Monday morning

Another productive couple of days out here. A few moments of particular excitement: first of all, this morning we ‘potted on’ all the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants! They now have two-inches of yummy soil to dig into. They look so happy to have more space.

Also exciting: this Saturday we set up our new composting toilet, named Gylany after our benefactors Rob and Christopher, who gave us the toilet (we didn’t want to actually name it after them, since it is a toilet, but Gylany is the street they live on). It’s a small thing, but we love Gylany. Having the composing toilet means that we no longer have the awkward situation of not having our own ‘facilities’ out here (I won’t go into the details of how we’ve been managing over the last few weeks). We’re also proud of the set-up we built out of scraps and reused lumber from around the farm. It feels very clean, tidy and open (with probably one of the best views from a toilet ever, with the exception of Jeff and Josette’s in Chelan). Here are some progress photos so that you can see for yourself:

From left to right: the beginning (looks like an ancient ruin or something); in progress; and, finished! We even hung a picture and put some handy reading material on the shelf (a collection of American short stories and some Solzhenitsyn—only the best literature for our toilet users!).

And the view:

We also love that this toilet uses no water and doesn’t require any kind of septic system. The end ‘product’ is a dry compost material, very similar to garden compost. It feels like another step towards our long-term goal of sustainability. So, thanks again to Rob and Christopher! (For more info about commercially available composting toilets such as Gylany, check out Sun-Mar’s website.)

The rest of today will be spent sowing the second round of our succession crops, everything from lettuce to broccoli to turnips. After this sowing, we will have finally over-filled our hothouse. The warm weather has arrived just in time for us to start bringing some of the more established flats to our outside benches!

And tomorrow, we pick up the new tractor! More photos and stories to follow that exciting adventure.