Bokashi
Now, here's something else again. Is anybody into Bokashi? I quote here from the Real Goods catalog:
"Now it's easy to discard meat, fish, dairy and even bones right in your kitchen without the requirements of turning it like outdoor compost and without creating unpleasant smells. Developed in Japan, the All Food Recycling Compost Kit quickly and odorlessly prepares your organic waste into a high-grade soil conditioner through the use of effective microbes or 'bokashi', a Japanese word meaning 'fermented organic matter.'
Similar to the process used to make wine, this system relies on fermentation to decompose the matter rather than putrefaction, so no putrid odor is produced. In about 10 days, nutrient-rich matter is produced that you bury in the garden to help improve physical, chemical and biological environments in the dirt. "
This stuff is a trip. As I understand it, the bokashi is a mixture of water, molasses, wheat bran, and EM, or Efficient Microorganisms. (Says my husband: "Isn't that beer?")
You keep the bin tightly sealed (except when you're adding more kitchen scraps and bokashi), and you can include all the stuff you can't put in a worm bin--meat, dairy, and so forth. I do wish I'd taken enough chemistry to say that I understood the difference between fermentation and decomposition and what the implications would be soil-dwelling microbes, but alas, I must take their word for it. As it is, I just don't know how to evaluate a statement like,
"The microorganisms in EM are known to produce bioactive substances, vitamins, hormones, enzymes, amino acids, and antibiotics, which enrich and detoxify the soil" or,
"The purple photosynthetic microbes which are present at enhanced levels in this formula have powerful detoxifying, antioxidative and anti-entropic properties and can reduce levels of certain toxins, toxic gases, many odors, and can help to re-establish a wide range of beneficial microbes again in a polluted or unbalanced environment."
So what does this stuff look like? One website says: "Bokashi Compost will look different to other compost that has decayed. As the food waste does not breakdown or decompose while it is in the bucket, much of its original physical property will remain and it will have a pickled appearance. Complete breakdown of waste will occur a few weeks after it has been transferred to the soil. " Yum. (Full instructions can be found here at Bokashi Composting Australia.)It's the burying it in the garden step that trips me up. Like, where in my garden am I going to dig a big hole every 10 days? And do I plant right on top of it, or wait, or what? Why can't we just have a compost pile again? Because it won't break down the meat and dairy? So pickled meat and dairy buried in the garden is good because...
I'm confused, but really interested. I just went through a little kombucha phase that's about to end with the critter getting tossed on the compost pile; you can only imagine my husband's relief that I'll be replacing it with bokashi.
You can find out more about the various products here, but do let me know if you've tried this or know somebody who has.
Real Goods Catalog - Indoor Home
posted by Amy Stewart @ 2/03/2006 09:55:00 AM
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29 Comments:
I agree that the burying in the garden could be a problem. After all, if you have a garden that's already fully planted, you still may want to add compost but you don't want to dig holes amongst the roots to do it. My first thoughts on the matter (and I may be quite wrong) are that the material is in some way being 'preserved' but the actual process by which the plants will benefit doesn't take place until it's beneath the soil. Again, this may be fine in an open garden bed, yet to be planted, but a bit more difficult otherwise.
I actually asked for a Bokashi system for a x-mas gift since I didn't think a conventional compost system was a good option for us. My first experiment failed as mold grew in the bin (this is supposedly a 'no no'), despite carefully following all the directions and using the 'bokashi' mixture provided. Purchasing replacement bokashi is not convenient and the waste doesn't break down much, so you still have a volume issue. I will probably try it again as it was not a cheap experiment, but I'm skeptical now that I've 'invested.' I didn't even get any 'tea' that is supposed to be produced from the system after 3 weeks of regular use. Too many coffee grounds? Too many of something else? Too much 'water' in the waste (I didn't add any liquids)? I don't know...?
What I need is a relatively low maintenance, low cost system that I can do indoors or at least in a garage (away from curious wildlife) and from which I can spread the results from directly onto the soil or mix in with planters. I live at high elevation (8,100) with plenty of sun but thin soils , so the more organic materials I can add to the soil the better.
I hate the amount of organic waste we produce daily -- certainly it can be put to a better use than a landfill? There has to be a better way. Perhaps just a conventional composting system with a fence around it may be my best bet for the summer months, but it won't work too well in our cold, snowy Colorado winters. I wasn't too sure of the worms either ('vermicomposting') -- can they handle all the waste a family produces on a daily basis? Any other ideas?
Just stumbled upon this--we seem to have discovered Bokashi about the same time.
