Vandwelling in a city... Pros and Cons.

[One Awesome Inch]

Just found my 20 litre container won't fit where it needs to go. Dang! Back to the drawing board.

 

[DannyB1954]

I wouldn't say it's legal to dump urine anywhere.  I know of areas where it is not legal,  same thing with grey water.  in these areas you must be totally self contained.  highdesertranger

I just say stuff like that because I know you will follow up behind me.

 

[highdesertranger]

ah ok keeping me on my toes. lol highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

It's long been known that urine considered "sterile" becomes a breeding ground once outside the body for a period of time. But now there is a new study that shows -- even directly taken from the bladder of healthy people -- bacteria are present.

Many scientific publications have reported on the new studies. The following is from The Smithsonian Magazine;

A new study has shown that despite the common belief that urine is sterile, it isn’t at all. In fact, the new research shows bacteria in the urine of healthy women—a finding that could turn a time-tested diagnostic tool on its head.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...tually-sterile-180954809/#hKX7KMGZhkcBfa6c.99
---------

I'm not saying that when I camp in the boonies I don't appropriately use Mother Nature's facilities, but please don't use the old "sterile" idea as an excuse to dump wherever you feel it is convenient in urban or camping areass.

Let me ask all those who are city dwellers and think it is fine to "fertilize:" If someone handed you a handful of berries from the lower branches of a bush in an area where you and others dispose of urine, would you gladly gobble up possible splatters from someone else's "fertilizer?" :s

 

[B and C]

Let me ask all those who are city dwellers and think it is fine to "fertilize:"  If someone handed you a handful of berries from the lower branches of a bush in an area where you and others dispose of urine, would you gladly gobble up possible splatters from someone else's "fertilizer?"   :s

Whether hand picked from a bush or a store, all raw fruits and vegetables should be washed before eating.  You never know what your food has been contaminated with.  I am by no means a clean freak either.

What doesn't kill me makes me stronger though.  Gotta keep those antibodies going.

 

[SoulRaven]

Other animals pee on that stuff all the time, wash it first, and all is okay.

 

[highdesertranger]

wash, with what? a simple rinsing will not do it for me if someone peed on it. highdesertranger

 

[WriterMs]

Okay.. yes, you can wash any fresh fruit or veggies.. and I even have a very effective solution I use.

BUTTTTT.... that was not the point I was going for. LOL

I was trying to be a bit gross to make a point about dumping. I'm sure it is never just one person doing that in any given "private" area of bushes or lawn.

So, I've given my opinion. I"m sure most folks will stick with what they are comfortable doing. But several alternatives have been mentioned.

 

[DannyB1954]

If it came from a grocery store, no telling what it was fertilized with. International shipping is common. Some countries use human waste, others chemicals not allowed here.
Yum yum. A friend told me if you ever worked in a ketchup factory, you would never touch the stuff. Like hot dogs? I don't even want to go there.

 

[highdesertranger]

danny all processed food is that way weather a hot dog or a box of Rice a Roni to a candy bar. all mass produced food is disgusting if you could see it made. I could tell you stories about ketchup, fig newtons, and tuna. highdesertranger

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I, for one, want to hear these stories!

I have heard that they test ketchup for protein level and if the protein level is too high than they have to dispose of it as there are too many bugs (possibly mice) in it to meet regulatory standards. Yum indeed!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

It's long been known that urine considered "sterile" becomes a breeding ground once outside the body for a period of time. But now there is a new study that shows -- even directly taken from the bladder of healthy people -- bacteria are present.

I'm amazed that they had to do a study to "discover" that.  Anyone who's ever had a urinary tract infection would know it's not sterile.  You're peeing a lot more frequently so your body can flush the germs out.

Regards
John

 

[DannyB1954]

Ever hear the saying go piss up a rope? I tried to look up the origin. Nobody has a clear meaning of it other than it is similar to screw off. I couldn't find an origin for that either. Common saying are interesting. If you look at the individual words, it makes one wonder how did they ever get used together.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

It's long been known that urine considered "sterile" becomes a breeding ground once outside the body for a period of time. But now there is a new study that shows -- even directly taken from the bladder of healthy people -- bacteria are present.

