A Nostalgic Saturday And The Seasonal Compost Flip

Last weekend, we took a break from our own day to

day hub-bub and helped out some fellow tinies.


It felt really good to build again...to be around a still forming tiny house....to be around a pair absolutely lit afire with excitement, conviction, and determination. Our friends, Justin and Jenny, first found us through our blog. They began following along- avidly- earlier than most. With every post they commented and shared our enthusiasm- helping propel us forward on days we couldn't quite do so by ourselves. Then, we started a totally unrelated business, but they embraced that with the same bright delight as our tiny house journey- nearly every week, one or both would visit us at the farmer's market, buying a smattering of items each time. They even put us in contact with a possible restaurant collaboration! 

Before and After in the "Bedroom" :)

They also came over a few weekends back, our first dinner party of any kind! It was a great time, full of enlivened conversation and a genuine desire to learn about one another. We learned that our timelines had certain similarities. In October of 2013, as we moved into our tiny house- still not quite complete- they moved into the small RV they currently call home. It was a strategic step on their part, not only did it help them financially in preparing for the project, it prepared them for living tiny before they even began prepping the trailer. They have faced two hellish winters (for RI anyway) in that small, scantily insulated RV. During the especially bitter days of February, when we couldn't keep the propane coming fast enough, they had to retreat to a family members house. Now that's commitment!!  With all that on our minds, Dan and I just really want to see the marvelous couple enjoy this coming winter in the comforts of their new tiny house. 

We arranged to come help them out some Saturday. With the markets winding down and the weather closing in, we committed to a weekend. We headed out that morning, all layered up, tools in hand, pencils behind the ears, ready to put in a good days work. We showed up to help at a great point in their build too-- they were beginning the interior finish surfaces. We can SO relate to this couple on a level that is hard to describe to anyone who has not faced this kind of project. I remember the utter joy that pulsed through me as we put up those first few beautiful blonde planks of pine. AT LAST! No more bloody insulating! No more ugly insides of the walls to stare at! This is our finished wall! 

We quickly split into teams. Justin and Dan went to work on putting up the rest of the ceiling insulation- up to the bathroom, while Jenny and I worked on installing the first pieces of dry wall in the bedroom area. They have a goose-neck trailer, and like many with that trailer type, decided to put the bed up in that space. I was excited to see a goose-neck design in person. 

By the end of the afternoon, Dan and Justin had completed the ceiling insulation, and started putting up the ceiling sheets. Jenny and I completed all drywall in the "bedroom" and the step down area up to the front door. It was so much fun working with them and getting back to a project like this. Don't get me wrong, I love to bake, but it was a welcome change of pace for the day. Follow their story and root them on as they race to move in before the snow slows them down! Checkout their blog here. 

Just last weekend, we did our semi-annual flip of the compost piles. I was quite amazed to see how quickly the first year's pile shrunk. The compost bay that was mounded over full this April, only had inches of material left! Our second bay was nearing full, and could use a toss and a good infusion of carbon materials, so we flipped it into the first bay. Dan slowly tossed segments of the pile as I tossed in buckets full of leaves. It was a perfect time-- ample leaf piles had collected along the road and driveway. The material had already started to darken and breakdown. A rich earthy smell rose up from every new stab into the pile. 

This was mounded over the top just 6 months ago!

It's amazing in a way- to stand in front of a years worth of your own bio-material. It doesn't add up to as much as I thought. I had my worries about managing the actual mass of our heap when we first began. I don't know why I thought we would produce mountains of the stuff! Turns out that two compost bays measuring roughly four feet by four feet is enough for the two of us. It took us minutes to assemble using recycled (and totally free) pallets.

Ready for another year's worth!

We got lost in the numbers as we worked the heaps, calling out how much water we saved, how much energy saved for water that didn't need to be treated...the amount of chemicals that never got dumped into the water....the rippling waves of benefits seem to extend out into oblivion. All through such a simple, humbling practice. I am glad we chose to do this. I am glad we did not cling with fear to the porcelain bowl. An effect I didn't anticipate is perhaps my favorite: I feel so much more connected to everything around us, now that we are completing the true nutrient cycle...what we cannot use, we put back. 

