The time has come to speak of many things . . . of moving from the country to the city, of using solar energy, and turning human ‘waste’ into soil and water . . .

A guest blog by Diane Green from Bathurst, NSW, who asks, “What am I proud of and what can I do better?”

Moving from the country to the city of Bathurst.

Having invested the time and energy to plant and grow about 3,000 trees over a 20 year period on my small Permaculture designed “Oxygen Farm” in Hartley, I sold that beautiful land for an amount that allowed me to retire to Bathurst in a beautiful aged, well designed house that embraces the winter sun and yet is relatively cool in summer and is surrounded by grand established trees and vegetable garden.

The 6.5 kW of solar panels installed on my roof provide energy for my house and the excess is exported to the grid for a reasonable return, while helping to reduce the need for more polluting coal fired power plants.

(If the government won’t reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, then it’s up to us!)

My electricity account with Origin’s Solar Optimiser Plan is paying me 21 cents/kWh. I have 6.5kW system on my roof installed in July 2019 by Blue Mountains Solar at a cost of $9,500. They’re a great team.

I’ve ditched the petrol guzzling ride on and utility mowers I needed in Hartley for a combined manual and battery operated cylinder mower for the small amount of lawn that grows here when the rain falls.

I’ve installed a rain water tank to collect water from the back shed to use on the garden, and a larger tank to collect water from the house as well is about to be installed.

I also have a small 12 volt pump operated by a solar panel to pump water from these tanks up to the garden where it is needed.

Water from washing clothes in the sunlight hours is pumped into an empty “Otto” bin to be syphoned onto garden plants in the cool of the evening, so that water can be reused. Shower water and washing up water are likewise stored for garden use.

I have also insulated the ceiling of the house and am considering getting double glazed windows installed to reduce the need for heating in winter and cooling in summer.

Living in town now, I use the car far less as the shops are within walking distance. In Hartley the car was an absolute necessity, there being next to no public transport in the area. An electric car is a tempting addition, especially as I can use its battery as a source of energy in the house when the sun is down.

Turning my human ‘waste’ into useful soil, water

I had my Dowmus Biolytic Wastewater System installed on my 8 acre property in Hartley in April 1998, just a matter of months prior to Dowmus going out of business.

However the technology was very simple and any problems were easily sorted and resolved.

I was very happy with the system which worked effectively for 18 years before I had issues with water not draining through the bottom mesh (shade cloth) into the sump in order to be pumped to the sand filter.

With water lying about there were then swarms of flying insects within the composting chamber that had never been around before and it took some time to realise that the real problem was plastic clogging up the system; something I was diligent in keeping out of the system, or so I thought.

My system was set up inside a concrete septic tank, and the small opening that allowed compost to be removed with an auger at the side of it was useless as an access for the maintenance required, so removing the lid was a major effort but necessary to remove the 18 years of worm casting inside as the manhole was just too small to work through. Even so it took my partner about four hours to dig it all out.

All the worm castings had to be removed in order to access and clean the bottom layer of shade cloth that allowed the excess water through. Being high quality compost there was no offensive odour.

We found an astounding amount of plastic in the mix which had eventually gummed up the works, preventing the liquid of draining through to the sump. Yet there was no sign of anaerobic purification and the worms were as happy as Larry as long as they could stay out of the water.

The Grundfos pumps that moved the residual liquid to and from the sand filter were still working magnificently after all those years. I've always been very careful about what goes down the chute, so all that plastic horrified me. It's now hidden in modern packaging that appears to be just cardboard.

Even the windows of business envelopes are no longer made of paper. We found thousands of them in the compost! All made of plastic now. I didn't know! At least all my fruit trees had a good layer of excellent compost around them from this exercise. So many worms! They do a brilliant job! I threw a snake carcass down the chute about 10 years ago. Not a sign of it left!

I know there were many complaints about the Dowmus system, and a website dedicated to denigrating it, but I found it a real asset, and totally reliable, even in flooding rain - until the build-up of plastics gummed up the works. But with some effort it was fixed and now working better than ever.

I reluctantly sold the property twelve months ago to a couple very keen to keep the sustainable theme going and are very assiduously making sure that no plastic enters the composting chamber and that the worms are kept happy.

Diane

PS I would love to see more shade trees planted in Bathurst streets and gardens. Those old plane trees in Havannah St and Seymour St are both majestic and great shade producers.