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Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind
In his insightful new book, Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind, contrary farmer Gene Logsdon provides the inside story of manure-our greatest, yet most misunderstood, natural resource. He begins by lamenting a modern society that not only throws away both animal and human manure—worth billions of dollars in fertilizer value—but that spends a staggering amount of money to do so. This wastefulness makes even less sense as the supply of mined or chemically synthesized fertilizers dwindles and their cost skyrockets. In fact, he argues, if we do not learn how to turn our manures into fertilizer to keep food production in line with increasing population, our civilization, like so many that went before it, will inevitably decline.
With his trademark humor, his years of experience writing about both farming and waste management, and his uncanny eye for the small but important details, Logsdon artfully describes how to manage farm manure, pet manure and human manure to make fertilizer and humus. He covers the field, so to speak, discussing topics like:
• How to select the right pitchfork for the job and use it correctly
• How to operate a small manure spreader
• How to build a barn manure pack with farm animal manure
• How to compost cat and dog waste
• How to recycle toilet water for irrigation purposes, and
• How to get rid ourselves of our irrational paranoia about feces and urine.
Gene Logsdon does not mince words. This fresh, fascinating and entertaining look at an earthy, but absolutely crucial subject, is a small gem and is destined to become a classic of our agricultural literature.
With his trademark humor, his years of experience writing about both farming and waste management, and his uncanny eye for the small but important details, Logsdon artfully describes how to manage farm manure, pet manure and human manure to make fertilizer and humus. He covers the field, so to speak, discussing topics like:
• How to select the right pitchfork for the job and use it correctly
• How to operate a small manure spreader
• How to build a barn manure pack with farm animal manure
• How to compost cat and dog waste
• How to recycle toilet water for irrigation purposes, and
• How to get rid ourselves of our irrational paranoia about feces and urine.
Gene Logsdon does not mince words. This fresh, fascinating and entertaining look at an earthy, but absolutely crucial subject, is a small gem and is destined to become a classic of our agricultural literature.
229 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2010
47 people are currently reading
1325 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
April 23, 2011
A must-read for any serious gardener, sustainability nut, or small-scale landholder or farmer.
Reading about poop has never been so entertaining?
Reading about poop has never been so entertaining?
December 4, 2011
I love this book, it makes so much sense if you can read it with an open mind and just not think about the crap. We've already incorporated the manure pack idea into our chicken coop and are looking into using some of his other suggestions. Logsdon also illustrates how our ways of disposing large amounts of manure, esp. in large animal lots and human sewer systems, is a wasteful, useless practice that does more to waste water than it does to dispose of crap. Logsdon writes in a disarmingly funny way, fully cognizant of how manure (animal and human) is a subject that few want to discuss, but a subject that we should all know more about. If we could be more efficient and sustainable about how we use our manures, we could potentially save ourselves from commercial fertilizers and continually wasting millions of gallons of water throughout the "developed" world. This book now sits proudly on my shelf, I've already read it twice and I'm sure I will refer to it many times in the future.
July 1, 2024
I would only recommend this book if you are actively farming or gardening on a pretty hefty scale. It’s mostly practical advice, so not much here if you aren’t ready to apply it. Very comprehensive on the subject of manure though, and I liked the way he normalizes the process of using poo for its highest calling, to replenish the earth. Seems like such a waste to waste our waste and use petroleum / synthetic fertilizers instead. I for one am bullish on a culture committed to returning all organic matter back to the earth rather than the Wall-E course we have chosen for ourselves today.
December 11, 2023
Was very educational and had some humor to it!
January 22, 2021
Interesting read for the possibilities of replacing chemical fertilisers with farmyard manure (as in the "old days"). Also interesting to see this from an actual farmers view i.e. upscaled from standard composting in a garden scenario. Very much a book on one person's musings though and it showed in places.
August 12, 2011
This dude is not filled with horse shit!
Gene puts the science of shit down on print for the layman, and presents his opinion of the meat industry in no unclear terms. His vision of the future is apocalyptic, and his solution to what he believes to be inevitable is edenic.