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TEAM WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!

When It Rains, It Pours...In A Good Way

What a contrast from my last post! We went from not having much going on to a whole lot in the last seven days or so!

I'm revved up and ready to tackle a bunch of things on the to do list, so I'll keep the post short and sweet. I'm sure I'll have some rapid fire posts to break up and share all that we have been working on recently.

The Valley Breeze featured us in there April 15-21 issue. It was pretty cool to see our picture on the front page right at the top! We think Sandy did a great job portraying our message and we hope it inspires others to think about lessening their impact. Check it out if you can!


On April 16th, Dan and I presented (okay I did) at the 5th Annual Massachusetts Sustainable Communities Conference! We had a great time and a great group. It was really exhilarating to be surrounded by so many like minded people, and to have the honor of speaking was the cherry on top!

After the conference, I felt that familiar coasting feeling I used to get after completing a big demo for work. Between the Food Manager studying and certification and getting the tiny house presentation put together and practicing what I wanted to say- I was feeling the pressure. 


Then, the next day, what usually happens-- happened. I got a huge surge of energy and the gusto to tackle some nagging projects. I have been wanting to clean out and organize not only our closet, but our two main kitchen cabinets.  The closet just needed some vacuuming and tidying while the kitchen cabinets were a clean out and total re-organization. I was getting fed up with how we originally stored items in there. We have really fallen into a good rhythm in this tiny house of ours, and now that I understand our most common practices/habits, I felt I could organize the spaces more efficiently. 

This past weekend, we did some more long awaited chores and much needed yard clean up. Being spring and all, we wanted to do some "deep" cleaning. Which loosely translates to: let's clean some of the stuff that we barely ever clean. The toilet bench storage fit that bill. The wood shavings don't always make it right into the bucket, so over time, loose shavings build up. We emptied everything out, and swept out all the shavings. 


Through these cleanings, I actually found several useful items I had no idea about. HAHA I know, it seems impossible right? How could you NOT know what you have in just 128 square feet?! Well, even in small places, you can lose track of things. I was planning on henna-ing my sisters hair for her birthday. I had purchased the brown shade, but then decided I wanted to mix in some red after the fact. I was debating on ordering more henna. I'm glad I procrastinated there... I found a jar of dark red henna that I had ordered by accident quite a while ago. SCORE! While doing the kitchen clean up, I found two jars of a very expensive spice blend that I was just about to go buy on my next grocery run. In the closet, I relocated my stash of used gift bags/tissue paper (yep, really came in handy for the sister birthday), and a second box of contacts! I thought I was running out soon. 

This is only about 30% of what fits in there...

We also started evaluating all the goods we have accrued through the last two years or so. Now that I'm doing the entrepreneur thing (aka not earning money at the moment)- coming up with low cost or FREE solutions to our needs has become a seriously fun, cerebral, and very rewarding hobby. Our first 100% recycled build project is a bunny hutch. We want the buns to be able to enjoy some time outdoors during the day, burn off some energy, and hopefully blow away a bunch of hair. haha The less that falls off inside, the happier I'll be.

We rounded up quite a few goods from our various stashes. We will be able to create a deluxe double level bunny hutch for ZERO dollars. Yup, zero. We also have collected just about everything we need for our self-watering container garden set up- again zero dollars. I will have more posts coming up on both of these projects! 

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Look at all the loot! 

A Review of Our Waterless Loo

Full of our bio-goodness...
doesn't look gross to me!

As the winter months have worn on, our focus has shifted to improving the interior aspects of our home. That includes our toilet system.

A subject of much fascination, and just as much incredulity, the naturally composting toilet is really quite manageable and simple. As I have mentioned before, I strongly suggest to anyone interested in learning legitimate information on the subject- The Humanure Handbook. There have been few books that have had such a radical effect on my perspective and my choices. This book presented the subject objectively and the logic and cascading improvements that can occur seemed too much to pass by. I was resolute in using a naturally composting toilet after reading this book.