I use bokashi in my planted garden by burying it between the rows. It will break down and the plant's roots will grow deeper towards it. If you plant it deep enough it is also not a problem to plant right over the top of it as the plant roots won't reach it by the time it has broken down. I've actually planted acid loving plants right on top of it and not had any problems other than exceptional growth! Bokashi also makes a great addition to regular compost and helps it become soil much quicker. Also cleans up septic systems and my chicken coop has never smelled better.
Juls--some white fillimenty mold is okay, and desired on Bokashi. As long as it smells sweet/sour and not putrid it's okay. You also don't always get liquid out of the system. If there had been water, etc in the waste you put in there would have been liquid. Don't give up on it just yet--Bokashi really is the best and simplest way to quick and effective compost. People fail to see the fact that it is alive and passes its life onto the plants once it is composted. Everyone just wants something easy and quick--like traditional compost it like that. . . .
Anyway, check out my pages on Bokashi--http://www.kitchengardenfoods.com
If you don't have space to bury is everytime: What they recommend is just to take a bottomless bucket, add the stuff from the bucket and some dirt, wait two weeks, then use it. In that case the entire process would take 4 weeks before use.
Also, you are supposed to wait longer in the winter. This stuff is all in instructions available at the New Zealand site online, so you should read it before putting the system down.
For example, it clearly explains that white mold is ok, green is not, and the most noticeable difference will be the smell. If it didn't work, it will smell bad.
To clarify - you add the contents of the Bokashi bucket and some soil to a bottomless bucket in your garden. This is just like having a compost heap in your garden, except that it is much quicker.
If you produce a lot of waste, just get a bigger bucket. Again, all the instructions for this are available online.
first of all. composting is composting. you cant get easier than a bucket that sits in your house that you just put stuff into and it composts right there with a spigot. if you arent wanting to go through the hassle of transferring it to your garden, why are you composting? anyway, for me, bokashi is a godsend.keys to remember:
- if you are filling your container every 10 days, you may have more scraps than one system can hold. I would either get another container and switch them out when one is full, or try making your own container with some way to drain it.
- also, key to efficiency, cut food into smaller pieces. it helps the microbes digest faster and more evenly.
- dont put food into the bin that is already growing mold, looks "deflated", smells, has flies, or has been left out for a little while. (there is already a bad process starting - throw it out)
the microbes arent hard to understand if you think of them as a living population that needs to eat and reproduce. when a population is put in an environment that supports their life, they thrive there. should the population be large enough to establish themselves and co-exist sustainably, the majority will overpower any competition.
if you start with a healthy EM population (which bokashi ensures), you will have fermentation rather than rot (putrefaction). simple as that! (sort-of)
good luck.
I have been using bokashi for two years now. It took a little practice, but I am incredibly pleased with the process. Bokashi makes kitchen waste easier to manage with a good airtight bucket that can be kept near the food preparation area. Bucket juice occurs mostly when the waste can ferment for a few weeks, therefore two buckets are ideal for continuous collection of organics (and trust me, you'll want all you can get). You can bury the bokashi treated waste in pathways to supply second crops, or for overall soil improvement. I collect it in a large container in my greenhouse, mixed with soil or old manure, for a planting medium for starting seeds. It is remarkable how healthy my young seedlings are.
Hi All,
I am one of the owners of EM America, the company that imports and distributes the Bokashi Buckets and makes Organic Rice Bran Bokashi. We also are the exclusive distributors of EM1, aka Effective Microorganisms (EM).
When I first got into this the bokashi thing confused me a bit. I also thought the process was a bit labor intensive. I had hurt my back so turning compost piles became quite the chore. What I did was dig trenches and back fill with green waste and any food waste. As I added each new layer, I would spray on activated EM1 with a hose-end sprayer and fill the trench. As I neared the top of the trench, I would fill with the soil from the hole and then plant directly into the soil with either seeds or transplants. The was easiest to do back in Massachusetts where the soil was more sand and clay. Now that I live in Tucson, where the soil is more like concrete, patience and persistence has paid off as I continually add food wastes and spray AEM1 on the materials throughout the year. You can did right around plants without worry. In the Southwest the best benefit is all that organic matter acts like a sponge, increasing drought tolerance.
Schools in the US use the bokashi to compost food waste from lunch. In Tucson the Miles Elementary and the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind have been doing this for years. Miles grows vegetables and flowers and uses them in the school. ASDB grows veggies and sells them to teach the students real-life skills. In Japan over a thousand schools use this method.
