of every fresh bucket to help with that. Plus, when I dump the buckets in the pile, I layer some between each bucket.
I think it's totally awesome that your guys (the content creators) have the same exact cleaning system that I do. I also pour the water from bucket to bucket! 🤣
I dump everything in my compost. Even meat products. The book is against this, but only because it attracts animals, which I don't mind (and if they are pests, I take care of them). But chicken carcusses will be near dissolved in six weeks, with the occasional bone here are there.
These piles should cook at least one year, starting at the point when you stopped with the final bucket (in my home, it takes three to six months to fill a 4x4x4 cube with two to three people, but as I said, I put other stuff in the pile; anything biodegradable).
You'll get about 1/4 to 1/3 of the volume of soil back. And that isn't a lot of you're like me and don't have a lot of animals to help you with make soil 😂
I have six bins in a row, I use one for weeds and "cold" compost items (vegetation, no meat or animal waste), one for my chicken coop poop, one for just leaves, on for cooking, and the left over ones for my current dumping. You can set it up just right, where by the time the one is doing cooking, it's open for rotation.)
Sorry for the long post (and mistakes), but I just had to give my weigh-ins on this, since I've been doing it for nearly half my life. 🥰
Congratulations Doug, you dealt with a touchy subject very well. I still felt bad for you having 25 buckets to deal with.. XD Last time I bought Miracle Grow Potting Soil, 2 types, & a couple of years ago, it said in the ingredients that it in fact did contain Human Manure. So, there you go. People are paying $8. a bag for Human Manure in their potting soil.
I like the ibc totes on the sheep shed. also fun to see a slow normal farm morning. like the music. you guys dried out pretty quick.
You have probably the best off grid homestead I have ever seen... super clean, up to date, not falling apart or put together with scrap this or that...
YES!!!!!!!!!! Finally someone is willing to speak as it should be!!!
Humanure is a great compost setup. Great Grandparents did the outhouse. This is much better. They would dig the hole & have the hole when moved to next location. Everytime they dug a new hole they would use that dirt to fill the last hole & plant fruit & nut trees there. Only 1 per hole. So it started out quite a ways from house but they had those buckets that sat in a corner for times they wouldn't have made it. Over 30-40 years they got much closer to house and the orchards grew up around it. Those trees wouldn't bear for at least 2 years so it worked well. This way makes more sense in today's society and in the way you live. Those buckets ate no worse than diaper pails. Believe me after 5 kids I know. So. 1 pile per year ? Do you keep 2 or 3 going all year long? Do you leave much compost behind to restart the next one or do you just dig a dirt pile to start?
I’d be interested in seeing you start the new pile too. I think it is terrible to waste drinking water to flush toilets, this is a much better system.
He posts a link to the humanure handbook. I think you want as many piles as you need in a year’s time. The faster/hotter your pile, the more it breaks down, the fewer you need. Stick with the science and don’t rush the pile. Let sit for a year after it’s completely full. You can use a bit of starter from the full pile for your new pile. You shouldn’t have to keep borrowing from other piles, as that wastes effort.
Klaa2 no. It's mostly processed out through the filtering effects of soil & rain & used up in growing the tree. Although most folks don't realize that stuffs in pretty much every part of the planet these days anyway.
@Klaa2 Klaa2: I would suggest using woodchips instead of straw for the carbon content, as they have a much higher fungi to bacteria ratio and are able to breakdown most pollutants. It is also beneficial to gardens as weeds don't like a fungi dominated soil, whilst vegetables do well and trees prefer it. Your soil life will of course improve considerably with added carbon of wood chips.
If you find you need regular antibiotics, I would suggest your diet is too high in sugars and carbohydrates and/or you are not letting your body build immunity by fighting it's own battles. I don't mean to be rude, but I have noticed we humans are a great deal more reliant on medications now and are not healthier for it. If it was life threatening, I would take medications, otherwise I just expect my body to do what it is designed to do.
@Klaa2 Unfortunately all those drugs are in city, county water, Double yuck! Treated with even More chemicals.
this is how you make rocket fuel for the garden. The circle of life is complete with everything we see here. Thank you
Maybe the flower bed, only manure in my garden comes from earthworms foraging the leaf litter and composted vegetation. Avoids any complications associated with animal waste. Not telling you what to do,just telling the world what I do.
@@dont.ripfuller6587 Vermiculture is good, too. Worm poop.
Jon in rural BC, Canada
@Don T. Ripfüller you may need to remove your earth worms for a no poop garden, huh?
