Dirty Thoughts—Manure and Compost Management in Doomsday

We preparedness-minded folks planning for the socialist
utopia promised by the powers that be have got gardens, fruit trees and berry
bushes, seeds, and hopefully some canning lids or a dehydrator.  And we’ve probably got chickens or other
livestock for fertilizing. 

But what if Plan A for fertilization fails?  What’s Plan B or Plan C?  Before coming up with alternate plans, it’s
important to understand the animal manure options.  And before that, we’ve got to cover what is
meant by hot and cold manure.

In general, hot manures
are low in moisture and high in nutrients and release those nutrients quickly, which
may result in burning the plants.  On the
other hand, cold manures are usually higher
in moisture and lower in nutrients and less likely to burn plants.  However, the definitions can get a little
blurry.  Some proclaim hot manures to be
cold and vice versa due to whether they can safely be directly applied to
plants without killing them.  And using
these parameters, rabbit, sheep, and even goat manure are sometimes considered
cold manures because they are pelleted and can be sprinkled about. 

Safer Manure Options

Alpaca, cold

Chicken (and other barnyard fowl), hot

Cow, cold (the manure from dairy cows is preferable to steer
manure as the former is much lower in salt content)

Goat, hot but can be sprinkled directly on soil

Horse, hot

Rabbit, hot but can be sprinkled directly on soil

Sheep, hot but can be sprinkled directly on soil

Unfortunately, what a lot of those who advocate just
sprinkling manures on top forget is that it’s not all about whether the plants
will be burned by fresh manure.  There is
also the issue of pathogens—fresh poop teeming with bacteria, some of which are
dying to kill you. 

And that means that all
manures, both hot and cold, should be composted before use.  And besides, that helps kill weed seeds as well.  Ideally, we have 6-12 months to compost
livestock waste and kitchen scraps before using it in the garden.  We’re able to turn it occasionally and build
the pile well so that it reaches an internal temperature of 140-160°F to kill
pathogens.

Unfortunately, we may not be living in an ideal world.  We might find ourselves in HIAH (Hell in a
Handbasket) world.  Are you going to be
able to monitor the compost pile temperature? 
Is that temperature going to be consistent?  Maybe some stuff on the outside won’t reach
the requisite temperature.  How will you
know?  What can you do? 

And then there are all the other fertilization and
composting issues of HIAH world.  What if
Plan A of using your chosen livestock manure doesn’t work out or is
insufficient?  And what if you really
have to raise more vegetables and fruits? 
Would you consider using manure from the generally forbidden 3 P’s?  Pigs, pets, and people?  Now we’re getting sketchy, but that’s what
HIAH world is.  So let’s consider, if not
for yourself, for knowledge you can share with others who might need it.

First off, why is manure from the 3 P’s generally considered
off-limits?  For starters, pigs and
people are too genetically similar.  (I’ve
never quite understood that—we don’t look that much alike.  However, before bio-identical human insulin
was available in the 1980s, beef and pork insulin were what diabetics most
frequently used.)  Secondly, meat-eaters,
including dogs and cats, carry more diseases that can afflict us.  In addition, pigs often carry roundworms and
other parasites which are not killed in their digestive tract or by
composting.  And finally, there are so
many pathogens that can develop and breed among those living in close
proximity, like people living with other people and pets. 

Sketchier Manure
Options, all of which are best avoided when possible

Pigs, really hot 

Cats

Dogs

People

Pig manure should
be really well composted, for at least a year to allow it to mellow enough and
kill pathogens.  

Realistically, the issue of using cat and dog manure may not even arise except for those few who have
stored a lot of food for their pets. 
Surviving cats will likely be outdoors, hunting rodents and birds to
earn their keep.  Dogs may be doing the
same.  If, however, they’re still alive, they
will be pooping. 

These points beg the question, can pet and human manure be
safely used?

The answer is a qualified (by me) yes.  Joseph Jenkins, author
of The Humanure Handbook, asserts
that using humanure is more than safe, and a totally responsible practice.  Steve Solomon, former owner of Territorial
Seed Company and author of Gardening When
It Counts, is married to a woman who was raised in the 1940s in the South
Pacific using humanure on her family’s garden. 
He and his wife will resume the practice, if the time comes that they have no other options.  I’ve not used humanure and I’m not going to practice
with it.  Like Mr. Solomon, I will use it
if I have to.  It one of those things I want to have
armchair knowledge about, not personal experience.  It’s up there with using maggots to clean
wounds. 

So I asked Becky, our resident crop and soil science expert,
what the deal is with using manure from the 3 P’s.  1.  Is
the danger from pathogens coming into contact with the food and then being
ingested?  2.  Or is there also risk of bacteria, viruses,
or parasites migrating from the soil and into and through the plants so that
they are actually in the food? 

And the answers are:  The
pathogens have to come into direct contact with the food.  They cannot migrate from the soil and grow
into the food.  The same goes for the pet
manure.  So that led to a follow-up
question.  If the manure from the 3 P’s
is buried deep, say 12 inches, is there any risk to the food?  And the answer is, generally, no.  Those manures can be safely used in theory.  However, there is always the chance for
contamination.  If at all possible, 3P
manure should be reserved for fruit trees and flowers.

I love the smell of vegetable gardens and good compost.  It makes me feel productive and happy to be
growing my family’s food, not relying solely on trucks and just-in-time
delivery.  But it’s a dirty job.  And the soil is full of bacteria and perhaps
some poop that didn’t compost thoroughly. 
They’re out to kill me and my family or make me merely wish I was
dead.  Just like the spiders that hide
out under the bed planning their attack. 
I know they are.

Look, I’m not afraid of a little dirt.  Heaven knows I spend most of the spring and
summer in jeans dirty from working in the garden.  I just want the garden soil, and especially
the bacteria, to stay in the garden as much as possible.  So what I do, and what I recommend, and what
Becky approves, is the following.  It’s a
little work, but not that much.  It
loosens the soil well every spring, and produces a fantastic volume of
vegetables every year.  This method works
best for those with boxed beds, but really, anyone can do it.  The first year is the hardest; after that, it’s
really quite easy.

The solution is to bury the compost underneath 4-6 inches of
soil.  Dig down about 12 inches and set
that soil aside.  Add 4-6 inches of
compost, and then cover with the soil you removed.  Of course, I don’t just dig one hole at a
time; I usually do rows about 18 inches wide and several feet long.  Then next year, this year’s compost will be
on top, fully decomposed and hopefully with far fewer pathogens.  It grows beautiful vegetables for me every
year. 

It is best to do this in the fall for root crops, lettuce
and spinach, and strawberries—really anything that grows in or right on top of
the soil.  It allows extra time for the
compost to decompose (especially if it wasn’t quite ready) and for pathogens to
die.  If necessary, not-quite-ready
compost can be buried under 4-6 inches of garden soil for growing corn, beans,
and tomatoes.  It actually works really
well.

 

Even with allowing 18″ for the height of the bed, these tomato plants are over 6 feet tall.

This picture is from a few years back, but basically, the
tomatoes look the same every year—six feet tall and loaded with tomatoes.