Another comment, you can still use the regular composting method. Materials actually break down faster when they are pre-treated with bokashi. The fermentation breaks down the lignin in the vegetables. Added benefits are that during the fermentation vitamins, minerals, and amino acids are produced and secreted in forms that plants will readily suck up. You can see growth spurts when plant roots hit the bokashi buried in the soil!
As for the comment about not producing juice, if there are not liquids going in the bucket, there are not going to be liquids coming out. No harm done.
Both EM America and EM Technology Network sell an educational video that describes the entire process.
For those of you who are in Southern California, the midwest, or in Texas, EM1 is available at every Whole Foods Market in the floral department. Some other stores sell the buckets and bokashi as well. Our website has links to all the retail stores where you can get the products.
Enjoy,
Eric
As PodChef Said, A little white mould is absoultely fine. Black mould is undesirable. In fact, if you have a litle whiet mould on top, that means you have probablt left the waste to settle for a bit. The longer the waste ferments, the quicker it will break down once buryied in the soil. Secondly, sometime, the longer you leave the waste to ferment, the more Bokashi Juice, may come.
OK, so you never got any juice yet? It is not guartenteed that you will get Bokashi Juice. It depends on 2 things.
1. The liquid content of the veges/fruit you are adding. e.g. zuchinnis and melon are probably going to contribute to more "Bokashi Juice" than banana peel and kiwi peels.
2. if you use too much EM Bokashi (powder), then that will tend to soak up any liquid that will want to produce.
juls--
"which I can spread the results from directly onto the soil or mix in with planters"
The waste needs to buried away from sensative roots of seedlings. Fot the firts week, the waste may contain a high PH level, which nuetralises after 1 week.
Still, try and keep separate. You cannot just spread, you should bury min 15cm under the top of soil.
It may take 3-8 weeks for some food compost to break down. Obviously, some items will breake down at a faster rate. I hope this has been of some help.
cameron@bokashi.com.au
happy composting
My garden is many sizes of containers on a rooftop deck in Seattle, WA- also considering some sort of extensive greenroof for part of undecked roof. tried a worm composter, but no good location for it really due to sunlight, exposure etc. How does bokashi work in this type of setting? Seems like it needs to go into soil of some kind right away and could overwhelm containers pretty quickly. suggestions?
I have been thinking about this,but have heard little about the price, cost per week, of the powder and how available is it. Can anyone help? Thanks
Regarding price, a liter of EM1 costs $22.99 (www.emamerica.com) and can make about 5 tons of bokashi. It really depends if you make the bokashi or buy it. We have the recipes and instructions so to customer is free to choose if they want to buy bokashi already made or make it themselves.
If you're in California, Sunday April 1st from 2-5pm EM America is holding a free public seminar at the Glendale Civic Auditorium in Glendale, California. for more information, visit EM America. The inventor of the Effective Microorganisms Technology, Dr. Teruo Higa, and others, will be presenting.
The event is sponsored by Whole Foods Market. The Glendale Civic Auditorium is at 1401 N Verdugo Rd, Glendale, California.
I live in Iowa and this system has worked great for me. I have an in home daycare so we fill a 5 gallon bucket with scraps every week. ALL the scraps. All dairy, all meat, everything. I have 4 bokashi buckets to collect the scraps, they are rotated and stacked every time one is filled. The average time that they sit in the bucket inside before being dumped outside in the collection site is about 3-4 weeks, and all have the "pickled" smell that really isn't that bad. I dump one about every week in my collection site. In the winter I have to rinse out the bucket inside (after scrubbing it out a bit with snow) and while the kids don't like the smell much, I find that it fades faster if I use cold water to rinse the bucket out rather than hot. The smell fades really really fast, even with sensitive noses. It's not a putrid smell, just a pickled distinctive smell. I don't use soap to wash the bucket and since it's going to be used right a way, it doesn't really matter that much. I just rinse it out, sprinkle the bokashi in it, put some more scraps in it and close it up.
3 of the buckets are the fancy bokashi containers that you can buy with the spouts, and one is my attempt at a home made one. The home made one made from two 5 gallon buckets works just as well as the ones with the spouts, but doesn't look as nice in my kitchen. I used 2 five gallon buckets for my home made one... One of the 5 gallon buckets I drilled drain holes in the bottom. About 20 of them. I then "nested" the two buckets. Every so often I will pull out the drilled bucket and pour off the compost tea that has collected in the outer bucket. I just ordered a universal screw on gamma seal lid from www.usplastic.com, which made the total cost for my homemade one about $12 (free buckets at a local organic co-op food store) while the fancy spout one cost $60+shipping. You don't need the nice lid, I'm getting a good seal with the reused one that came with my bucket. But I think that it will be easier with the screw top lid. I use a plastic plate on top of the food scraps to push them down and keep the air from circulating. I still buy the bokashi because I simply don't have time or space to make my own, a bag goes a long way.
