‘It smells just like soil!’ mum insists after revealing she uses her family’s POO as compost in the garden to save cash
A THRIFTY mum has left social media users gobsmacked and horrified after revealing she uses family’s POO as compost in the garden.
Tess Johnson-Kelly took to Instagram to spill the beans on how she keeps her soil rich by collecting the family’s feces from the special compost toilet in their home.
This means that instead of flushing the matter away, the thrifty mother, thought to be from Australia, will chuck a cup of sawdust on top.
When the wooden bucket is finally full, it gets taken outside where it’s then put into an even larger bucket – it will then sit there for a whole year ”to mature”.
Sharing the rather bizarre DIY compost, Tess explained that at first she was pretty sceptical about it too.
”I wasn’t originally sold on the idea of using toilet waste on our garden,” the cash-savvy mum wrote in the caption of the now-viral video.
”But after 1.5 years (I waited a lil longer just to be on the safe side), we opened our tubs, and honestly, you’d never know it was once human waste.”
Whilst many may be put off by the reek, the blonde beauty claimed ”it looks and smells just like garden soil” – and went on to list its benefits.
”The composting process breaks everything down safely, turning it into rich, usable soil.
”In fact, many countries are already using treated sewage as a sustainable resource for gardens and crops.
”Australia uses Sydney’s sewage to grows crops of corn, wheat and canola!”
The mum-of-one, who lives in a tiny home with her mini brood, said: ”When we first moved and had to choose our toilet, I was soooo against having a composting toilet.
”I had flashbacks to drop loos at campsites and the SMELL – but our compost toilet doesn’t smell at all!
”It’s changed regularly, and the sawdust keeps everything fresh.
”It’s not our forever system—we’ll probably invest in a larger compost setup eventually—but for the three of us, it works so well.”
Since being uploaded to the platform, the clip has taken the internet by storm, racking up a staggering 8million views in a little over two weeks.
Thousands of mortified users flocked to comments in sheer disgust, with one writing: ”I can smell this house through my phone.”
Someone else warned: ”Don’t ever use human waste or any waste from a meat eating organism and use it as fertilizer for crops.
October gardening jobs
The Sun’s Gardening Editor, Veronica Lorraine, has shared the jobs you need to tackle in October.
“It’s a good time to trim deciduous hedges – like box, yew, hawthorn, hornbean and beech – plus hedge trimmers are a great upper body workout!
Make leafmould – gather up all the fallen leaves and fill either bin bags or plastic carrier bags. Seal the top, stick a few small holes in the bag – and then store for a year or more. Free compost!
It’s unlikely you’ll get any more red tomatoes so have one final harvest and chuck the plants on the compost. See if you can get the green ones to ripen by putting in a drawer (some say with a banana). Also keep the seeds from a couple – and plant again next year if they went well.
Finish getting in your spring bulbs. Ideally you’d have done daffs and alliums, but tulips are better in the ground when the soil temperature gets a bit colder.
It’s good to leave some plant litter in the ground – it adds to the nutrients as it rots down, and provides shelter and food for insects. But remove the manky brown bits collapsing all over the lawn/winter structure.
Mulch – it not only suppresses weeds, but keeps the soil warm, improves water retention and adds a little winter duvet to your outside space.
October’s a good month for carrots, peas, asparagus, broad beans, and rhubarb.”
”Good way to get real sick. Use it for shrubs and trees. They’ll grow big and tall.”
A third chimed in: ”Yeah, it’s gonna take more than sawdust to make a giant poo bucket in the house not totally disgusting.
”What happens in the summer when it’s 100F, do y’all just go poop in the woods?”
A fourth penned: ”The risk of exposure to the bacteria and pathogens is a big hell no for me.
”If you need to take extreme composting measures like hot composting to minimise risk suggests it’s probably not ideal for use in the first place.”