Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Hi Leslie - from the research I've done on bokashi one thing is still a mystery;
the EM (effective microorganisms). How can we get the initial EMs to make
bokashi? Is it as simple as mixing molasses, minerals, and water? or is there
some secret ingredient that we have to get?
Cynthia

________________________________
From: Leslie <lesscrim@telus.net>
To: Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, February 14, 2011 11:18:48 AM
Subject: [Organic_Gardening] Re: No compost bin allowed

 
Sounds like you have a mean landlady - not even a raised bed.

For composting you might want to consider Bokashi. I've just completed a bunch
of research into it and started my own bokashi compost last week. It's an
anaerobic method - and so most people will write it off because of that - I did
until just the last few weeks.

It's a two stage process. In the first stage you ferment your food scraps in a
bucket inoculated with the bokashi bran - a bran that has three different types
of microbes - yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and photosynthetic bacteria. They all
do best in conditions with limited air but they are what's called facultative
anaerobes meaning they also do fine in air.

What you need to get started is a bucket or strong plastic bag that you can make
airtight to minimize the amount of air and the bokashi. You just layer your food
scraps as you go with a small amount of the bokashi. You can get this stuff on
line. On my website are a couple of links. You can compost all food scraps
including meats, dairy, bones, eggs and eggshells etc. It develops a kind of
sour smell like sauerkraut that you'll only catch a whiff of when you open your
bucket or bag - it doesn't stink the way a bucket that's just kind of gone to
the dark side of anaerobia by itself so you can keep the buckets in your
kitchen.

Stage two involves digging a hole and burying the fermented material. On average
in 2-4 weeks that material will be completely broken down and you can plant into
the area where you dug the hole. You can also use a planter box or container and
bury the material with the soil mix you are using. It would likely be important
to add a handful
of real dirt to your container.

I'm just working on this section of my website right now. Here is a link to one
of the pages. By the end of the day tomorrow I'm hoping the whole section will
be done. http://www.the-compost-gardener.com/bokashi-composting.html

When I have the section finished I'll post links here for the pages.

Leslie
Canada

--- In Organic_Gardening@yahoogroups.com, "April" <aprilconnett@...> wrote:
>
> I own my trailer, but not the land it sits on. Two years ago, my landlady made
>me get rid of my two compost bins. They weren't pretty enough for her. Does
>anyone use a ComposTumbler successfully? My husband and I cannot afford to buy
>one, but would it be worth the time and effort to make one? I have seen the
>directions online.
>
> april
>

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