No way I'd use human waste compost on vegetables I'm going to eat.
Doug's Dad-Jokes are the stuff of legend!
Fantastic video! You guys rock!
I highly respect yalls way of living and makes me want to be a part of it. You're living the dream.
I've been a subscriber for a few months now and am continually amazed and excited to watch and learn how y'all are thriving off grid! Doug and Stacy, you are truly an inspiration and I thank God for your hearts and courage in sharing your lives and loving stewardship of your land and animals and fellow human beings.
This was an EXCELLENT video. This makes more sense than any other methods and is so awesome for the garden as well.
Doug, would it be a good idea to go to a bait shop and buy a package or two of worms to put into the compost pile to make it break down better/faster and add some good critters to your soil?
This is a hot compost where the bacteria creates a high temp (120 to 150 F), so don't add worms. The worms will naturally come when the temps go down though. Worms don't like temps above 80.
The Humanure Handbook by Joe Jenkins tells everything you need to know. The thermophilic microbes in the poo do the work by heating the pile up to 123 degrees to kill toxins and parasites. With worms is vermicomposting and that is a different method but won't kill toxins and parasites.
Great information from start to finish. Most informative! Btw, loved your Turkey sidekick❤️ It was looking like he was showing off some! Animals have so much personality 💕
Could you just build an outhouse above the compost pile to bypass the bucket emptying step?
That is called an outhouse. However, you could build it over a 50 gal drum and then move the drum to the compost pile. every 6 months. but you still must add sawdust or other organic material to the drum of poo
Linda Homestead Wantabee The idea was to not have to waste effort repeatedly handling waste. So basically what you said but just make the drum the compost bin then.
Put the outhouse on wheels. Dig a hole and put the outhouse over it, and then when the hole is full of shit you cover it up and start a new one somewhere else
@@Brad-ir7dv : I use this same system and over the years have given great thought to ways to streamline it, but there really isn't any better way than dump the buckets. I've also lived with an outhouse and that's a REAL pain in the butt, literally if you get stung by wasps or bit by spiders who've made their home under the seat. Btdt, and it ain't fun. Plus you'd have to go outside multiple times a day every time you need to "go". Trudging that far in pouring rain or freezing cold is just plain horrible, more so when you're warm in bed and suddenly feel the urge. Ugh. And can be a nightmare if you can't find your flashlight, especially in spring when the snakes wake up and start hunting again - they hunt mostly at night.
No chance of putting it close enough to the house to connect it either - these things really do need to be a ways away in case of possible smells, rainwater runoff, room to maneuver when hauling the compost to the garden, among other things. So yeah, I'm still dumping my buckets and washing them out. It's really not that hard compared to dealing with an outhouse, especially if you do it every couple weeks instead of once a winter.
It sounds like the whole process with the sawdust (or peat moss, coconut coir), you put a good amount of it in the bottom of the bucket, sprinkle a cup or half cup on the "fresh deposit" each time--that dries it out and keeps it from what you would think would be a darn big stink in the bathroom. Everybody says it does not smell.
Doug- "Hey, duck ducks!"
Ducks- "Hey, Doug Doug. DOUG. doug, doug doug doug Doug Doug doug doug Doug. Doug."
I know this comment was left 10 months ago; but, I have to tell you a story, if you're still around. I went outside one day to give my chickens a treat. My husband was talking to a neighbor at our mailbox. We let the chickens free range during the day, in our yard. I yelled chick, chick, chicks & they came running! Our neighbor looked at my husband & said, "my mother had chickens, when I was a kid, I'm 70 yrs old & I never knew you could call chickens". I still laugh when I think about it.
Watching those sheep rely on Doug at feeding and watering time makes me smile. They got excited and the trust.
I thought you were going to put the rain run off and collector from the roof over the hay. I was so looking forward to seeing the set up. It was cute how you wrote, that you work for your wife and she owns the place. That's a real man!
Not many people open up their piles on TH-cam🤣🤣🤣🤣👋🏻 thanks for another great video✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻
Armed American Patriot right? That’s exactly why I love them 😍!! I really appreciate and enjoy watching them all they do together. Beautiful, powerful, deep, refreshing, and humbling because we don’t find too many good Down to earth people these days. They are my inspiration
Thank you for being so descriptive! This gives me a more clear idea on how to pursue this in case I want to stop using my septic system. Always looking for videos on how to be more self-sufficient. God bless the two of you you are truly inspirational.
Why not use the septic? I don’t get that part.
Everything looks so clean in those bucket. Awesome system. Love it!!
