Bathroom Talk...

Our shower has been in need of caulking since we moved into our house two years ago. But we were unable to procure caulking that would be safe for me. We did find one that we thought might work, but the US company only shipped to Canada by the truckload and we only needed a few tubes. We recently found a caulking that seemed to be positively reviewed by others with ES/MCS and it arrived from the US this week. Of course, what is good for the goose, is not always good for the gander, but we couldn’t put it off any longer without risking a mold problem. We needed caulk and we needed it now. I couldn’t smell the caulk, but I was still reacting to it even though I was sealed off in my ‘saferoom’.
Simple home maintenance is always extremely challenging and stressful, and finding materials that I will tolerate is extraordinarily difficult and expensive, so we tend to get a little avoidant about it. Unfortunately, avoiding house maintenance tends to lead to bigger problems. My previous landlords would agree. [Laughing] I never let them do work on my apartments because inevitably they would use toxic chemicals. I was mild to moderately sensitive to chemicals for many years before I became TILTED in 2013.

Having our bathroom out of commission has caused me to think a lot about water conservation and the other activities that take place in the bathroom. My partner and I have been having bucket showers, which I find strangely romantic. It makes me nostalgic for camping and for my time in India. Bucket showers are not a long term option in our house because decontamination showers are a mainstay in the household. However, I can see us continuing to have bucket showers with some frequency.
It seems that the toilet is one of the biggest water wasting structures in the house. Living in the city makes it harder to design waste management strategies for the yard, however, one day I could see myself with a composting toilet and extensive grey water systems. In the meantime, it might be an option to divert urine into the compost. Human urine is liquid nitrogen and can be collected and poured onto compost. My partner and I have been actively engaged in intensive organic gardening for the last six years. We are long time members of a Community Garden and have worked as volunteer gardeners for the Food Bank. Since moving into our home, we have started all of our plants from seed and have built our own garden beds in our yard. I am also actively growing medicinal flowers as part of my personal healing process with plant medicine. I think our compost would benefit from some nitrogen.
It is good to practice sustainability and water conservation in daily life and I am working hard to find gratitude under the circumstances. It makes me feel very vulnerable to bring things into the house that can make me sick because this is my only safe place right now. Still, I am happy that we are finally dealing with the caulking and in the process I am learning many important lessons about water conservation, diverting human waste and glorious compost for my herbal healing!