Poo Number 2 : I Love Cob!
It’s funny just how excited I can get about collecting cow poo. It’s a free resource, and the cows just keep making more of it everyday.
As you might have read before, using cow manure in earthen plasters is very nice. The fibers make a tough surface and it glides right on the wall. These cows work hard all day to mow the fields leaving little coin shaped presents behind. Since I have a friend that is going to be plastering their house I thought I’d do a little poo collecting for them. So. I grabbed a couple buckets and began my bovine easter egg hunt.
Of course it’s the best straight from the source, but running behind a cow with a bucket all day isn’t my idea of a good time. I found that the some what soft stuff is easy to work with, while the old dry stuff is hard to break up. I guess that’s a testament to it’s durability. This time I decided that I would run it through a sifter to make the particles really fine. Last time I just soaked it and mixed it in the plaster. The problem with that is there is little chunks that pop out while plastering and chunks could create weak spots in the finish.
One must be a little more intimate than one would like with the poo, but I think the sifting will be well worth it. After sifting the material is light and fluffy, kinda like saw dust.
I’ll report back with our plaster findings.