Many scientific publications have reported on the new studies. The following is from The Smithsonian Magazine;

A new study has shown that despite the common belief that urine is sterile, it isn’t at all. In fact, the new research shows bacteria in the urine of healthy women—a finding that could turn a time-tested diagnostic tool on its head.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...tually-sterile-180954809/#hKX7KMGZhkcBfa6c.99
---------

I'm not saying that when I camp in the boonies I don't appropriately use Mother Nature's facilities, but please don't use the old "sterile" idea as an excuse to dump wherever you feel it is convenient in urban or camping areass.

Let me ask all those who are city dwellers and think it is fine to "fertilize:"  If someone handed you a handful of berries from the lower branches of a bush in an area where you and others dispose of urine, would you gladly gobble up possible splatters from someone else's "fertilizer?"   :s

Personally I would not drink piss just because someone said it was sterile,  chicken shit is great feritlizer but I wouldn't eat it fresh out of the chicken, I eat mushrooms and they grow them in a mixture of shit, throwing piss randomly in the grass or bushes is not creating another Chernobyl, much better for everybody then flushing it down the toilet. who would piss on strawberries, when you could piss next to them and eat them after doing it.

 

[ramblingvanman]

Personally I would not drink piss just because someone said it was sterile,  chicken shit is great feritlizer but I wouldn't eat it fresh out of the chicken, I eat mushrooms and they grow them in a mixture of shit, throwing piss randomly in the grass or bushes is not creating another Chernobyl, much better for everybody then flushing it down the toilet. who would piss on strawberries, when you could piss next to them and eat them after doing it.

LOL, Exactly. Ever hear the saying "don't shit where you eat"? I would apply that to pissing as well.

 

[Tinman74]

Highdesert

Tell us about ketchup, and tuna, NOT fig newtons. I love fig newtons.

Bob

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah I love fig Newtons too I also eat tuna occasionally and ketchup every once in a great while. so here's the ketchup story.

WARNING IF YOU DON"T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE MODERN FOOD INDUSTRY AND ARE EASILY UPSET BY GROSS STUFF DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.

back when Orange County still had a lot of agriculture I worked on a fair size farm/ranch. there were many of the large well known ag processing plants in the area. I won't name the ketchup one by name, but C&H Sugar, Sunkist Citrus, Knott's Berry Farm Preserves, Adore Farms, Marshburn Farms, Alta Dena Dairy, Nabisco are a few to give you an idea.

well when we had a bumper crop of tomatoes we couldn't sell them fast enough the market was saturated. so instead of letting them rot in the field they went to the ketchup factory, they didn't pay much but it was something. it was one of my jobs to deliver the tomatoes. mind you these were the worse of the worse tomatoes ones that couldn't be sold as number 1's, even the rotting ones on the ground went.

so the SOP was you go to the gate and the guard would tell you what bin to dump in. the bins were about 20'x8' fiberglass tubs with an open on top. so I would go though the gate stop at the scales to get weighed and go to bin number xx. there were hundreds of bins some full of tomatoes baking in the sun, some empty. we go dump our tomatoes in the bin, now here's the good part this whole place smelled like rotten tomatoes, why because the were tons of rotten tomatoes there. the flies were insane worse than any dairy I had been to. if you look into the bins the flies were just swarming the tomatoes and of course with the flies came the maggots. in some of the bins it look like the tomatoes were moving and I swore I could hear the maggots eating. well here comes the fork lift, picks up a bin and takes it inside. so I asked one of the drivers "where are you taking those rotten tomatoes?" he said to make ketchup. he took me inside and showed me where the tomatoes were dumped in a big grinder then to vat to get cooked, maggots and all. he said don't worry when they come out of the cooker they are sterile. I kinda lost my appetite for ketchup. highdesertranger

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I, for one, want to hear these stories!

I have heard that they test ketchup for protein level and if the protein level is too high than they have to dispose of it as there are too many bugs (possibly mice) in it to meet regulatory standards. Yum indeed!

sounds like the protein is coming from the maggots, 

 

[SoulRaven]

I'm now very glad that I cannot eat commercial ketchup. Homemade ketchup avoids the corn, onion, garlic, and maggots.

 

[highdesertranger]

well even if they test for protein the standard can't be zero. all processed food is allowed a certain level of contamination. I am certain that when cooked maggots are quite edible. highdesertranger