I built an insulated outdoor bokashi collection site out of a large outdoor style trash can (I cut the bottom of it off) that I buried 6" in the ground. 4 straw bails around it keep it warm in the winter. I use a bungie cord to keep the lid on it and drilled a few holes a couple of inches down from the lid for some air circulation. My regular compost pile is next to it, which I keep covered in the winter with a tarp so that the leaves don't freeze and I can add them to the bokashi compost bin every week when I dump my kitchen scraps from the rotated buckets. This has worked great all winter. The snow didn't collect on top of my outdoor collection site because it's just that warm! It takes only a few min. to dump the bokashi and put some leaves on top of it. My bokashi trash can is steaming when I open it (in February/March) so I know that it must be doing something! It doesn't smell at all when layered with the leaves. When it warms up I'll add it to my regular compost pile and I bet I'll have a HOT compost pile this summer! I think that in the fall I'll dig up some of my garden and rotate the dirt out. My neighbor uses finished compost to fill in rabbit holes and divits in his yard. I have friends who buy compost, I can donate some to them if I have some left over. Overall I highly recommend this system..especially with a covered trash can bokashi collection site. I've had NO problems with critters or digging it in. By the time I'll take it out of the trash can it will be ready to use in my regular compost pile. It's been almost 5 months and I just topped off my collection container.. considering the volume of scraps I have, I think that an average family would be just fine with just one insulated can... the insulated can could be used in the summer as well so that you're not digging up random parts of your yard.
Audra - thank you for taking the time to post your comments on that. I just purchased the system and what you wrote is very helpful! I only bought one and was thinking of making another one for myself with my husband's many drywall buckets. Thanks again from another Iowan!
ALERT:
The Bokashi recipe on the emamerica site can't possibly be correct(http://www.emamerica.com/data/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=226)Here are some things that didn't make sense:
1) According to the recipe, it only takes "10 to 15 minutes" to make 50 pounds of bokashi. Um, no. just to hand-form 50 pounds of anything into balls would take more than half an hour. Note: The people in the pictures are NOT making 50 pounds of Bokashi.
2) 3-5 gallons of water is not nearly enough for 50 pounds of bran. Luckily I realized what I was getting into and cut the recipe in half. For 25 pounds of bran I had to use about 4 gallons of water to get the "desired consistency". Just mixing 25# of bran is a workout(it comes to about four times the size of the tubs shown on the website)-if I would have tried to follow the recipe it would have been a disaster.
3) It is impossible to form the mixture into balls that stay together.It's like trying to make balls out of sawdust and water. I'm also scared that the damn stuff will catch on fire there's so much of it. If there are actually emamerica owners on this chat I'd like to hear from you. I'll call emamerica's customer service on Monday as well.
I haven't made the bokashi myself yet... I was going to try the recipe from this "teacher's manuel"
http://bokashicenter.com/EMTeachersManual%20courtesy%20copy%20from%20bokashi%20center.pdf It says to use 1.5-2 gallons of water for 50# of bran. Anybody else have experience making any? I've been buying mine from bokashicenter.com or SCD premade.
BTW, that last post was from me..I just didn't imput my username since I must have made a mistake on my password... :) I did notice that in the "teacher's manual" that you only make the mixture into balls to check to see that it's saturated correctly.. No liquid should be able to be squeezed out and the ball should crumble easily when touched. I haven't checked out the em america recipe. Also, in the teacher's maual I mentioned in the last post, they have 25 student's mix 2#each in a tub.. I just need to find 23 more kids to help me and my two daughters :) Maybe mixing it in smaller increments rather than all at once would be easier? I'll let you all know after some ambitious weekend :) Let me know what emamerica says-Audra
I know this post was back in 2006, but since I have discovered this whole thing with Bokashi and Effective Micro-organisms (EM) I have been doing alot of research on it. Determining that I would like to try it brought me to the discovery of the predators in this market.
I get so sick and tired of a-holes taking advantage of 'green' marketing. While Bokashi has it's advantages, I havn't found anyone who isnt trying to rip you off.
Seriously, a plastic bucket for $50? That's stupid and typical of how we often get fleeced. Honestly you can get a bucket and throw a spigot on it for around $7 and about 15 minutes worth of time.
