My husband and I are well rehearsed in the art of fermenting our milk (for kefir), sweet tea (for kombucha) and veggies, but kitchen waste? The minute I heard that was actually a thing, I had to learn more!
WHAT IS BOKASHI?
Bokashi is a special method of composting. According to The Spruce, one of the benefits of Bokashi composting is that it requires only about 10 days to convert organic materials into useable material, and the nutrient value of the material is among the highest of any method of composting.
THE GOOD AND THE BAD
PROS
- You will reduce the amount of garbage you send to a landfill (and you'll get rid of most of the stinky stuff that sits in your trash can molding and liquifying between trash pick-up days).
- You'll make awesome nutrient-rich compost for your garden and liquid fertilizer for your house plants.
- It is easy and inexpensive to get started (I'll show you how I made a boshaki composting bin for under $15).
- It's easy and inexpensive to keep going (if you've heard you need to buy expensive bokashi innoculent, I'll show you how to DIY that for pennies yourself right at home)
- If you make thickened kefir, it's a great way to use up your left over whey.
- It's good for you and good for the environment!
CONS
- Making room for one more bin in the house/garage, and one more jar in the fridge or pantry.
- Honestly, I can't think of anything else.
THE FERMENTATION PROCESS
The process I'm using starts with the naturally occurring bacteria that's present in rice starch and milk (lactic acid bacteria). You can purchase a product called EM1 (the acronym EM stands for effective microorganisms). The bacteria consumes the sugars and carbohydrates that are present in the food waste and helps to quickly break it down.
MY DAILY AND WEEKLY COMPOSTING ROUTINE
I collect my biodegradable kitchen waste in a large bowl I leave on the kitchen counter. I collect only plant-based foos scraps and eggshells, but I've read that some people include meat products too. After dinner, since I normally have a cutting board and knife I need to wash anyway, I will chop any larger scraps in the bowl into smaller pieces (things that tend to be larger than 1/2 inch pieces like orange peels and egg shells) and then dump everything into my DIY bokashi bucket. To learn how I made mine, go here.
Once I have an inch or so of new waste in this layer (or within 1 to 2 days, whichever comes first), I spray the top layer with my effective microorganism solution, and then sprinkle on a thin layer dry, "brown" compost material; this can be shredded newsprint, cardboard, sawdust, coco coir or dry leaves or grasses from our yard. Just remember: Anything you add here will eventually be added back into your houseplants and garden, so don't add anything with chemicals (like sawdust from pressure treated lumber) or toxic materials (like the printing ink used on newspaper).
Every 2 or 3 days, I drain off the liquid that collects on the bottom of the bucket, and use that to make fertilizer for my house plants. When the bin is full, I set it aside for about a week or two. Then I can either dump it into my buried compost pile in my yard and allow it to decompose for a couple of weeks longer, or I can dig holes around my garden and bury and cover the fermented waste with soil or finished compost to add nutrients directly beneath the surface of the topsoil.