The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 22 of 23)
Rikard Lindstrom of Tyreso, Sweden, has patented a simple
aerobic composting chamber. Its salient feature consists of
a sloping (16-degree) bottom to the tank, which provides
for a continual movement of the decomposed refuse to a
storage chamber as additional wastes are added to the other
compartment. The chamber bottom should contain a thick lays
(12-inches) of straw or sawdust so that urine will be
absorbed and reclaimed. This porous layer of cellulose also
provides aeration to the central section of the pile.
Lindstrom used a system of inverted U-shaped conduits and
ventilation holes to provide adequate aeration. Air
circulation is also accelerated through solar-heated flue
conversion.
RELATED CONTENT
What you need to know about locating your rural water supply, from the Have-More Plan....
One of the most overlooked sources of shop project raw material here in the U.S. and Canada is the ...
A barrel and sink make an excellent place to wash tools and work materials, includes materials list...
You can construct the home built cistern for relatively little expense and with a weekend's work....
How to build this accurate, helpful gauge, including diagrams, blueprints, instructions....
In Japan, where excreta is traditionally used as a
fertilizer, powdered soybean is often added. Enzymes in the
soybean speed up the breakdown of organic solids. Kazuyoshi
Yamaji of Tokyo holds a U.S. patent on a "powdered
deodorizer of the acceleration of ripening of organic
fertilization fertilizers." A dried and powdered cereal
containing a large quantity of enzyme is first mixed with
rice-bran, barley-bran, or wheat-bran. Water is added and
it is heaped for fermentation. It is then dried and
powdered and mixed with tricalcium phosphate and the powder
of germinated seeds of cereal such as barley, wheat, bean,
etc. which contains a large quantity of enzyme. Only a
small quantity of the finished product need be sprinkled on
the excreta.
Bio-Dynamic gardeners use a special
preparation—inocula—in making compost humus.
The formula is based on the researches of the late Dr.
Rudolf Steiner. One of these exotic preparations (502) is
made from yarrow blossoms, fermented together with deer
bladders over a period of 6 months in earth during the
winter.
Using enzymes, hormones, or biocatalysts in the
decomposition of organic material and for nitrogen fixation
may prove to be an interesting sideline, but none of these
inocula are really necessary to a properly balanced compost
environment. Organic material contains all the growth
factors and vitamins necessary for normal development.
These growth factors are produced by micro-organisms in
sufficient quantities in a mixed microbial population to
meet normal growth requirements.
From the point of view of cost, health, and good design, I
recommend the cylinder-shaped structure. The 4-foot
diameter structure contains, in its series of levels:
Effluent drainage pit, compost chamber, bathroom facility,
solar water heater. A very simple slip-form jig can be
employed to build the solid concrete walls. The complete
unit is available from me for loan to interested people.
Floor and roof are cast-in-place concrete. Ideally the unit
would be built on a hillside to provide best access to the
compost compartment. It can be built as a detached
structure or connected to hall, breezeway or directly to
sleeping unit. The accompanying drawings and photos best
illustrate the structure and techniques of construction.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 | 22 |
23 |
Next >>