Small communities with small farms practicing a cycle that has lasted for years and is still practiced in third world countries. The animals feed the earth with their leavings and the earth feeds the animal, and everyone else, especially humans, benefit.
Lodgson preaches about the dangers of diverging from the pattern nature has presented to us. It's there, we just gotta get into the groove. He elaborates the benefits of horse, cow, sheep, and chicken manure, and even addresses the icky situation of humanure. He also goes as far as to conjecture that manure might someday be more precious than gold when people realize things are going south for them, especially in the large cities which rely on transported foodstuffs. Manure is not a byproduct of a farm, but should be considered a living organism as integral to its workings like a cow or a chicken; it should be regarded and maintained as you would your herds of horses.
Lodgson outlines many methods of manure composting and is careful to present a balanced view though it seems that the benefits of such practices outstrip its inevitable hassles. This is a very important book for people who own farm animals or are interested in doing so.
It allows you to harness every resource on your farm: you know the adage, waste not want not. In the long run, you save yourself money with the added benefit of the greenest and plumpest vegetables in the hood.
Gene puts the science of shit down on print for the layman, and presents his opinion of the meat industry in no unclear terms. His vision of the future is apocalyptic, and his solution to what he believes to be inevitable is edenic.
Small communities with small farms practicing a cycle that has lasted for years and is still practiced in third world countries. The animals feed the earth with their leavings and the earth feeds the animal, and everyone else, especially humans, benefit.
Lodgson preaches about the dangers of diverging from the pattern nature has presented to us. It's there, we just gotta get into the groove. He elaborates the benefits of horse, cow, sheep, and chicken manure, and even addresses the icky situation of humanure. He also goes as far as to conjecture that manure might someday be more precious than gold when people realize things are going south for them, especially in the large cities which rely on transported foodstuffs. Manure is not a byproduct of a farm, but should be considered a living organism as integral to its workings like a cow or a chicken; it should be regarded and maintained as you would your herds of horses.
Lodgson outlines many methods of manure composting and is careful to present a balanced view though it seems that the benefits of such practices outstrip its inevitable hassles. This is a very important book for people who own farm animals or are interested in doing so.
It allows you to harness every resource on your farm: you know the adage, waste not want not. In the long run, you save yourself money with the added benefit of the greenest and plumpest vegetables in the hood.
December 20, 2010
I adore biomass in every form and am a firm believer that manure is key to a healthy homestead (and should be used much, much more in conventional agriculture.) You would have thought I would love this book, right? Unfortunately, it's more of a philosophical rant than the kind of book I like (with useful, scientific information I can put to work on the farm.) Some of the book is also recycled from his previous publications, and as a result it felt disjointed. I was left feeling the same way I usually feel after watching a romantic comedy --- like there was so much potential but the experience just fell flat.
August 5, 2011
Think manure is icky? Get over it.
Manure is an inevitable part of the cycle of life, and by mismanaging it and removing it from our food system, we are wasting a precious resource. Logsdon, with his usual wit and verve, discusses the best ways to manage the manure of farm animals, and has some strong opinions on the ways we humans handle our own. Once the stuff is properly composted, whatever its origin, it's the best darn fertilizer anywhere, and free for the price of hauling it to the field.
Heck, I've been dealing with livestock poop all of my life, and the most important thing to remember is-- it all washes off.
Manure is an inevitable part of the cycle of life, and by mismanaging it and removing it from our food system, we are wasting a precious resource. Logsdon, with his usual wit and verve, discusses the best ways to manage the manure of farm animals, and has some strong opinions on the ways we humans handle our own. Once the stuff is properly composted, whatever its origin, it's the best darn fertilizer anywhere, and free for the price of hauling it to the field.
Heck, I've been dealing with livestock poop all of my life, and the most important thing to remember is-- it all washes off.
