Nature's calling

The last visit to Obachan chi's we realised two things that would make our experience somewhat more comfortable while we renovate the old farmhouse. One was to be able to use a kitchen sink...Obachan's kitchen is like a black hole at the moment and not a place you want to be in for any length of time. Sorry to say, its seen better days. 

However, worse than this is the toilet situation that needs our urgent attention. Obachan chi's was originally fitted out with a pit latrine, pit toilet or thunder box, however you like to call it. The truck stopped calling some time ago when septic came to town, but this little farmhouse is behind the times and hasn't been updated since. I was a bit hesitant to share this photo which shows the state that we found the toilet in 8 years old. Safe to say its been cleaned up since. Actually, when I gave the toilet a good clean out I found that little crab bodies had become trapped in the small sink and died. I never in my life would have thought that I would be cleaning out little crabs from a sink!  

Our options at present are to  (a) install a septic system to be able to flush, (b) install a composting system to be environmentally friendly with nature or (c) a portable toilet system that separates for later composting.
Since we don't stay at Obanchan's for long periods of time (wish we could though), the expense of a septic tank operation doesn't warrant the financial outlay, as we are definitely on a budget. However, like I said before that doesn't mean we can't be comfortable in the process of renovating this little place.

I'm going to be quite straight with you when I say I have no problem with presently using a bucket as a temporary measure, but it was the other members of our family namely our sweet little girl who was no fan of my beloved bucket system. 

So, we did some research and came up with a marine style toilet that may work for us and is up for consideration. 



The portable toilet allows our waste to be separated and then composted later, which works because like I said if we had a authentic composting set up with peat moss/wood chips we would need to be around Oba chan chi's to sort out the waste. What do you think? Have you had any experience with a marine style toilet? We would love to hear your thoughts. But now its time for another onsen.