I love how your Turkey is following you everywhere!! 😂 That soil is beautiful! Who knew?
This is 1 of my Favorite videos YaY & it is beautiful how Father made r cycle of living on r lands
Thank you for being so candid, we just started doing this system on our own little homestead and it's been superb for us. We do have a separate bucket for #1 that we just empty in remote locations, but looking forward to the compost we're "creating"...up to 6 or 7 buckets and yes, if you cover your #2 well enough it doesn't smell afterward. I wish this wasn't so taboo or weird to people...it's amazing.
#1 diluted 4 or 5 to 1 makes perfect liquid fertilizer.
Thanks for showing the process Doug. Seeing how the cleaning of the buckets goes is a valuable nugget. Composting poo is how it should be done everywhere. We could save so much water that is just flushed away.
The issue is Americans think it's so gross. A familys best os to keep their bacteria together. And not mix w others. It has to break down before use gardening w fresh poo not wise at all also keep urine sepatate. Dolute it and it's great. For gsrden. Has to be diluted ot it woll burn roots
Use the human compost for the flowers and the animal compost for the vegetables and everybody is happy 😊
As always Doug and Stacey great information about living a sustainable life. Thank you so much.
OMG i had a great time watching this one. We are also in our eighth year for the pail method. I used to say compost, but most think it is some fancy toilet lookalike thingy thats costs big bucks. We know some people that live simple or off grid but wont do the pail. Lol
Thank you for being so real on the subject!!
Peace!!
Love it. No supply chain issues.
Wow! That's a lot of poo but that compost does look great. Poop is yuck but it's yuck whether we see it or not. This is such a great system that is far better for the environment than flushing it down!
AND it turns into mulch, that is SO good for the gardening projects!😀👍😎
If people had easy access to plastic buckets and sawdust/shavings 100 and more years ago, nobody would've been using outhouses. That's my theory. And hosing out buckets every so often is much easier than cleaning toilets, I can say that as a former hotel manager. Start with brand new buckets that have no scratches in the sides and they clean up very easily, I've been using 8 buckets for a year and a half now. Thank you for doing videos like this, showing your previous videos to family/friends helped me explain to them why they shouldn't freak out because I don't have a flush toilet.
Bobblehead Homestead Jeff I worked in a hotel as a housekeeper and I could not agree with you more!
Boy that is true. Whoever designed toilets did not have "ease of cleaning" in mind. Too many cracks and crevices!
Buckets can be purchased.
I did this for 3 years in my off grid cabin...its awesome!
Couldn't help but breath thru my mouth on that first bucket.
😂😂😂
Hi Doug. We use composting toilet as well. We got the lid from a company called sepperat in Sweden I believe. It separates the pee from poo and gives a great dry bucket of goop.
I lived in the brush of Alaska for years. Anyone 100% off grid or bush living will easily understand that this is a GREAT system! Thank you for sharing! Shalom
We're always scared of what we don't understand! So true!
Thank you so much for taking the time to teach us all some of the most basic things....stuff we'd need even if we didn't live on a farm, but were without power for a really long time
Thank you Doug for sharing this amazing idea, and I’m sure it’s good.,
I have some empty land, with no septic, 1 RV for me and my kids, and 1 RV for my brother and his family.,
They will be more brothers and sisters later on ,,, getting stuff started on our land, but, yup ,,, I don’t think we need to worry about a septic tank.,,,
Not worth it., it will take some time to get used to it, but,,,
It’s possible and doable,,, you and Stacy have a very nice homestead, good job to both of you, working hard to find peace and happiness and self sufficient,,, May God protect you guys in everything there🙏😊
Thank you so much for sharing this information. It is very hard to learn about lost skills like this in a more urban or small town setting because many people don’t see the value in it unfortunately. Much appreciated.
4:58 "No mas"
Lol, I say that to my dog when I give her the last of her treats. I'm pretty sure she understands because she walks away 😂
Me too! Haha!
@@stj971 😀
Thank you. Have not seen this aspect of off grid, living,
Especially useful in a more urban/suburban location.
It is amazing how the Earth contains the perfect environment to contantly recycle and reuse organic matter. A rather ingenious design, if you ask me.
Greerthetis1 Glad you agree?
That is why I will have a "green funeral" as well. I don't want that toxic famaldyhyd [sp] in my body vessel, in the soil, nor, do I want the toxins in the waterways.