December 21, 2011
Wonderful and informative!! Can't wait to tell my classmates about this one. Gene Logsdon is a funny, clear and practical writer, and I very much look forward to reading ALL of his other books, both non-fiction and his novels!! He not only discusses the importance of reusing animal (and human) waste, but he emphasizes WHY it's important, WHAT it brings to the table as far as soil fertility goes, and thoroughly describes EXACTLY HOW to do it. SUPER practical for me, given my chosen career path. I laughed out loud numerous times, as I had expected given the title of the book. EXCELLENT READ!!!!
October 26, 2016
If you have ever had a fondness for efficiency, cradle-to-cradle, fecal transplantation, mutualism or finding out how things work, this book would be a joy to read. In fact, it may make you CRAVE to put some of the strategies into action. Not to mention inform misconceptions we may not even be aware of holding!
Writing is comfortable and accessible, sprinkled with light humor. He makes what might seem a dull topic fascinating indeed.
Writing is comfortable and accessible, sprinkled with light humor. He makes what might seem a dull topic fascinating indeed.
February 8, 2015
Holy Shit is a book all about, well, shit.
It approaches the subject of manure with humour and wit yet still delivers ample material for thought.
Includes information on management of cow, pig, sheep, goat, horse, chicken & human manure as well as carcusses.
A quick read, but a good read.
It approaches the subject of manure with humour and wit yet still delivers ample material for thought.
Includes information on management of cow, pig, sheep, goat, horse, chicken & human manure as well as carcusses.
A quick read, but a good read.
February 4, 2014
As entertaining as it is informative - a true eye-opener to the need for better waste management practices.
November 28, 2016
This is the bible for composting manure, including "humanure." But it is more than a how to book. It is engagingly written by a farmer-journalist, full of social commentary and well-told stories.
May 31, 2022
Poop Will Set You Free
Get this book. If you have ever been curious about the immense cost and devotion of resources to processing waste, this book will guide you through the world of feces and all its potential.
Our author is no schmo. Gene Logsdon has been writing for decades on all thing’s agriculture, compost, and gardening. He was a staff writer for Farming Today and Biocycle, both top tier periodicals. Biocycle is a magazine that features articles and products involved in commercial waste reduction methods. For instance, digesters for commercial pig farms. I will give you three guesses as to what they digest. Unfortunately, we won't get into digesters in this writeup; we will instead focus on Gene and his 40 years of professional life to give us reliable information. Gene uses his dry wit and frank prose to deliver this crappy news along with a chuckle.
What a Load of Crap
There are two main types of crappy news Mr. Logsdon touches on throughout the book. One, we waste waste. $50 billion is the conservative estimate of pee and poop the US flushes down the toilet each year. And that is just fecal matter as it relates to its value as fertilizer. This does not include the cost to process our excrement. That number is closer to 2 trillion annually. All of that can be avoided by pooping in a hole.
Two, we have low soil fertility from decades of dependance on chemical fertilizer. Using chemicals in your soil tricks the biome and disrupts the Soil Food Web. The plants may get some of the nutrients they need but the rest of the habitat suffers. Then, when you stop using chemicals, you find the land is unfertile due to the lack of soil organisms breaking down organic matter.
Despite all this crappy news, Gene shows that these issues are correctable, and abundance can come from unsung places. It’s almost as if there is an obvious answer right in front of our noses: we spend trillions getting rid of organic waste, yet our soils are starved of organic material…
Soil Food Web - Break It Down
It may come as a surprise to you, but the natural world figured out how to grow plants without the help of humans. It's called the Soil Food Web and it is a complex system of millions of organisms working in concert to recycle organic material. All the flora and fauna in a given area make up the delicate balance life in the soil. If there is a regular supply of organic matter to breakdown, the organisms will be content to stay; but when the organic matter is gone, so are the organisms. Without microbes to provide nutrients for plants, plants won’t thrive, let alone live.
Plants obtain nutrients from the soil through their roots, but they must be in chemical form. To achieve this plant roots work in concert with fungi and bacteria to form an exchange with soil microbes. Soil microbes break down organic matter to chemical form once the larger organisms in the food web do their thing. Shredders: beetles, centipedes, and the like, chop the big bits with their mandibles making it more manageable for the smaller digesters. Mycelia, nematodes, protozoa and others all provide work towards the break down.
