Jay Angler

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Right, so I plan to install an outhouse this year. The purpose is a Plan B in case our creaky old septic acts up, and a handy loo for visitors on bonfire nights. The goal is occasional use, but when needed it will be heavily used.

Requirements:
-- It must not stink. At all. Ever. The most discerning urban nose must be convinced. (Particularly the female half.)
There are many factors here:
1. Positive air pressure in the "people" part, which keeps all the smells in the "microbe" department.

2. Determining if enough of the "people" are trainable to lower the lid! The seat needs to be flat to the base, and the lid needs to have a sealing surface contacting it.

3. You need easy to use cover material.

4. If I'm assuming correctly, this building will be used for both urine and stool. Keeping those as separate as possible would help considerably.

-- It must be available day and night.
1. The easy solution would be to run power to it. You could likely get away with 12volt DC with the complicated stuff in the house because your 2 uses would be for light and a fan. I have nothing against a small solar panel on the roof, except that during the big dark there's a good chance any batteries would run out if you were really counting on it.

2. There are temporary solutions for bonfire nights, but if this is your back-up for a failing septic tank which I recall from past posts, has frozen on you in the winter, I really do think you need to plan for all weather, all conditions, the worst of the worst.


-- It must not be outrageously cold to use, even in winter.
1. The two things that affect warmth are thermal mass and insulation. Thermal mass is great if your plan is to heat the building year round as efficiently as possible. Thermal mass is a negative for intermittent, short term use. *Lots* of insulation, and that double seal door arrangement Rico suggested, will allow you to heat the space quickly with a relatively small amount of input.

2. Since I'm backing the cold intolerant side of the equation (trust me, I can turn into an icicle faster than anyone I've ever met, and thawing me out requires an external heat source, so I understand this need), and if you follow my advice for getting permanent power out there with a back-up generator, I'd vote for a heated toilet seat. *Nothing* is nastier than having to sit on a frigid seat, and us women have to do it for pee as well.

But there must be a loo in the Taj Mahal somewhere -- maybe one of the outbuildings? Will a few coats of whitewash suffice?
1. Light coloured interior certainly make a place cheerier - no scary dark corners please! However, "pretty" often just takes consideration of the likes/dislikes of your partner, and making the area a) welcoming, b) possibly humorous to make people smile, and c) definitely easy to clean. My one toilet has a glass framed poster opposite it. Not fancy, but better than a blank wall or just the towel rack that's below the poster. My other toilet faces a mirror, which means the picture I hung behind the toilet (planet earth from space taking 40 years ago at least by some astronaut) can be seen in the mirror.

2. Similarly, the outside depends on what appeals to the family. Do you want it to look like a miniature version of a Disney Castle, or are you into rustic wood cabin with a green roof? I would either make a statement, or go for cute but "invisible", myself. Is it a spot you would want it to do double duty, such as garden tools in the entrance?

How would you do it?
I'm still working on it... I absolutely need an outdoor loo, but it will likely be some sort of "bucket system" because it likely will only get rare use unless shit happens (yeah, yeah, couldn't resist). I'm leaning towards small and lightweight so our tractor could actually move it around as needs change, but we don't have your cold weather. I'm also leaning towards more than one because our property is such a weird shape. I'm also in a Municipality which may be "technically" rural, but the bylaws don't reflect that, so having the building do double duty and not "look" like an outhouse has a lot to say for it.

I have read that it is important for bamboo plants to have their leaves as mulch under them. I realize that in some urban areas this can be a problem if the leaves are blowing around. I do understand that some people just *don't* want your leaves on their land!

So tricks I would try:
1. I normally want to prune some of the lower branches off the bamboo culms to make it safer and easier for me. These are usually quite thin, so I place them on the ground near the edge of the patch to help hold the leaves in place.
2. I would consider a bit of decorative fencing  - it could even be made out of the bamboo - to hold the leaves inside the patch, rather than them migrating out onto walkways or blowing into neighbors' yards.

If neither of those are options, I tend to agree with William and would try making biochar with them. I dried some Horse Tail, which is also known for its silica content, mixed it with sawdust, and made a lovely biochar just using a pan in my woodstove.  There are several ways of making small quantities of biochar even in an urban area.

How did this work out? Did you do some creative things with it?

I'm on a homestead, so my projects tend to be on the practical side, rather than the pretty side. I learned off the web how to make a simple "tripod knot" ( https://www.animatedknots.com/tripod-lashing-knot ) and used it for bean tripods. It's easy to hook on extra poles if you need them.

