One of the main, if not first, question we get from people who don’t know much about living off the grid, is, timidly, “where do you poop?”

Well, up until yesterday, we had a bucket… down our property… in the woods. It has quite a nice view, actually. This was until we got our composting toilet installed in the house, which finally happened yesterday! And just in time for snow.

Hey, if you have to poop outside… not bad, am I right?

By this time, we had 2 full buckets of poo (hey, you guys wanted all the details), so we needed to figure out something to do with it. So we built a… wait for it… shitbox. (It makes me laugh, anyway). It has its own “venting” system, so while it’s protected from weather, it can still breathe (lovely, eh?). Sphagnum peat moss and RidX are mixed in heavily with the waste, so it will eventually compost with time. Come spring time we’ll probably add worms to speed up the process.

Shitbox construction.

Shitbox construction continued.

Our composting toilet has the same two elements: peat moss and RidX. And yesterday we installed a venting system with a hose and eventually a solar fan (on its way in the mail!) that vents any odors right out of the house.

Inside shitting! Before picture: now the the toilet is mounted to the ground and the hose goes outside.

It started snowing today here in Southern Colorado, so pooping inside the house came just in time. Shit (no pun intended), just peeing inside the house last night when it was pouring rain was awesome.

Completed shitbox.