Burn Your Shit

I don’t know where I heard about incinerator toilets before, but I thought about them today and thought I’d check them out.

First post I found on the net was on this blog.

Here is a little excerpt,

“The gateway to Hades opens up and everything within a couple inches is sucked into its gaping maw. The toilet then incinerates your thoughtful gifts at a very high temperature. I’m guessing somewhere around 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit or the surface temperature of the sun, whichever is hotter. The manual says 1,200 degrees F. For those of you recipe freaks, that’s 1,200 degrees for one hour, then cooled to 130 degrees over the next 45 minutes.”

nice.

I’m looking into off-the grid options for human waste disposal. I looked into composting toilets and composting shit before. But I like the more elegant solution of grey/black water wetland systems much better. Now, if you don’t live on your own land or in the woods, the thought of walking around with a bucket full of shit and thinking about where to dispose of it, gives me kind of a headache.

But there is another option, incinerator toilets. I just had a quick look at them and they seem pretty cool. Clean and handy, you only have a little bit of ash to deal with, less smell and disgustingness then with other sustainable toilet options. The drawbacks are that you have to buy and burn paper liners, that it uses electricity and that it may create some slight air pollution.. to me, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives here. As a on-the-go solution that is. Still love the wetlands idea best I think.

And with under $2000US I think those toilets are pretty affordable.

This is how it works.

And here is a nice instructional video.

Have you heard of incinerator toilets before? What sustainable solution for toilets do you prefer?

 

Camping Impressions

Now how stupid is that?

It's the "Stupid Van". No offense, but what kind of a structure is this?!

This structure was actually standing under a roof as well. So you have like a caravan, that is permanently attached to a hut, and the whole structure is standing under an extra roof. Why not build just a cabin then!? Weird shit. I’ve seen a couple of those, they were painted in some really old school 70‘s colours, looking like the have been there for a while. I mean what’s the point? What’s the point of having a trailer if you can’t move it?

So pretty, right?! Love the texture and colours.

The obligatory goosebumps. I think you always get them when you are camping. At some point.

Brrr.. chilly..

We camped in a volcanic crater. Which is pretty cool.
Can’t see it, but here is the road that goes partially around it.

I love the contrast between the straw blonde grasses and the saturated green of the trees

Crazy Australian bark.

Shedding like crazy, what's up with that?! Are you a snake or a tree??

Our neighbours were a mini geologist, who proudly showed us all the rocks she’d collected, and her dad. I heard her father say in the morning, “You gonna get the hammer and break those rocks up?” Now that’s what I call positive parenting!

Other things that are nice about camping, setting up your tent right next to or in the woods, you got a great view from the tent, people are usually quiet, you can go for great nature walks first thing in the morning, sharing a fire with your neighbours, meeting new people.

Where do you love to go for a day or weekend trip? What do you love about it the most?

Back To Nature

Camping. Getting away from it all.  Like the time sucking-nes of the internet and facebook. Thank Fuck I don’t have a smart phone! I’m scared to get one!

Back to the basics, back to nature. Hearing the wind in the trees, seeing how dark it gets in the forest at night and how still. How wild it gets when the wind gusts blow suddenly through the forest.

Campfires! One of the best things about camping. When I smell the smell of wood fire it always reminds me of camping. It’s awesome. Something useful to teach your kids, how to make a fire. Responsibly of course.

Also great is to cook your dinner over a fire. How cool is that?! We had a frying pan with veggies over the fire, it took a while to heat up, but then it was sizzling away nicely.

Dinner

We got our veggies from the local farmer’s market.

Lunch

We just did a little bit of foraging, which basically just meant picking blackberries from the side of the track and of course, drinking the spring water, from the mineral springs.

They stain!

I like to take my regular bedding when I go camping. I mean this ain’t an arctic expedition nor are we climbing the Himalayas here, so no need for sleeping bags. Sleeping bags are not very romantic. Or very comfortable, otherwise you would probably always sleep in them.

This trip cured me from the idea of using compost toilets in the near future. I used one of them at the camp ground and came out nearly throwing up. THE SMELL!! Now some people say I’m sensitive to smell and I know I am, but that was something else! Now, I don’t know how viable wetland wastewater treatment is for the Australian climate, but I think that would be far more sophisticated.

I would think it would need less maintenance then composting toilets. And is less gross. And less crude. I’d say instead, use the toilet in town or dig yourself a hole!

Here is a picture of a campfire.

Campfires are the best!

Do you like camping and getting back to nature? What do you like best about it?

Tiny Houses

I love tiny houses.

I’ve seen a couple of videos about them now. They are so minimalist and efficient and cute.

There is even a tiny house movement!  And blogs about them, like the Tiny House Blog. I didn’t realize how popular they were.

There are different reasons why people choose to live in a tiny and/or portable home, getting out of the mortgage and work rat race, living more simple lives and living more sustainably are just some of them. Being able to move around and take your home with you, is another big drawing card for a portable home.

This woman let’s us have a look at her little house.

What i don’t like about it is that it doesn’t have a shower. I like that it’s pretty uncluttered and zen-looking. And those workshops they are holding look pretty cool.

I think a lot of people would be worried about the tiny space and where to store things, i’m not so worried about that, i would be more concerned about the following things..

What do you do with a compost toilet? What about the smell of it? Can you get biodegradable chemicals for it?
Where do you get your water from? What do you do with waste water? Where do you put your rubbish? Compost?
What do you do about electricity? Propane? Solar? And the biggest question of all is, where the hell do you park it?

Love this little cabin too, although this is not a portable one. I like the portable ones, but i like this one too, coz it’s bigger.
He also shows how he hooks up his shower and gas and shit which is pretty interesting. You know the important stuff!

Well, what i was saying about the parking just before, here is a pretty sad article of what some nazi councils are up to nowadays. Kicking people off THEIR OWN land, some of who have been living their for 30 years! Pretty sad! It’s all for your own protection.. much safer for you to be homeless.. A bit ranty i know, but this just makes me angry.

So if your house isn’t built up to code for your area or country you might get in trouble with the authorities, so please take that into consideration.

I will definitely consider a tiny house for the future. We will see what happens..

What do you think about tiny houses? Too tiny? Do you like the sustainability? What would your improvement be?