I have also pushed poles into the ground and then braced them with horizontal and diagonal poles for strength and function. I would suggest you allow 2-3 times more length of rope to tie the poles together than you think you need. Bamboo is quite slippery and you need to wrap the rope around many times, in many directions, for it to feel secure.  However, I used a frame like this to hold a group of tomato plants one year, and they were quite happy.

This link has some inspiring ideas and some good info:
https://permaculture.com.au/bamboo-permaculture-robyn-francis/

I do somewhat question this statement in Nancy's link:

Clumping bamboo is a great choice for creating a low-maintenance garden

I think one has to be careful not to confuse "low-maintenance" with "no-maintenance". Just like grass actually grows better with at least yearly "maintenance" (isn't that what my geese do?), bamboo, being in the grass family, *needs* yearly time spent removing older culms to give new culms a place to grow. I learned this by having to try to revive old clumps that hadn't been tended for years. By letting them grow too crowded, I couldn't get any tool into the clump to remove dead or old culms selectively. I ended up having to chop huge sections out, and the result wasn't pretty.

Choosing the "right" variety for the "specific" location is always a help, but shade tolerance usually leaves quite a bit of room for any plant that doesn't demand "full sun". I do totally agree with where the link suggests "natural plant shade" is different from "tall building shade". If the bamboo isn't getting quite as much sun as it might prefer, it may just take longer to establish, grow fewer culms/year, and the culms may be narrower and shorter. If you're looking to upcycle the old culms for tomato stakes, a bit shorter isn't going to cause a problem!

Gir The Bot wrote: Can bacon go on muffins?

I've seen a muffin recipe that had bacon in it. I wonder where?

Savory Bacon Muffins
Servings: 12
Author: Jaclyn Prep: 10minutes minsCook: 40minutes minsTotal: 50minutes mins
Savory bacon muffins are a hearty and delicious breakfast packed with bits of Hatfield Applewood Smoked Bacon and a hint of sweet maple flavor.
Ingredients
▢1 lb Hatfield Applewood Smoked Bacon
▢2 cup all-purpose flour
▢2 Tablespoons baking powder
▢½ tsp salt
▢1 large egg
▢½ cup milk
▢½ cup veg oil
▢½ cup maple syrup
Instructions
Cook bacon in a skillet or on the griddle until crisp. Remove and place on a paper towel to cool.
Using your hands, crumble the bacon into small pieces. Reserve 2-3 tbsp for topping.
Preheat oven to 400.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and bacon.
In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, vegetable oil, and maple syrup. Pour over dry ingredients and stir gently until dry ingredients are moistened.
Spoon batter into a lightly greased muffin tin and top each muffin with a sprinkle of the reserved bacon.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until tops are golden and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.
Serve warm and enjoy!

From: https://crayonsandcravings.com/bacon-muffins/#wprm-recipe-container-35537

I guess bacon needs to go on the shopping list!

We have one advantage. The Grey squirrel is an introduced species, so there's no bag limit. I have a friend who hunts them ( he's a wild bird fanatic and squirrels are very hard on the nesting birds) and either skins and eats them, or feeds them to the local owls. A couple of years ago, he had an owl visit regularly that was raising 3 owlets. She'd call to him as if to say, "Come on, my babies are hungry, help out will you?"

I switched some time ago to using cloth hankies for everyday use. I use upcycled flannel from old sheets and make them on the smaller size so that they fit in my small pockets, and so I can toss them in the wash regularly.

I admit, I haven't caught the Martian Death Flu (substitute whatever the current concern is).  If I did, I would be willing to use tissues, put them in a paper bag, and burn them in our wood-stove. So realize that I am asking the question regarding the everyday sniffles, often from pollen outbreaks, where it seems to me that the comfort of flannel is so much nicer on my nose, the flannel doesn't fall apart from repeatedly being jammed in my pants pocket along with keys and pocket knife, and that doesn't fall apart in the wash when I forget to check that one... last... pocket...

If you do want to sew your own, this thread is for you: https://permies.com/t/177617/Making-Hankies
It has lots of great info and may try to influence your feelings on the subject.

If you sew your own, you can earn a badge bit for the SkIP program. Just head over here: https://permies.com/wiki/128025/Sew-grocery-bags-PEP-BB

Nina Surya wrote:Then clags would be the growing amount of soil (usually clay) firmly attached to the soles of one's boots :)

Oh, man, those can be sooooo.... annoying! I needed a word for that! (Not to mention, a convenient pointy rock to scrape it off on.)