Soil Fertility-If You Build It, They Will Come
Tilth, arability, whatever you call it-we need organic matter in soil. The adage that gets it done for me is, ‘feed the soil, not the plant’. We can improve soil fertility and increase plant production with the same system. Farmers have known this for centuries and have been practicing various forms of manure application to great success. We need to bring back the organic organisms and we need to feed them phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium. Guess where you will find a plethora of untapped organic matter, already partially broken down, just waiting for the last steps to reduce the elements plants can take up.
It's poop.
Before you would get all willy-nilly about pathogens, please know that on the whole feces and urine are quite clean. In the rare cases where an issue of rash or worms are detected, composting will have these are inundated in less than a year, and two years all traces of the issue are eradicated. Thanks soil food web!
Night Soil is the term for using human waste as fertilizer. While this may be a line in the sand for some people, Gene does a great job laying out the benefits. One of the many is odor. Dry toilets with sawdust smell better than most bathrooms. Given our diets, there are some smells we can’t escape. There is a reason, despite the luxurious expense of flush toilets, products like Poo-pourri thrive in today's marketplace.
Conclusion
I'm not saying go dig a hole poop in it. Okay, I am; at least start peeing in your compost. I am also saying find this book. Human poop products are only a fraction of what this book covers. Gene gives advice on the best ways to handle manure from a myriad of animals, chicken to horse, even cats and dogs. Worst case scenario, if you buy this book and don’t like it, you can use it for toilet paper.
August 16, 2019
Night soil, anyone?
I don’t want to do a full review of this very interesting, readable and informative book, partly because as a neophyte gardener I am not qualified. Instead I want to concentrate on what I think is the most important part of the book. That is, the proper use of human waste.
Logsdon’s position as he outlines it in the concluding chapters is that we desperately need to take human feces and human urine and get it into the soil where we grow crops and stop flushing it down the toilet. He makes it clear (and most educated people already know this) that we have the ability to treat human waste so that disease-causing pathogens are destroyed making recycled human waste as safe as any natural, “full service” fertilizer. (Artificial fertilizers consisting of just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are lacking in trace elements necessary for healthy plants. Manure and urine have those trace elements.)
He points out that not only do we waste human manure and urine we also incur a huge expense in doing so. Furthermore we use massive amounts of water getting rid of the stuff. He advocates using dry toilets in rural and farm areas, even outhouses. In the cities the entire method of dealing with human waste needs to be redone so that the waste is returned to the farmland. Problem here, as Logsdon points out, is that there is no way at present to insure that nobody is dumping poisonous chemicals and discarded pharmaceuticals down the toilet. People do it, and it is impossible stop them or to know who they are. Consequently recycling waste from human sewer systems may include recycling poisons and such.
Logsdon also points to the “Yuck” factor in the minds of some people who have been taught that human excrement is something to be avoided at all costs. Consequently our politicians who make the decisions about what to do with human waste aren’t going to step up and change the system. What is going to change the system is the fact that with so many people on the planet at some point not too far in the future fertilizer will become so expensive and the soil so depleted of trace elements that there will be no place left to go but to human manure and urine.
Our sense of disgust at using our waste (and that of our dogs and cats) on our farmland is based on the fact that without treatment pathogens will set up shop in fields and bodies and cause disease. We know this from vast human experience and have evolved to practice avoidance. However the world has changed and we can no longer throw the chicken bones over our shoulders, nor can we relieve ourselves at the river’s edge nor can we just pick up and move when our midden piles grow too large and smelly. We must perforce recycle everything and realize that what may seem disgusting to us is really manna from heaven to a plant.
—Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
I don’t want to do a full review of this very interesting, readable and informative book, partly because as a neophyte gardener I am not qualified. Instead I want to concentrate on what I think is the most important part of the book. That is, the proper use of human waste.
