Bokashi
We all know that too much food is wasted, in homes in cafes and restaurants and especially in supermarkets.
The best way to deal with food waste is to return it to its source – that is the earth from which it came. Our soil needs food waste because the soil is an organism in itself, it needs feeding to support the plant life we constantly take from it to feed ourselves.
Bokashi is an easy way of getting rid of kitchen/catering scraps and converting them to high quality fertilizer for your garden. The process originated in Japan and uses (EM) -- Effective micro-organismssuch as yeasts and bacteria. It is essentially a pickling process rather than the rotting you get with normal composting methods. Once the food waste is ‘pickled’ it breaks down quickly into the soil.
Bokashi is one of the easiest methods of composting because literally everything can go in the Bokashi bucket. All kinds of food can be included in your Bokashi -- fresh food and vegetables, prepared foods, onions and acidic matter like citrus, cooked and uncooked meat and fish, cheese and eggs, coffee grinds, tea bags. Fermented bran sprinkled through the food waste initiates the fermentation process, an airtight container with inbuilt drainage is used, and thus there are no offensive odours The fermented food waste can be left for long periods or buried in the garden or compost pile after 14 days.
A unique element in the bran we are making here in Derby is the addition of locally made biochar -- this is charcoal ‘activated’ with liquid manure.
There are many benefits of biochar in our soil. It helps hold moisture and most important it provides shelter for micro-organisms in the soil, thus keeping the soil loose and friable. By adding it to the activating bran for Bokashi it absorbs the bacteria and other microorganisms in the food waste and helps hold them in the soil.
L. soil after bokashi R. pure pindan
The Bokashi bucket.
There are options in how you make your bokashi. The standard way is to have a bucket with a strainer that allows liquids to drain through and be extracted via a tap at the bottom. This liquid is also an excellent fertilizer but should be diluted to the colour of weak tea as it is very acidic and may burn the plants. These buckets can be bought from hardware or health-food shops together with the bran. However, it is quite easy to make your own as illustrated above. Simply get two buckets that fit together snugly, drill holes in one and put a little tap in the other, fit them together, make sure you have a tight-fitting lid and you are ready to go. The other option is to just have one bucket and use shredded paper or dried leaves packed into the bottom of the bucket to absorb moisture.
Bokashi Bran
The fermenting process is activated by a fermented bran that is fairly easy to make if you have the time and space.
For this you need:
‘Carbon source’ such as wheat or Lucerne chaff, used coffee grinds, finely shredded paper or wood or leaves.
Essential Micro-organisms (EM) mixed with molasses and diluted with non- chlorinated water.
Kelp granules or powdered seaweed.
Blood & bone or fine chicken manure
Finely crushed biochar
Instructions
Mix dry ingredients, add liquid until the mixture can be squeezed and hold a shape but not be dripping wet.
Place the mixture in an airtight container, ensure the mix is pressed down firmly and leave to ferment for 2 weeks.
Spread the mixture out in a shady place to dry –2 or 3 days during the dry season.
Store in airtight container
Using your bucket and bran
If you have a bucket with strainer and tap simply spread a handful of the bran at the bottom of the bucket and add food scraps, use a potato masher or something similar to press the scraps down firmly so there are no air pockets then spread a light handful of bran on top and close the lid tightly. Keeping the lid tightly closed is the most important part of the process. If air gets in maggots will breed and the smell will be unpleasant to say the least.
If you are using a container without strainer simply pack about 10cm of dry leaves or shredded paper in the bottom of the bucket to absorb the moisture, add bran then scraps then bran again. In both methods each time you add scraps press them down firmly and scatter bran and replace lid until the bucket is full. Leave the bucket, still tightly sealed for two weeks. The most desired outcome is shown below, a cover of white mould. This shows that the micro-organisms are active.
The bucket of scraps can then be buried in the ground and covered with at least 10 cm of soil and then mulch or mixed with an equal amount of soil and mulch and used in pots.
If you have a dog it is wise to keep it away from the area of the garden where you have buried the bokashi, they seem to love the finished product and will dig it up and roll in it very happily!
If you are not ready to bury the bucket contents it can be left as long as you want, you just need to get more buckets to keep the process going.
An excellent reference for Natural Farming methods and bokashi is found at: https://ilcasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/chos-global-natural-farming-sarra.pdf