I love it! I have been encouraging my neighbors to compost their pee. It might help the compost heat up a bit.

A friend shared that with me, too.

I know people who would not eat anything out of a garden if they thought it was fertilized with human urine, so I feel like if I put urine in the compost I use on vegetable beds, I should disclose it. And since I don't, frankly, see me doing that, I've refrained. Is this a non-issue? I don't share with people that I use chicken, cow, and horse manure, because it's not an unusual.

It couldn't be worse than the "Compost Starter" I bought from HiYield. I found it odd that there was NO mention of what it actually contained. Then, doing some net research I found out. Pure UREA/ Three pounds of pee for 5.29 plus tax. Caveat Emptor. All compost starter is NOT compost starter. PIS* on them!

When my other half was a kid, the boys' toilet at his school used to have a concrete trough in which was placed a bale of peat for the boys to pee on. When the bale was 'full', the peat bale would be dug into the soil in the school's vegetable garden. The headmaster was a bit of a gardening buff and the school would grow all the vegetables needed for use in the school canteen plus some surplus to sell. Apparently they had a three year rotation. The first year, the pee soaked peat would be dug into the soil and that area used to grow peas and beans. The following year brassicas, and finally root crops.

This was in the UK in the early 1940s, and using pee like this was considered perfectly normal.

We happen to have straw bales on hand, and always have pee, so I'm starting two bales today. Also emailing the link to the extended family - most of them more conservative composters than ourselves. They should at least get a smile out of it.

The guy's comment (on the other link posted) about women's urine being more acidic and therefore less desirable seems ludicrous. How acidic is it? Why is acidity bad? Oak leaves (acidic) and shellfish wastes (alkaline) are both fine compost feedstocks, and as any reputable source will tell you, the composting process begins on the acidic side and moves toward a neutral finished product - it sorts itself out.

Another thought. We live in a climate similar to Britain's, generally speaking: maritime cool and wet. Straw left outdoors ends up wet through and through from precipitation, sooner or later. Urine is a mild nitrogen source. I expect it to speed up the rotting but not in some miraculous way. Moisture alone will do that with time.

It makes for a good reason not to share compost with other people. Well, I'd give you a gallon of compost BUT I've composted my urine (and my dog's poo) and I know that you don't want that in your garden.

I heard the head gardener of the National Trust property (Wimpole Hall??) interviewed on a BBC radio call-in show and he had backed off from the assertion that male pee was superior. Most of the people calling in were older gardeners who pointed out that in the old days allotments were pretty much an all male preserve and that's why male pee was regarded as the norm; female pee simply didn't come into it. Now allotments are more of an equal opportunity area... Where was the other link posted?

Curious. The history of allotment gardens in the UK could make an interesting read.
Looked at from different perspectives - as a new way to make compost/mulch, or saving the earth one pee at a time - either way the bales are a great idea - thanks for posting. And the other link, posted by annp.
I'm already picturing using the amended straw as a slow-release fertilizer/mulch around shrubs in the spring.
It's too bad this sort of topic still puts so many people off. That will likely change as oil, petrochemical fertilizer and land get scarcer and food-growing becomes more decentralized (as in the allotments).

"The history of allotment gardens in the UK could make an interesting read."

Paulns, this might be a thread for you then.

Here is a link that might be useful: History of allotments

After digging a little, found the other link was posted by Annpat on the "Bounty of leaves" thread (same subject, but the articles are a little different).

We get pretty regular rain here too, so things break down reasonably well. But it still makes sense to me to use pee on the compost or on a hay bale just to conserve water and avoid putting unnecessary strain on the septic system.

That was an enjoyable blog and interesting thread. Reading about them led me to look at google images of allotments. The beauty of Small, encouragement to be creative and esp. to grow vertically. Another blog by an allotment grower talked about growing comfrey to make a sludge to use as a fertilizer, which is an idea I must pursue. Any chance you've tried that or are familiar with it Flora?

..The idea of starting a community garden (not the same as allotments?) has come up a number of times here but is always quashed almost immediately by fear of vandalism, which is likely well founded.

Paulns - I do have a comfrey patch but I don't go to the effort of making compost tea or anything. I cut it several times a year and add it to the compost heap or just spread it around various plants. Regarding vandalism, that can be a bit of a problem in urban areas but not enough to be a huge deterrent to allotmenting. I have had mine for abou 19 years and have only lost some tools once. I had just left them propped against the compost heap. I've never had any other damage or theft. But my neighbour lost his pumpkins this year just before Halloween. His kids were very upset.