Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Privy Party at The Poor Farm



My Latrine Lads
From left, sons Kyle and Jason, husband Keith and son Colton


Mother's Day is grand. Over the years I have given and been given many an aromatic item. Perfume, flowers, bubble bath, candy (nothing smells as lovely as rich dark chocolate unless it is the brisk sea tripping the skin off your cheeks on The Cliffs of Moher) to name a few.

But the aroma of fresh, rich DIRT being shoveled out of a deep dark hole by the four grown men in your life...now that is a lovely Mother's Day aroma.

Yes, indeed.

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While many a son might be tempted to merely take a mama out for lunch my three most willingly agreed to dig me a hole for our Poor Farm Privy. I know, I know, but seriously you cannot all be me, no matter how much you wish it.

You might recall that the elder son built us an outhouse for our new place this past Christmas. It has been hibernating at The Poor Farm until two days ago when after careful consideration of placement (downwind from the future house) drainage ( slight slope backwards) aroma control (in the shade) and asthetics (near a flowering fruit tree with the outhouse window facing east for the morning sun)  we commenced the digging of the hole.



Keep in mind we are latrine virgins. Yes, we've used a few over the years, most were bad, but we have never owned one outright. Seriously, no mortgage or lien on this little outhouse. And when you own something you take pride in it do you not?  Renting an outhouse just isn't the same. So therefore we did our research about outhouse hole size, location and construction.

Amazing really, the number of websites totally designated to this topic. There were indeed several steps involved in the process of securing a semi-permanent home for our new outdoor throne.

Measuring from the well to the new outhouse site


First: the location. Common sense tells you it should be AWAY from the house, ours is located over 160 feet away from our proposed new home site, and FAR AWAY from your well. Ours is over 200 foot from the current well. Pick a private spot but not so far away that if you must use it in the winter you have to rent a snowmobile. We also chose a spot about halfway across our property which will make it handy when you don't want to use the inside toilet or you have a yard full of company. We only plan one composting toilet inside the house so having two places on the property to "go" will be most convienent.

Second:  the hole. Four feet was the average depth suggested. Width varies on the size and construction of your outhouse. Our sons had great fun digging the first 12 inches. One would swing the pick ax to break up the soil while another would dig and another would direct. The ground was soft due to hevy rain the night before. Several pieces of old metal were uncovered.

The next 12 inches were a bit more difficult as the dirt becam more clay like, heavier and the sun heated up. But still they took turns and made progress.



In the 3rd foot of digging, fatigue set in as did thirst and increased sweat production. Also the clay soil mix evolved into thick heavy wet clay. If one of us had had a potters wheel (and skill) we could have made of new set of dishware.

In the 4th foot of digging despair set it. Would it ever be deep enough? Was someone messing with the tape measure because after digging for 30 minutes only another inch of cay had been removed. Could that be right?


Eventually the hole became so difficult to maneuver in that only one son, the youngest wiry one, could stand in the pit and comfortably use the shovel.



His brothers provided essential emotional support.



They also wheeled away heavy wheel barrow loads of clay. Please note: I myself did not lift one shovel full of dirt, not wanting to get in the way of my gift from my sons. I did of course give advice, lecture and warn (If you behead yourself with that pickax don't come crying to me!) and fetch cold drinks including homemade-fresh-squeezed-lemonade. As blog follower Carolyn alwasy says,I rock. Moving on...

Third: The inner hole frame. While my three sons slaved away and truly they worked HARD, their father constructed the inner frame of the  hole, a wooden box made of old pallets and recycled wood. Meant to keep the earth walls from caving in it required some extra shaving off of the holes dirt walls to make it fit.


 

 


 

 
 When they didn't work my four guys did what all men do when something won't fit; they used brute force. A couple of times. A couple of times more.



Finally the 30 by 40 inch box fit into the somewhat 30 by 40 inch hole.

Thank you sister Mary for the pallets!
Yes, the pallets will eventually rot, over several years but that wood will just add material to the newly formed "compost" pile. If the hole fills too quickly and we have to move the latrine we can just add some dirt over the old hole and plant a tree. For a $1000 donation to The Poor Farm I'll even put a tag on the tree with YOUR name on it :)

Fourth: Drag the outhouse over to it's new home. Try hard not to tip the outhouse over onto ones youngest son. A huge heavy chain attached to the bottom of building which had large skids underneath, made the process easy. Well, it was easy for me, the woman behind the lens.