Logsdon’s position as he outlines it in the concluding chapters is that we desperately need to take human feces and human urine and get it into the soil where we grow crops and stop flushing it down the toilet. He makes it clear (and most educated people already know this) that we have the ability to treat human waste so that disease-causing pathogens are destroyed making recycled human waste as safe as any natural, “full service” fertilizer. (Artificial fertilizers consisting of just nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are lacking in trace elements necessary for healthy plants. Manure and urine have those trace elements.)
He points out that not only do we waste human manure and urine we also incur a huge expense in doing so. Furthermore we use massive amounts of water getting rid of the stuff. He advocates using dry toilets in rural and farm areas, even outhouses. In the cities the entire method of dealing with human waste needs to be redone so that the waste is returned to the farmland. Problem here, as Logsdon points out, is that there is no way at present to insure that nobody is dumping poisonous chemicals and discarded pharmaceuticals down the toilet. People do it, and it is impossible stop them or to know who they are. Consequently recycling waste from human sewer systems may include recycling poisons and such.
Logsdon also points to the “Yuck” factor in the minds of some people who have been taught that human excrement is something to be avoided at all costs. Consequently our politicians who make the decisions about what to do with human waste aren’t going to step up and change the system. What is going to change the system is the fact that with so many people on the planet at some point not too far in the future fertilizer will become so expensive and the soil so depleted of trace elements that there will be no place left to go but to human manure and urine.
Our sense of disgust at using our waste (and that of our dogs and cats) on our farmland is based on the fact that without treatment pathogens will set up shop in fields and bodies and cause disease. We know this from vast human experience and have evolved to practice avoidance. However the world has changed and we can no longer throw the chicken bones over our shoulders, nor can we relieve ourselves at the river’s edge nor can we just pick up and move when our midden piles grow too large and smelly. We must perforce recycle everything and realize that what may seem disgusting to us is really manna from heaven to a plant.
—Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
June 12, 2017
Gene Logsdon is the long lost uncle I never had, I feel like we would have been friends given the change. His writing is clear and funny and extremely accessible. I grew up on a farm, so I may be biased, but I think that the books he writes could be read by anybody.
Even if you never intend to have animals and figure out how to optimize your property for nutrient retention, knowing that this is how farmers really think about the world is valuable. There are a lot of people who don't personally know a farmer anymore and I think that distance can become dangerous, when we don't have a personal connection to a way of life it can start to seem alien and weird. The farmers are our friends, most of them are incredibly smart, and incredibly dedicated to preserving biodiversity and a healthy environment. I think that people like Gene really helped bridge the gap between rural and urban.
One favorite quote from the book in talking about limits to growth:
P. 146 Invariably, at the root of every collapse was an agricultural mistake. Or perhaps more accurately, at the root of every decline was an agricultural advancement that did not admit to the laws of natural limitation, and so became an agricultural mistake.
Even if you never intend to have animals and figure out how to optimize your property for nutrient retention, knowing that this is how farmers really think about the world is valuable. There are a lot of people who don't personally know a farmer anymore and I think that distance can become dangerous, when we don't have a personal connection to a way of life it can start to seem alien and weird. The farmers are our friends, most of them are incredibly smart, and incredibly dedicated to preserving biodiversity and a healthy environment. I think that people like Gene really helped bridge the gap between rural and urban.
One favorite quote from the book in talking about limits to growth:
P. 146 Invariably, at the root of every collapse was an agricultural mistake. Or perhaps more accurately, at the root of every decline was an agricultural advancement that did not admit to the laws of natural limitation, and so became an agricultural mistake.
March 21, 2021
A quirky, convincing book. Logsdon's voice is entertaining and soothing, and his argumentation is impeccable. A lot of fun for anybody interested in ecology or conservationism--the only downside is that the middle of the book gets involved in technical details unnecessary for somebody who is not planning on composting manure. That said, skim over that bit for the juicy details, and you have a wonderful book.