I am really getting tired of the 'green' rip off artists.
I beg to differ on that last post, Robert. A lot of the websites that sell the $50 bucket set ups will also tell you how to make your own and also have recipes to make your own bokashi bran. The $50 set ups are for those who are lacking time/know how to make their own or need something that looks nicer... for an office for instance. I think that with most things you can find the easy or $$ way to do it, or a cheaper more labor intensive-not-quite-as-nice-looking way to do it. I think it's great that some people ARE selling the $50 buckets... it makes bokashi composting more accessable for people who don't have time to make their own or people who need to "sell" the idea to coworkers in an office setting. A ratty homemade bucket woudn't work in some corporate settings, but the sleek black bucket would be acceptable and USED. Which would you rather see in the kitchen of a restaurant or in a daycare provider's kitchen? I'd say 90% of the bokashi sites have how-to's on them. Bokashi does work and it's cheap if you have the time to make the bran and buckets yourself... but some people don't. I'm happy that people with limited space to make the bran and without the tools to make the buckets are not excluded from a technique that really does work. I would not call the sellers of $50 buckets "predators" but rather "opportunists". EVERY market has them. If we didn't have them, we'd all be stuck living in mud houses.
Hi Robert C Mullins. I agree, the system can be built by yourself. With a little handy work.
You failed to mention somethings, like it needs to be airtight for the system to work, and it pays to have one bucket inside another, so any leached Bokashi Juice can drain through. Otherwise, I am in suport of your idea.
Ripp off a-holes is probably not quite correct. I Happen to know most of the ressellers and industry in my country, and the margins are not great.
I cannot buy 1 plain 15L pail (new) for $15, let alone 2 (one inside the other. The spigots alone are $6.50 in the hardware store.
I am with last comment by annonymous, basically "the specially designed buckets" are for people that are not so handy, and want to start composting straight away. Bravo to those persons.
Anyway, we are all happy composters. And this is a blog.
Update:
I talked to an emamerica representative and had much better luck with my second batch, also 25#.
Yes, I did think you actually had to form the balls the first time. I'm going to bury my first batch now.
I just wanted to respond to the person with the rooftop garden. I learned about bokashi while living in japan, and it seemed like most of the home gardens I saw were container gardens. People would add bokashi when they repotted their plants. Occasionally I even saw them lift the plant out and put a little in. They would also use the 'bokashi tea,' diluted, to water their plants. If they were not getting any liquid they would pour some liquid, just enough to moisten but not run through, into the bokashi bucket.
Excellent info!
You can "Bokashi" without the expensive EM and fancy buckets!
http://bokashicomposting.com/
I just stumbled across your blog =) I just started my brand new Bokashi buccket 6 days ago! =) I have been reading everything I can about this wonderful bucket! I cant wait to get my first cup of "juice" out of the bucket and start digging in the year to make some awsome new soil! In addition to all this, im also a first time gardener (in the earths soil that is, I have always planted in pots)
But anyway, since im such a begginer I cant really answer many of your questions, but I just wanted to say, I already LOVE my Bokashi, and the thing is accually working as a deodorent type airfreshner in my laundry room, where the dogs sleep! =) I hope everyone can get their hands on a Bokashi, im just lucky and live in Japan! And I hope you can share my love for it too!
I've been doing Bokashi for a while and I seem to be doing it alright, have learnt some things which may increase the effectiveness of the process. Firstly, don't add too much bread, as its porous and seems to soak the juices up. Secondly, don't add anything too oily, the oil doesn't break down and you get a layer when you extract your juice. There are some things I am confused about though - sometimes I get a gloopy, heavy white liquid which I'm not sure I should be using on the plants. When people say it shouldn't smell bad, the smell I tend to get is a kind of vomit smell. Though I think that's the right smell?
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I've been using Bokashi for a few years, and find it successful for preparing an area that I intend to plant later. I don't use it on areas that are planted right now.
I find it's good for preparing soil that has to endure harsh, never-ending dry weather (Melbourne, Australia), as the parts with bokashi compost don't become hydrophobic as soon as the other areas do - ie when it doesn't rain for months!
Reading this discussion has been most helpful, as I've followed the links and found I'm doing some things quite wrong:
I had my buckets in the sun;
I didn't wash out the container between uses;
I was burying the liquid into the ground undiluted.
Even though I was making mistakes, I think it was okay because I usually wait a couple of months before planting the area.
My biggest problem lately has been animals - uggh! rats! - digging, so I'll try to go deeper, having watched that New Zealand video clip.
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