Just wrap my body in a linen blanket, put a mason jar of daisy flowers next to a 5×7 photo of me smiling - and then put me in a biodegradable simple pine box.
www.nfda.org/consumer-resources/planning-a-funeral/green-funeral-and-burial
I’m just learning it all now, I’m so amazed by it all and can’t understand how we waste such a valuable resource down the drain, with all the commercial farming land with probably poor soil health... crazy. Crazy
Thank God he designed it
Our creator is marvelous
Amazing system! I'm impressed! I love the drone footage of your sweet homestead!
I hope God blesses me my wife and our son with a life style just like this. Hopefully someday soon.
Glad to hear Doug works for you Stacy! Haha! Mr Turkey is so cute following Doug around like a dog...y'all make great videos, thanks 😎👍
I love your videos. Mr Turkey is soooooo sweet ! Your property is so pretty !
That was a cute saying.
I really liked the way #Doug put the words into his latest videos. Cool 😎
RiverRat RVer I know! Mr. Turkey is so funny!
We had to leave our home, long story... We rent a trailer now, still try to keep off grid in some ways, but we can't compost toilet any more... And it is the one thing I miss the MOST!!! I hate flushing toilets, hate it!!! Love your system, and will do this again some day!!!
Teila Sherwin I hate toilet paper 🧻
Tried to convince my family to stop once ... we can use cloths and I’ll even buy a separate washer... nope.
I hope you are blessed with a new home so you can poop in a bucket again.
Rent a 1 acre piece of farm and compost away with free Veggies /chickens etc !
My friend, you are 100% correct ... that compost does not look like poop and the odor is actually a pleasant earthy smell. People need to get get over their silly aversion to using humanure. That stuff is *GOLD!!!*
Great system! Thanks for the information and actually showing the process! Makes so much more sense than wasting all that water.
Our world is already better with people like you and I.... thanks X3 for sharing with us a cleaner natural world
Don't know what to call the contents of the buckets?
How about *"Processed Foods"* ?
Relates rather well to what's on offer in packets from the supermarket.
Just the video I needed to see. Thank you
I was doing the ewww thing but we use animal matter for compost. Thank you for sharing.
Love you guys!! Awesome channel. I'm in English chef living and owning my Gastropub in Warsaw, Poland!! Watch you every evening, longing for spring to come!!! You rock! I admire your real craftsmanship, especially in the build videos. Nice one guys!
Thanks Eddie!
This is such an amazing answer to this question homesteaders might have had about human waste & composting. In the end, Nature takes care of us! Blessings to you both!
I'll be going to the composting bucket method soon, thanks for the up close and personal. Seeing how you handle it makes it less intimidating.
Thanks, for sharing!!
@Blue Skies Read The Humanure Handbook. It is filled with all sorts of graphs and charts showing how safe this is WHEN DONE CORRECTLY. The key is the use of cover materials (sawdust, leaves) between all deposits.
@Blue Skies Sorry, but you sound like a hypochondriac to me. What exactly do you think happens to human waste when you flush it into a water treatment plant or a septic tank? I'd argue that both of those methods pose a greater hazard to human health than composting it. If human waste were that dangerous, we'd all be dead by now.
@Blue Skies a few years ago, my mil told me about a home remedy for parasites the her mama told her about, which was to place a root of poke salat into her chicken water. So, I found a little information on this and learned that it was used by everyone as a broad spectrum treatment for parasites. There really wasn't too much information other than it was fed to animals, cooked and eaten by humans and even a tea was brewed from the roots for consumption. I don't know if this could be effective in treating you, but if you haven't tried it may be it could be worth a look. Have you ever heard of this before? Thanks. Hope you are doing well.
Cheryl, don't let the fecophobic alarmists scare you away from doing this. Do Doug and Stacy look like they're infested with parasites? I think not!
@@dragonmammma I am familiar with parasites and their life cycles since I raise animals and need to keep them worm free. I'm careful because parasites can gain immunity and can kill. However Earth is a closed loop and to think that by flushing waste into an anaerobic water system that we are getting rid of it is short sighted too. I'd rather compost and break the life cycle. I also agree with Stacy, the wet mold producing area around a sweating toilet in the warm time of the year has it's own negative health rammifications.
What I have found with my animals is when they are fed well and healthy they are much less susceptible to parasites and disease, so taking that into consideration as prevention is important too.
Sounds like you have some good experience with this system. I appreciate the encouragement.
“that is Doug, he works for Stacy” she owns the place! Lol Great videos! Merry Xmas 🎄from Canada
Absolutely Fascinating!! This is Exactly what we want to do on our homestead!!