July 18, 2020
I dont usually give non fiction 5 stars but i loved this book. Ive struggled through a lot of heavily opinionated, but not substntiated non fiction, as well as stuff thats so fact based and dry you cant get through it. This book is a perfect balance of funny and personal, and fact based/educational. Spoiler alert I want to get chickens now. Not for the eggs... for the menure.
August 1, 2022
so much to learn from this book. I am delighted to get 1st hand knowledge of dealing different types of manure. I can apply the knowledge to my backyard garden with 6 chickens. Also I started using compost toilet.
May 7, 2017
Great book for reading if you are interested in soil management, makeup and replenishment. Composting and manure - everything you wanted to know. well written.
August 21, 2017
Wish everyone would get back to handling animals and fertility in this manor.
January 26, 2020
poop, dung, crap ........ not what I thought it would be.... expecting something more practical, like composting.......
March 14, 2021
Great read for a look into the potential for more sustainable waste management and the benefits of manure in small scale farming. Can’t beat a good poop book!
October 18, 2021
Holy shap bro thanks for saving the human race by managing the shit i flush down the toilet 💯🥶❗️🙏🏻💀📈
November 30, 2021
Will probably need to buy this one as a reference for the future farm.
December 9, 2021
Only so many ways to say "mix it with carbon and wait".
Read
June 15, 2023No reflection on the book, but I DNF at about 50%. I was looking for a slightly different book. The first couple chapter were really all I wanted.
October 14, 2016
I have just read an entire book about composting manure . . . and that's still kind of amazing to me. Now, I already have to go back and re-read the chicken manure section as a friend of mine has just decided to start composting the manure from her chicken coop. I'm so excited to help, and this book has made me less embarrassed by that statement.
January 12, 2015
Not your typical composting book - thank God!
The author has a very witty way of getting his point across regarding poop of virtually every kind. After all everything poops or farts or burps. The dilemma of late has been all about green house gasses & CFO's (Factory Farms where the animals pretty much stand knee deep in their own waste - enjoy your steak yum!).
Our disgust with our food system is one of the reasons why we try to avoid supporting it! We support local family farms as much as possible for the products we don't produce on our own small family farm. A good point made in the book that hit home - not to let people like myself get caught up in creating our own little "oasis" of better animal management & land management (both include poop of course) & ignore what is happening in the outside world. After all some people are in concrete jungles, or most simply don't have a couple of acres they can compost on without pissing off their doodie offended neighbors.
We have been composting for years now. We just have various piles. No temp checks or anything else. We don't have the time. However we never compost our cats waste or our own except for when the men pee outside. It's time to change that!
Thankfully this book discusses the taboo our society has in using cat/dog/human waste on our food & flowers. He provides enough information to enlighten the reader at how silly or as he puts it "insane" humans are. We behave as if crap is a vile evil thing that must hurriedly be flushed away as if it never happened! Why do we do that? Yeah it smells but it's not going to jump up and try to kill us! As a society we really do act strangely when it comes to certain types of feces especially our own. It was something I never gave any thought to until it was pointed out to me in this book. We really are a bit nutty.
This isn't a boring book with charts & percentages. Temperatures your pile must reach ect. It's not a science book on composting. Even so it is truly full of useful information no matter who you are. Like us with some land & farm animals, a concrete jungle dweller, suburbanite, or a giant CFO. All of us can benefit from the advice given in this book. The author will make you laugh, shake your head & keep you reading.
What is fantastic to me is how the author discusses so many different types of feces. The animal they come from, the size & how easy it is or isn't to deal with. The cost of raising animals. Fencing issues. From horses to rabbits & the already mentioned humans. It really amazes me how he can be so informative without being dull & does it in a very little book! The ease of reading, the wealth of information & the humor make it a perfect book for High Schools. A little enlightenment just might be what it takes to improve our messed up food system & our own silly feces phobias.
This is a book worth sharing.
The author has a very witty way of getting his point across regarding poop of virtually every kind. After all everything poops or farts or burps. The dilemma of late has been all about green house gasses & CFO's (Factory Farms where the animals pretty much stand knee deep in their own waste - enjoy your steak yum!).
