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How to Maintain your Humanure Pile
If you’re not sure what a Humanure setup is or where to start, take a look at this blog post covering the basics of Humanure.
We also highly recommend the “Humanure Handbook” by Joseph Jenkins, available here.
Once you’ve established a Humanure pile and have fed it a couple of times it’s time to make a plan for maintaining the pile. Follow this easy step-by-step guide to make sure your humane pile is healthy and composting just the way it’s supposed to be.
Move it!
Move the top covering layer to the edge, then make a concave area in the middle of the pile. You always want to feed the center of the pile.
Feed the pile!
The photo shows a ripe bucket of food scraps. As a rule of thumb, combine a 5-gallon bucket of Throne solid composting toilet contents with one to two 5-gallon buckets of food scraps.
Add Carbon
Foods scraps are very nitrogen rich and can be soupy if they’ve broken down a bit already. Add enough shredded leaves, hay, or wood scraps to even out the wetness of the food scraps. This helps keep down the smell and will give a better Carbon to Nitrogen ratio.Solid composting toilet contents are much dryer and very carbon rich mainly due to the covering material used (e.g., sawdust, coconut coir). If you are maintaining a composting pile with only humanure, you may need more nitrogen rich material and moisture (urine or water).
Cover
with fresh hay. A covering material like hay will keep bugs at bay and allow the contents to stay moist longer. Directly after feeding the pile, the temperature should rise. If the temperature is flat or decreases, you may need to add more moisture or carbon-rich material, or both. One way to do that is by adding more urine directly on top of the hay layer. Your target temperature for the interior core of the pile should be about 120 to 130 degrees. Add food scraps and liquids weekly, and Throne composting toilet contents biweekly. Once your bin is full, let it sit for at least a year before using it as compost for your garden.
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