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PermacultureVital Earth states that worm urine is an excellent fertilizer. The worm beds are elevated, with drains at the bottom. This is excellent fertilizer! Maybe this can be used for hydroponics! An important issue with hydroponics is that mold or fungus should not affect the plants, thus the gravel or sand or stones are sterilized before a bed it set. If we use worm urine or sewage effluent is used, then mold or fungus could infect the hydroponics beds. Perhaps, to sterilize the effluent or worm urine, it could be boiled. This would retain the nitrogen fertilizer, but kill the mold or fungus.
So much of human farming practices assume that one can consume nature, and just move on. For instance, soil erosion, farming in a way that ruins the topsoil steadily. Permaculture is farming in a way that soil does not wash away, too. Plants to prevent erosion is a good idea. Plants cover the ground and they protected the ground in this way
The American Indians had a technique to not turn the soil over, to not create erosion, but to just put the corn kernel in and let it grow. This way the soil did not erode. Plus, they put a fish in the bottom of the hold where they put the corn kernels into, and this fertilized the corn. I guess they did this during times when they had tons of fish, or it doesn't seem very efficient to me. Fish is more important to eat than corn, my thoughts.
In farming, there are certain crops that work with each other to help the other grow. For instance, they plant alfalfa, I believe, to put nitrogen back into the soil, as it has root nodules that do that. Then they plant the other crop that is looking for the nitrogen. Cycle crops, one adds nitrogen, the other takes it out. Once the land has been used, it is wise to swap different crops. Plant one thing one time, another the next.
For Aftertime groups, then, they should first feed garbage scraps to their rabbits or chickens.
One year I lazily just threw the seeds out there on top of the ground and with the rain, it buried them and they grew. Boy what a garden.
Breath, as CO2 pushes plants to grow. I know that article I posted in the Chicken section talked about that. They had the chickens in an indoor garden area, where the chicken breath CO2 recycled into the garden and made the plants grow. So, indoor gardening where human and animal breath is kept close for the plants - that would help.
Indoor gardening with animals around also recycles heat, if one is looking for that. In the middle ages, and even somewhat in pioneer times here in the US, folks used the heat from their herds to keep themselves warm. The herds were housed in a lean to next to the house, but there was a passageway to the house and the hot air from their bodies moved into the house. Probably pretty stinky all around, but sometimes you have to deal with the smell if you don't want to freeze to death
Water can be recycled too. For instance, distill water for drinking and cooking. When one washes the dishes, pour the water into the gardens as the soap in essence makes a fertilizer, and the water also does not go to waste. Then, when one creates urine, also use that for the gardens in such a way that it does not burn the plants. Bathwater can be used to water plants.
Egg shells can be recycled. My grandma dropped them into water, and used that water for plants. If one crushes them and adds to the compost, then with certain other things added the calcium comes available to the plants. Broccoli and kale and such pull up the calcium. I know that there are folks that feed kale and greens to chickens, to allow them to make strong egg shells.
Bones, how do folks use bones? Bones are cooked in a broth, instead of meat, sometimes. Many claim it's better.
Urine has a lot of ammonia, and that article in the chicken section mentioned that chicken droppings have ammonia and if that is run up through the soil, it combines with stuff to make nitrogen, one of the big fertilizers.
Now, the small groups in the Aftertime will need to recycle everything. We tell them to run their sewage effluent into fish ponds, or at least grow algae to feed the fish, etc.
If bacteria make soil out of compost, to step it up, we should give them better surroundings, and that's more oxygen (air), and moisture. Yes, we need to establish the ideal surroundings for making soil out of garbage. We should know which garbage is useful for making soil.
Fertilizing with horse crap and chicken crap I think is the best from what I have seen, but horse crap could contain the tetanus bacteria.
Human shit can be used to make soil too. However, then certain human diseases can cycle round, and come back to infect folks via the food grown. So, it's not a simple process, needs to be done in a way that the nutrients come through, but the darn bacteria that cause disease stay back!
Maybe if the food is cooked well, there is no problem. I know that cooking food gets rid of parasites like round worms or other tiny parasites that can infect folks. I'm thinking of trichinosis which lives in pork and gets into human muscles, etc.
Dehydrated shit can be used for fire, too, you know? Many in deserts do so.
