Don’t miss this golden opportunity
to grow anew

Golden water is my secret for lush starts, vibrant leaves, and happy container plants.

What is golden water? It’s diluted urine as liquid fertilizer.

Golden water is everything chemical fertilizers wish they were, as it:

• Is made in my body, instead of being industrially produced.

• Offers full-spectrum minerals, not isolated compounds.

• Helps the environment, rather than harms.

• Builds plant strength, not chemical dependence.

• Encourages co-creation, not dominion over.

A golden rule of nature: Every life form’s waste stream is food for other beings. My urine contains concentrated minerals that plants crave. Since I eat a nutritious diet, why discard valuable unused minerals when nature intended them as food for others?

As a liquid, golden water is easily absorbed by plants, helping them grow stronger and healthier.

Your urine is safe to handle without precaution since it’s practically sterile and won’t transmit disease in the way humanure (composted human excrement) can.

It’s true, concentrated amounts of urine can harm plants (most garden plants are not salt-tolerant), but repeated use of diluted urine offers amazing benefits that can be witnessed almost immediately.

As herbalists often say, “The dose is the difference between poison and medicine.”

Consider my neighbor’s story: Last summer, he grew a potted tomato plant and a cucumber vine on his patio, both of which were stunted, yellow, and barely growing. It was painful to witness their suffering, not to mention my neighbor’s dismay.

He began feeding golden water to his container plants daily and was shocked to see hints of rebounding in several days. Within a few weeks, they were vibrant, green, vigorously growing, and productive. His jaw dropped in awe.

I had the same reaction when I first started golden-watering seedlings in our greenhouse. All the starts clearly benefited, and the fast-growing, heavy feeders like tomatoes, peppers, and squash especially enjoyed the boost.

Golden water is easy to make—collect your urine and dilute it with water. 1:10 is a ratio most gardeners quote as having little to no scent and being gentle enough for plants. I personally don’t measure. My ratios are sometimes closer to 1:5, and while there is some light scent when less diluted, it still works great. And you can also dilute it more than 1:10 if you want—there’s no hard rule!

I often use a sprayer to foliar feed (putting nutrients directly onto) plant leaves. Golden water also works amazingly as a soil drench in the root zone. In the summer, when my seedlings are in the ground, I continue using golden water to feed container plants, heavy feeders, and fruit trees. I have golden water houseplants year-round.

Another fun story: A few years back, I shared my love for feeding pee to my plants on Instagram. I said, “As a man, it’s easy to collect my urine in a bucket outside, but I don’t expect women to jump on board.” To my surprise, a fair number of female gardeners replied, proudly sharing they collect their urine as fertilizer too.

Well, one international friend went on to tell me about a product sold in Sweden—a watering can that doubles as a potty, designed for convenient golden watering. Bravo!

At least one local friend collects her overnight urine in a glass jug. She uses a pee funnel, popular with some female backpackers and travelers for convenient relief on the go.

Personally, I started feeding plants golden water for practical reasons (free, high-quality organic fertility), but I love the unintended benefits.

One of those benefits? I experience more reciprocity with plants. We humans breathe in plants’ exhales, and we eat plants for nourishment. In turn, plants breathe in our out-breaths, and they eat us too.

We don’t have to wait until we die and turn into compost or ash to reciprocate and nourish plants with our bodies. We can deepen our symbiotic relationship right now, feeding each other while we are alive.

Miraculously, plants and humans were designed to nourish each other.

Every living human automatically generates daily doses of fertility that can be offered back. Knowing this fills me with more delight and gratitude for the magic of life.

Noel Ruiz
hello@homesteadculture.com
Noel offers seeds and writes about homesteading from the heart at homesteadculture.com.

Photo 1: Watering tomato starts with golden water. First, I spray the leaves, then drench the soil. Photo: Noel Ruiz.