At the most basic level, it's all about the nitrogen to carbon ratio - which also inherently ties into moisture levels. If there is an excess of nitrogen, that is what causes the smell. If there is enough carbon to absorb this, the smell is neutralized. Carbon can be in the form of hay, leaves, wood shavings...any dried plant matter would work well. As for moisture, well that's kind of universal- if it's too moist, it's going to smell soon. I've seen plenty of comments from people saying something along the lines of:"I've been around composting toilets, and no matter what they say, it does smell. It stinks all the time." -To those people I would like to say, "Well, then you have been around a composting toilet managed by someone who doesn't know what they are doing." I've given serious thought more than once to making a video montage of just person after person stepping into our house and immediately asking them, "What does it smell like in here?" The most common answer? Fresh wood. 

~I am here to tell you, I've seen, smelt,  and lived it for over a year now. Composting toilets DO NOT STINK if they are properly maintained.~ 

A detail that I have come to value is that it's very important to have "live" carbon, as in, the material was never treated in any way. Often times, wood shavings are from heat treated wood, which means they are devoid of any of the microorganisms that help the composting process along. Yes, the stuff will still eventually compost, but it takes much longer. While many composting toilets use expensive and sizable incineration units (which from a nutrient cycle standpoint are just as bad as the regular flush), a naturally composting toilet can be obtained for less than $10. We have a five gallon bucket with a bench built over it to provide comfortable, traditional seating with the use of a toilet lid. All you need after that is some wood shavings, leaves, or hay--and of course some TP. 

So what are the chores of a composting toilet like? Not really much at all. We built an outdoor compost pile with recycled pallets. We take the bucket out about once a week and bury it in the large dedicated compost pile. Once the bucket is dumped, we rinse and scrub the bucket with biodegradable soaps and a toilet bowl brush. After the bucket is washed and rinsed, we return it under the bench and put down a fresh layer of shavings. Maintaining a steady supply of wood shavings has turned out to be the more onerous aspect. Since we haven't been doing a lot of work with wood lately, we don't have the benefit of free live wood shavings. We purchase shavings right now, and have to store them inside as well. I don't like paying for something I once got for free, especially when the kind that costs money is less superior.  These shavings are from treated wood, so the composting activity is minimal compared to what I have seen. 

Anyways- this drove me to find ways to improve the process. I was beginning to see that about 80-90% of our deposits were just pee, but there is the carbon and moisture to think about, so even every few pee deposits would require some shavings. The cost and challenge of storage space directed my focus to the shavings.  How can we use less? I remember seeing a small blurb as I researched composting toilets, but only read the title: "The Benefits of a Urine Diverter". I wish I had read that! I started looking into it recently and have learned some amazing things about pee! 

First and foremost, this would immediately solve the shavings issue- as this would eliminate 80-90% of the need for shavings! An added bonus would be the serious decrease in how often we would need to take the bucket out. I estimate every 2-3 weeks now! Not to mention- the outdoor compost pile is less than six months old and is fast approaching max capacity. I don't want our piles to be any larger than the space we built!

To complete the composting cycle, you need two piles that you rotate between each year. After letting one pile rest for one year, it is completely composted and safe for use as a fantastic soil additive, then you have an empty space to start that upcoming year's pile. 

Back to the tinkle, though. I have always known that urine can be a great fertilizer for the soil, I just didn't realize how great it really was. There is a lot of exciting research going on out there which shows that we could easily produce all the fertilizers we need to grow food and feed our country just by using our urine! No need for artificial chemicals or genetically modified monster plants. The ramifications of this shift in farming techniques is overwhelming. I'll just pick a few quotes that really nailed it home for me...