 
 
 


Fifth: Cut a hole in the bottom of the outhouse. So glad we remembered that little step! We plan to install a small round metal barrel leading from the outhouse seat into the dug hole in order to decrease waste splashback, directing it right where we want it.



Sixth: Position the latrine over it's hole and back fill around the bottom of it to lesson small critter invasion. The clay dug from the hole will certainly harden and secure the outhouse in place.



Seventh: ENJOY!!!

22 comments:

  1. What a wonderful and useful Mother's Day gift.

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  2. Fabulous and well done! Just look at those beaming faces!

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    1. Yeah, I love the last phot too. Going to have it blown up and put on my mantle..as soon as I get those men to build me a mantle.

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  3. I am envious of your outhouse. Sounds strange for most folk, but truly, I am! Now who's going to be the first to "christen" it? Ewww. :)

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    1. I knew you'd get it Carolyn. I used to have outhouse envy too. And the GK's cristened it!

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  4. Now that's what I call a Mother's Day Present ! Brilliant!
    Gill

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    1. Thanks Gill...now you know how to install one for YOUR favorite female in the family.

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  5. Do you have to cover up the droppings? Or they just... pile up in the hole? What a wonderful gift - as a 2nd toilet, it makes sense ;-)

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    1. Roberta, like Cro says belwo, we will put a small cup of sawdust into the hole after each use. Liquid waste will evaporate and solid waste will decompose. At least thats the theory.And since about 4 out of 5 of our visiting family members say they will never use the privy it should takes decades before it fills!

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  6. What will you use to put in on top? Sawdust I believe is good, but I've heard that certain soils will make solids almost disappear overnight. In the days when London still had 'Earth Closets', sand was used; the expression 'Happy as a sand boy' dates from those times.

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    1. Yes, sawdust is the plan. Because the walls and floor of the privy are heavy clay we do wonder about how fast waste will decompose...time will tell. Love the Earth Closet designation!

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    2. Maybe a few 'composting worms' as well.

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    3. With walls of clay the worms will make there way there anyway. This is all good good good for worms and i agree with the sawdust. Do you have ready supply.

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  7. A truly beautiful outhouse! I grew up with an outhouse, and ours never smelled bad because it had a vent pipe that went from the hole below out the ceiling. Any bad odors were drafted up and out the pipe, like a chimney pulls smoke. It really made it a pleasant place to linger. Unless a flying squirrel came for a visit, then it was a speedy trip!

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    1. Thank you Rain, I forgot to tell about the vent pipe for which a hole is already present in the outhouse. Soon hubbie will install the pipe which will vent away the bad stuff. At least that is the theory :)

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  8. In the land of Oz its called a Dunny and it has featured in many songs, stories, jokes, books etc. I grew up with one down the paddock and yes, it was very cold in winter but it made you do your biz. and get back to bed fast.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDAiq2-xeU

    Yep, i remember ours had a vent pipe as well. It didnt really smell but yes, it did have the occasional spider.

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    1. A "Dunny" you say? Why is that? What is the origin of the term? Inquiring outhouse owners want to know.

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    2. Dunny or dunny can is Australian slang for toilet, either the room or the specific fixture, especially an outhouse or other outdoor toilets. It is often used to specify a distinction between a flushing toilet and a non-flushing toilet (e.g., a longdrop or thunderbox). First used in print in 1952, the word is believed to be derived from the much older 'dunnakin' (also spelled 'dunnigin' and 'dunegan')[1] meaning privy.

      Got to love that Australian Slang.

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  9. This give me so many memories. In the small town, Halloween meant that the older outhouses would be tipped over.
    Our outhouse on the farm had reached its limit. My father spent most of the day wearing his "wellies" and stamping the excrement down. My youngest siblings sat near-by to watch him, while eating Hershey bars. My father had a very weak stomach. It was awesome.

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    ReplyDelete