Bokashi Day
Whelp, it’s time to empty the bokashi bin.
What on Earth is bokashi? Excellent question!
I’ll have a more in-depth look at the world of bokashi in another post to come (yeah, be prepared to read that a lot for a bit whilst I get my feet on the ground with this whole website and social media jazz.) However, I’d like to at least cover some of the basics here as a general introduction.
First off, what exactly is bokashi? Well, it’s a fermentation method for treating organic wastes. In fact, if you’ve ever made kimchi or fermented pickles (or really any kind of fermented food) you’re gonna feel right at home with bokashi. Unlike “traditional” forms of organic waste MGMT, bokashi is unique in that it relies not on aerobic decomposition (i.e. with microbes that require oxygen), but anaerobic fermentation. In that sense it’s somewhat similar to anaerobic digestion, but also completely different. =P
Bokashi got its start in Japan back in the 1980’s, based on traditional Korean and Japanese fermentation methods. It utilizes a special blend of microbes suited for low/zero-oxygen fermentation. In fact, bokashi utilizes a trademarked and patented formula known as “EM-1” or “Effective Microorganisms.” That said, it’s primarily a blend of lactobacillus & yeast. There are some variations on the blends, and I’ll get to more of that in another post (warned ya! =P), but the primary driver of the fermentation process is lacto and yeast.
OK, so now you might be wondering, why bokashi?
In teaching composting and sustainable organic waste MGMT for a few years one thing has become very clear: most students do not have access to enough outside space to compost their organic wastes. Lots of students live in dorms, apartments, homes with no yards (or picky landlords), and so are unable to utilize the more “traditional” composting methods. Heck, more than 50% of the global population now lives in urban settings. Enter bokashi.
One the the biggest benefits of bokashi is the fact that it can be done indoors (though access to a small outdoor space, like a porch, is ideal.) The footprint is very small, if you’ve got space for a couple 5-gallon buckets, you’re good to go! Unlike backyard compost piles, there’s no need to turn materials regularly, there’s no need to source carbon sources to balance out your nitrogen, there’s no “minimal” pile size, bokashi is about as easy as it gets.
(From left): Bag of bokashi bran, homemade 3.5 gallon bokashi bucket, jar of bokashi “tea”
Is there a smell?
No, I mean yes, but also no…well sorta…a better question: is there a bad smell? No. Though I suppose that’s also subjective… Anyway, the smell is akin to fermented foods (think kimchi, but replace the spicy scents with sweet scents.) Since the process in anaerobic, the only time that you’ll really catch a whiff of your bokashi is when you’re adding materials, or emptying the bucket. Otherwise, the vast majority of the time it’s air-sealed and there’s zero odor.
Does it create a finished product?
So, this is where my real gripe with bokashi comes in. No, the “finished” product is far from finished. Essentially, you’re fermenting/pickling your food scraps, but once they’re “done” they’re still a ways off from being viable materials to add to your garden. This opens up two possibilities: 1) you take the fermented food scraps and add them to your compost pile, your worm bin, or bury them in the soil outside. After a few weeks (4-12) the fermented materials will completely break-down and essentially revert to humus, adding important biomass to your soil. But you said this could be done 100% indoors!! Ah, yes, this is where having access to a small outdoor area becomes helpful: you can build a “soil factory!”
Option #2: It’s far more impressive than it sounds. A “soil factory” is basically a container filled with compost/soil that you use to “finish” your fermented materials. For those of you living in apartments with very little access to personal outdoor space, listen up! The last piece of the “bokashi-as-solution-to-decentralized-urban-organic-waste-MGMT” puzzle is the soil factory. Essentially, it’s just a large (30+ gallon) container for soil.
All you need to build a “soil factory” a plastic bin, some holes for ventilation, and some topsoil and/or finished compost.
A “soil factory!” 31-gallon plastic tote with some soffit vents to allow for airflow.
While I have no real need for a soil factory, the educator in me knew that if I was gonna offer this as a solution to organic waste MGMT for my students, I’d better walk the walk. So, everything here is off the shelf components. From the bokashi bin and bran, to the soil factory bin, to the purchased topsoil. Long story short, it does indeed work! Last April I added a full 5-gallon bucket of fermented food scraps to the soil factory bin, and over the course of 2 months I turned/churned the materials ~3 times. As of today (mid-July) all the materials have homogenized and broken-down! Perfect timing, too, as today I added another full 5-gallon bucket of fermented waste.
Below you can see the basic process:
1) Soil factory with 2 bags topsoil and 5-gallon bokashi-treated organics that have already broken down completely since April.
2) Filled bokashi bucket ready to be emptied.
3) Newly fermented materials added to soil factory.
4) Fermented materials blended in with soil mix.
5) Homemade biochar was added through the mixing process, and then a top dressing layer was added, both to increase the microbial community, as well as mitigate potential odors.
Over the next 4-12 weeks I will turn these materials 3-4 times. Generally, I can smell some faint ferment-y odors for the first week, but after that odors are gone as the materials break-down. I may need to add a bit of water down the line to make sure there’s enough moisture for aerobic microbes to survive and do their work, but otherwise, this is ab out as low-maintenance as it gets.
This post has gotten a bit more detailed than I had planned (what can I say, I’m a geek and an educator, get me on a topic I enjoy and prepare for an ear-beating), but one last question I am sure some of you who live in urban settings might be asking is: This is great and all, but what I am supposed to do with the finished soil? Well, my friends, beyond the obvious answer of GROW SOME DARN FOOD IN POTS! I’d say, gift this to a friend who has space for gardens, or gift it to a local community garden. Heck, worst case scenario, just dump the finished soil under some bushes on your apartment’s property! #ClandestineSoilBuilding
Until next time. Keep it mellow, fellow mesophiles!