Our disgust with our food system is one of the reasons why we try to avoid supporting it! We support local family farms as much as possible for the products we don't produce on our own small family farm. A good point made in the book that hit home - not to let people like myself get caught up in creating our own little "oasis" of better animal management & land management (both include poop of course) & ignore what is happening in the outside world. After all some people are in concrete jungles, or most simply don't have a couple of acres they can compost on without pissing off their doodie offended neighbors.
We have been composting for years now. We just have various piles. No temp checks or anything else. We don't have the time. However we never compost our cats waste or our own except for when the men pee outside. It's time to change that!
Thankfully this book discusses the taboo our society has in using cat/dog/human waste on our food & flowers. He provides enough information to enlighten the reader at how silly or as he puts it "insane" humans are. We behave as if crap is a vile evil thing that must hurriedly be flushed away as if it never happened! Why do we do that? Yeah it smells but it's not going to jump up and try to kill us! As a society we really do act strangely when it comes to certain types of feces especially our own. It was something I never gave any thought to until it was pointed out to me in this book. We really are a bit nutty.
This isn't a boring book with charts & percentages. Temperatures your pile must reach ect. It's not a science book on composting. Even so it is truly full of useful information no matter who you are. Like us with some land & farm animals, a concrete jungle dweller, suburbanite, or a giant CFO. All of us can benefit from the advice given in this book. The author will make you laugh, shake your head & keep you reading.
What is fantastic to me is how the author discusses so many different types of feces. The animal they come from, the size & how easy it is or isn't to deal with. The cost of raising animals. Fencing issues. From horses to rabbits & the already mentioned humans. It really amazes me how he can be so informative without being dull & does it in a very little book! The ease of reading, the wealth of information & the humor make it a perfect book for High Schools. A little enlightenment just might be what it takes to improve our messed up food system & our own silly feces phobias.
This is a book worth sharing.
January 7, 2015
Gene Logsdon writes about farming, but he writes about farming in the way an artist might write about art. Logsdon's books are along the lines of Wendell Berry, but with a humorous bent and this book is no different. Holy Shit documents Logsdon's long time love affair with manure of many kinds, including human. He reminds us that it is precisely things like shit, that we don't like to talk about, that are often the most important thing in life. He writes, "It gladdens my heart to think that organic matter in the soil is so priceless that not even science can put a dollar value on it."
Holy Shit covers the uses of manure for fertilizer as well as for composting; it also covers the methods of using shit that people have been using for eons to grow food. Since the fifties, this method has come to rely more and more on ammonia and chemical based fertilization that does not give back, but takes from the very soil that we rely upon for our food. Holy Shit asks the reader to consider some alarming statistics as well as some realities that we must face sooner or later. Logsdon reminds us that while the thought of using all kinds of manure may put some off, the continued decision not to consider large-scale uses of manure rather than chemicals is really not an option.
From cow to bat, from pig to people, according to Logsdon manure is the savior not only of food production but also of human existence itself. While I cannot vouch for the statistics used in the book (they are general), the argument is sound. Logsdon is definitely an expert in the area, and I mean that with all due respect. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who, well...you know.
Great writer and great subject!
Holy Shit covers the uses of manure for fertilizer as well as for composting; it also covers the methods of using shit that people have been using for eons to grow food. Since the fifties, this method has come to rely more and more on ammonia and chemical based fertilization that does not give back, but takes from the very soil that we rely upon for our food. Holy Shit asks the reader to consider some alarming statistics as well as some realities that we must face sooner or later. Logsdon reminds us that while the thought of using all kinds of manure may put some off, the continued decision not to consider large-scale uses of manure rather than chemicals is really not an option.
From cow to bat, from pig to people, according to Logsdon manure is the savior not only of food production but also of human existence itself. While I cannot vouch for the statistics used in the book (they are general), the argument is sound. Logsdon is definitely an expert in the area, and I mean that with all due respect. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who, well...you know.
Great writer and great subject!
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