In his insightful 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 the increasing population, our civilization, like so many that went before it, will inevitably decline.
With his trademark humor, years of experience writing about both farming and waste management, and 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 destined to become a classic of our agricultural literature.
Table of Content
1. Manure : the hot new farm commodity
2. The nitty-gritty of the shitty
3. Bedding lessons from the strawstack days
4. The manure pack
5. The pitchfork : the real symbol of America
6. Hauling and spreading manure
7. No more poop coops
8. Thar’s gold in them thar horse stalls
9. Sheep and goat manures are… well…cleaner
10. Of milk and manure
11. Pigs can potty-train themselves
12. Guano and other offbeat manures
13. Meditations on a meadow muffin
14. Cat litter and dog dung
15. Oh my goodness, manure on your garden?
16. The anti-bowel movement
17. How I came to find divine materials in manure
18. Dealing with our dread of human excrement
19. Applying treated human biosolids to farmland
20. Do we want farmers or robots?
About the author
Over the course of his long life and career as a writer, farmer, and journalist, Gene Logsdon published more than two dozen books, both practical and philosophical, on all aspects of rural life and affairs. His nonfiction works include Gene Everlasting, A Sanctuary of Trees, and Living at Nature’s Pace. He wrote a popular blog, The Contrary Farmer, as well as an award-winning column for the Carey, Ohio, Progressor Times. Gene was also a contributor to Farming Magazine and The Draft Horse Journal. He lived and farmed in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where he died in 2016, a few weeks after finishing his final book, Letter to a Young Farmer.
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