Why I love our outhouse:

1. No smell. Outhouses are generally a bit smelly, but we built ours as a composting toilet, which we "flush" with woodshavings, ashes, or leaves - they aid in the composting, and eliminate odors.

2. Beautiful. My husband built it out of birch trees, with the bark still on them. It's a large (bathroom-sized) structure, with a pitcher and basin for washing, and soon the walls will be papered in pages of poetry, with shelves and a lovely red floor!

3. The night sky. Every late night visit to the outhouse is accompanied by stars, moonlight, night-rain, and feel of truly belonging to my land. I've become familiar with the milky-way, traced moon-paths across the grass, and bathed my face in cool rain.

4. Self-sufficiancy. No water bills, no electric bills, no septic system, and no chance the toilet simply won't flush, or worse yet, will overflow!

5. Environmentally friendly. Our waste returns and is reclaimed by the earth, with no water waste, no processing plants, and no chemicals. In this way, at least, we are treading lightly.