“The average person flushes the toilet five times a day, and four of those times are just for urine. This means that 80% of our flushwater—or over 4,000 gallons of clean water each year per person—is used just to get rid of urine! That is a lot of clean water used to transport ‘liquid gold’ into the sewer, where it becomes pollution. If we save it instead of flushing it, we can harvest a valuable resource that we can use in agriculture.” - Rich Earth Institute

"Human urine is naturally rich in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and with about 30 billion gallons produced every year in the US alone, it’s certainly in abundant supply. For the average person, a year’s worth of urine contains about eight pounds of nitrogen and nearly one pound of phosphorus – that’s enough to grow about one year’s worth of food!" 
-Rich Earth Institute

Read more here....and here.

As a result of all this, we were inspired to install a urine diverter. Now, there are many makes and models out there that will get the job done, but again, we like it cheap and simple. Ergo, the ginger bread men jar. BOOM. Urine = Diverted. hahaha

And for anyone completely horrified by this or the composting of poop, I urge you to do some research. Urine is sterile in healthy humans, and with all the added benefits it has for the earth and our future as a species, it's time we all re-think our immediate reactions to number one and two. It has been used all over the world for thousands of years in farming- with much more promising and sustainable results than any chemical product out there today. What I find most amusing, is that pretty much every person that is grossed out by composting human pee and pooh, readily accepts that- of course- it's good to fertilize the gardens with cow, goat, chicken, pig, etc pee and pooh. With so much tendency to think we are superior, why wouldn't our stinky stuff be superior as well? I've never understood that one. ;)

Sophisticated system, I know.

So with the new system in place, I find myself excited to do my own experiments with urine as a fertilizer for anything I might grow around the tiny house this season. Right now, we just water it down and dump it over our compost pile. I'm hoping it will give things a nice kick start and make up for all of the slowly composting treated shavings. We have already found that the ginger bread men take up just a little to much room, so we found a slimmer model. Once we eat all those pickles, it's the new wee pot! I cannot wait to get my hands on two books I ordered: Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine To Grow Plants and the Life Of Pee. I'm sure I'll be sharing what I learn in future posts!

In other news, we are in the March issue of RI Monthly Magazine! Grab yourself a copy and check it out! We were also lucky enough to get to see all the photos that Nat took, not just those included in the feature. They make our place look fantastic! (I can hear Dan now, 'That's because it IS a fantastic place, babe.") I grabbed a bunch of copies to share with family, we are so excited! :)

In other, other news, after a very long period of thought and deliberation, I have left my corporate travel job. The tiny house and the smart choices we have made with our financial habits has allowed me to make such a decision. I was no longer hamstrung by the fact that we needed a certain amount of money every month just to maintain. Paying off my car and CC's was huge. Now that our monthly living costs are much lower, I have more freedom to explore other options and seek out something that genuinely fulfills me. I'm not sure what that is yet, I've spent the last week just trying to get back in touch with who I am...was...or would like to be again. I have been cooking, painting, playing music, writing, photographing and feeling more alive by the day. I've also had serious boughts of worry, fear, uncertainty, but I knew that would come as part of the package. I was getting very comfortable and attached to the security of the job I had, but I also saw, what I considered the best and most interesting parts of me, slowly fading as all my energy each day went into work or just persevering the awful side effects of that work. 

Our future diverter- coffee mug for reference.

While many think I'm being foolish or perhaps just "not very smart" about this, I don't care. Ultimately it is my life, and I will do with it what I choose. On my last day, the only person I have to answer for is myself, and I don't want to be one of the vast majority that says they wished they had more time. They wished they had taken more risks and followed their own desires versus what was considered safe, smart, or conventional. 

It certainly won't be the first time in my life that I have made and stuck by a decision, despite many close to me warning against it. (Hint, this entire blog chronicles one of them.) And, I truly hope -that like so many times before- my choice, grit, and dedication will be met with amazing success. I want to try developing my own business of some sort, and I feel there is never going to be a better time than NOW. I'm still young, no kids yet, so I feel now is the time to give it a shot and see if I still have the fire and gumption to create and succeed with my own business. It could very well be a collection of smaller businesses, or just one solid business, or I might find that I prefer working for steady pay and letting someone else manage the headaches. Who knows!? I'm willing to face any outcome, because with that comes the contentment of knowing I tried and went after what I wanted. I guess that is what ate at me most...I was staying at a job I didn't particularly enjoy and certainly didn't personally interest me, and for what? I couldn't live with myself if I just stayed sitting at that desk because it was the "safe" or "smart" thing to do.  

