The Opening of the Poo Palace

The formal "ribbon" cutting.

There have been periods in my life when I have lived in a house that had a composting loo. It's always been an unnatural feeling to then go back to using a flush toilet where you do your business into water. "Why is this precious resource (water) being desecrated and valuable resources (poo) flushed down the toilet?", I have protested as I feebly pressed the flush button.
We Peace Farmers decided enough was enough and hatched a plan to get good old Muza (me) to build a repository worthy of its precious cargo.....In short, a composting dunny. But this was to be no simple hole in the ground. It needed to be able to store a sizeable volume of waste and then have it be easily removeable to where it could compost over time and ultimately fertilize the fruit trees, with minimum handling. We went with the wheelie bin design where you basically fill up a wheelie bin and then park it somewhere for 6 months to a year. Meanwhile you replace that bin with another and start the process over again

The esteemed guests of the launch

The throne itself needed to provide the option of being able to sit or squat and so includes ample room for feet around the rim. Other features include a big window looking out over the mountains to the north, a self closing door so that gail forced winds don't tear said door off its' hinges and an internal lock so that participants can enjoy their time undisturbed.
Upgrades to come include a blackboard to record those moments of pure brilliance that visit us when we are in such states of repose (I can't wait to read such inspired prose!) and a bucket for the sawdust that's going everywhere at the moment because it's just in a bag.

The proud creator of the "Poo Palace"

So how's it going? Does it smell?
It's going great. We've just about filled our first wheelie bin and there's no offensive odour. I did attach a hose fitting and a wire mesh to separate and drain off any excess fluid at the base of the bin  because I was told that the urine creates most of the bad odours but as we don't use the toilet to specifically urinate into (what....and deprive the lemon trees!) there isn't enough to cause a problem.
So in all it's a great success. It has a devoted crew of regular users who aren't afraid to brave the elements in order to reach the outdoor dunny. After all, it is a bit of a pilgrimage where we pay our respects to the Great Mother and give back a little something after receiving so much