Making a black fertilizer out of my own excretion and using the fertilizer to produce vegetables, which will be eaten. Then collect excretion again to make new fertilizer. The project creates a natural cycle on individual level.

During 2010, I focused on making the fertilizer, advised by biologist Dr. Juergen Reckin. From spring 2011, I started planting seeds of vegetable into the soil that is made of vegetables I ate in 2010.

 

All My Cycle - Ayumi Matsuzaka from Goesta Struve-Dencher on Vimeo



How I found the idea of making my personal soil: Every summer I visit my friend’s house in the forests of Finland. She has a simple compost toilet without drainpipe. I was impressed to go to the toilet among the deep green woods. We also removed the completed fertilizer out of the toilet and buried it in the forest, where I saw a lot of blueberries. Since then I have explored the theme of energy and material cycle. This theme connects to my own body, to daily human life, to the efforts of treating our wastewater and to food production.

My method of making fertilizer is called “Terra Preta”, Amazonian black soil. This method has the advantage of preventing serious infections caused by parasites. 

The whole process took one year and a half. The whole process was documented on video. 

Scientific advice by Dr. Jürgen Reckin and Dr. Haiko Pieplow. Logistic support by Marienthaler Kunstlerhaus and Prinzessinnengärten, Berlin. 

If you want to try Terra Preta compost or make microgasifier by yourself, find a discription below