There are three quotes (among thousands!) by Thoreau that I constantly recite to myself as of late:

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

"However mean your life is, meet it and live it." 

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."

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Batteries = RECHARGED!

Dan and I can't thank each and every one of you enough!

After my last post, the out-pouring of advice, encouragement, and support was truly amazing. Dan and I are both touched and rejuvenated. One of the first responses was simply a link to an article written by a fellow tiny houser, breaking down all the things that go through your mind, how you feel, how you may re-act, and by the end of that article I was already feeling a whole lot better. If you are feeling a little nutty or on the edge about your build- I highly recommend this article.

Throughout the first half of our build, we worked mostly alone, and felt mostly alone in our interests, goals, and enthusiasm for tiny houses. In 2012, the tiny house scene was beginning to bloom, but there still weren't a whole loft of networks out there. We are so grateful to have such an awesome community with us today. I'm feeling spunky and ready to do work, so I'll keep this post short.

Last weekend was the first time in a while that there were no family or other social engagements slated. We took that opportunity to dive back in again. We finally created an outdoor area for our composte, using once again, lovely pallets. That went together quickly, and aside from tip-toeing through a whole lot of poison ivy, it was a smooth process. We moved our compost from the temporary plastic bin to it's new place. Even as we dumped the organic matter and shuffled it all around, there was no smell, which means we are doing things right! 

Building that first was probably the best move of the day, and lucky for us, it was our first move of the day! Feeling quite chipper and at ease now that our pooh had somewhere to go become earth again, we set our sights on the next job. Can you guess? Yep- more pallet siding!

The Sunday before last, as you may recall, we spent prepping more pallets to go up on the walls. I'm not sure if I mentioned that the special saw we used at Dan's Dad's store up and quit on us. That was the only saw that would fit the particular blade we need to use for ship lapping. We didn't put up much of a fuss since that was the last step and we only had a handful of boards left. So we packed up and headed home. Dan's dad said the saw probably just over-heated and to give it some time.

So we some siding that was ready to go up. We spent the remainder of Saturday putting up siding. We didn't get the third wall done, but it's pretty close! On Sunday, we worked on the utility closet. We were both getting tired of staring at that house wrap every time we came home. Over the last couple weeks, when feeling especially overwhelmed, seeing that was like salt in the wound. So we decided to tackle what we could of that. We headed out and got supplies for the trim. 

After putting up the strapping, then cutting, painting, and applying the trim, we stood back to admire the improvements. Even the trim being in place was a substantial improvement!

On Tuesday, we both put in work after work. Dan went to his Dad's to try out the saw. It's officially dead. Boo. So the pallet siding is on hold yet again. While he was there, I did a little work on our center-pieces at my Dad's.

Dan had a great suggestion- we had some extra pallet wood that we had processed early on, but then as we got better at what we were doing, we realized these pieces were a little too thin for our liking, so they go tossed aside. The discrepancy in thickness wasn't a big deal for most pieces, but these were simply too thin in comparison to the rest of the lot. So we didn't put them up. I am SUPER GLAD, and I would go back in time and kiss the former me or former Dan- whoever said, let's just keep these for a while. Turns out the miscellaneous thin pieces added up to the perfect amount of wood to do the front of our utility closet! Since it was just two small areas of siding, the difference in thickness didn't matter. 

Once I finished putting up the last piece of siding on the front of the utility closet, I stood back and smiled from ear to ear. MAN is it great to look at this side of our house and not see house wrap anymore! Wooh! 

Next weekend, we plan to start getting that solar power system put together- that is, if the changing of angles on the wooden mounts goes well!

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