Püp tent

We decided to put our toilet in our tent for privacy. This means I can call it a püp tent, which is almost cute enough to make up for how uncomfortable it is. We can't sit up straight, which makes cleaning up and getting dressed really annoying. Soon we'll put together a teepee-style toilet room.

In the meantime, the dogs apparently know it is a pup tent, and the boys like to go in for some cool and quiet. All three dogs follow me in when I'm using it, and paw at the bags of wood shavings, which contributes to the challenge of using the toilet.

Phillip and I held on to the newlywed romance of pretending we simply don't poop. Well, when he had a bowel obstruction the topic came up, but in general we live in a poop-free fantasy. Until the poop tent. We're leaving its windows open cause who wants to be in a tiny, breezeless space with a toilet?

And then the other day I didn't sit far enough back - hard to find proper position when crouching in a tent so I had to clean my own mess out of the pee diverter. I was too annoyed not to tell Phillip about it.

See, this toilet works because under the seat are a bucket and a big funnel. The funnel is in front and also called a pee diverter; it's nested in a 2 gallon jug which gets emptied as often as we feel like it (daily is good).

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Everything else should drop into the bucket and be sprinkled with something absorbent like wood shavings, dry quickly thanks to the exhaust fan (which Phillip pulled out of a computer headed for recycling). Once the bucket is full (how will we decide what counts as full, I wonder?), we can put a lid on it and wait a year, or add some worms or microorganisms and wait two weeks, then use it as compost. Way cool, or disgusting, or both.

The pee is separate so the rest dries faster. Plus the pee is already ready to grace the land as is--or diluted with water if you're pouring it on your vegetable garden--adding essential nitrogen.

I've seen a version of this in India and the US: two separate outhouses and you go in one to pee and the other to poop. Gotta know and control your body very well. And best when you don't have a stomach bug, like I do.

We'll let you know how this unfolds.

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