Monthly Archives: May 2015

Fine Artist and our Mahoe Hardwood- May 2015

Joel Kaufman of Ellicott City, MD, has created this fine intarsia piece in about 6 months, and we are honored to share it with you. The pattern was replicated from a Phillip Ratner tapestry.  There are 50 different wood species using no stains or coloring with over 400 individual pieces.  It has over 100 shims and measures 19” x 35”.

Joel: “The blue mahoe pieces are the water on both sides of the ark, the whale’s spout of water (this is where I love the varying shades of blue mahoe), the translucent pieces through the whale and the stripe on one of the people on the ark.  No other wood I could find had these various shades of blue/purple/green and it was very easy to cut, shape, sand and finish”.

Here is a link to the process:

Humanure Toilets

USING THIS TOILET

1) Make your deposit, along with toilet paper.

2) Cover completely with sawdust. No odors.

3) Close the toilet lid. Keep it clean.

Using tested methods, humanure composting is underway at Las Casas de la Selva with impressive results. 3t has been very successfully composting humanure for over a decade. The process is exactly the same as an ordinary compost and along with depositing the humanure, (feces & urine), the compost pile is augmented with garden prunings, grass cuttings, leaves, etc. This pile is left to sit for at least a year and two months before use. The quality of this humus is phenomenal fertilizer for plant growing.

Regular toilets usually flush humanure away into septic tanks using clean water, but it could instead be converted, through composting, into lush vegetative growth. Humanure is a valuable resource and saves a ton of water. These humanure toilets were built at Las Casas de la Selva, by Andres and 3t in February 2013, and we have been collecting all our volunteers valuable deposits ever since.

Deep colored, rich compost ready for using in the gardens. You can’t buy this anywhere!

Thinking about waste management intelligently!

Thanks to Mark Nelson and Joseph Jenkins

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