Mack and I are delinquent Bokashi bloggers. At the end of last year, I wrote that I would be writing about our Bokashi experience “soon”. Well, that undefined period has become eight weeks in length. But no longer!
In December, Mack answered the call put out by Mike Thomas for people interested in trying out an indoor composting method that did not involve worms. We met up with him one weekend, and he supplied us with our own Bokashi starter kit – three Ziploc bags of Bokashi, and an Eco Living Organic plastic tub outfitted with a drainage tap and a lid.
Indoor composter
Michael explained that Bokashi is a bran-based mixture, that when added to certain natural materials, and void of oxygen, would help ferment organic matter. He provided us with a list of permitted additions, which included everything from vegetable peels, tea bags, egg shells and bones. Not permitted? Anything bleached (e.g. white coffee filters), mouldy, or liquid.
Base layer of Bokashi
The composting process seemed simple: add permitted materials to the tub, sprinkle some Bokashi over it, and give it a stir. Michael also advised using something like a plate or a plastic bag to cover the top of the mixture which would help squeeze and keep out excess air. The compost smell would be minimal, and was to resemble a pickling odour and nothing more.
Our first composter additions!
Every few days, Michael said the mixture would yield 2-3 tablespoons of liquid, which we could dilute and use as a fertilizer for plants, or pour down the drain to act as a sort of natural Draino.
In terms of “disposing” of the rich compost material, as condo dwellers without a yard or a community garden plot, we still had a few options, including throwing the material out in the garbage (in the grand scheme, if everyone composted even a little, it would impact overall waste management systems, in lightening the garbage load). That seemed a little “wasteful”, so we figured we’d donate the material to my parents, who do have a garden.
Since we started using Bokashi, we’ve made a few observations:
1) It is easy to use! Adopting Rachael Ray’s “garbage bowl” technique, I would place all of the scraps in a bowl, and dump the contents into the tub at the end of the day. The only minor inconvenience was having to cut up things like grapefruit halves and banana peels – Mike recommended nothing larger than the size of a potato chip go into the tub.
Garbage bowl!
2) Because we cook quite a bit, our tub was about two thirds full in about a month. As Michael had said, most of the peels would retain their shape and colour – it was odd to see that things like orange peels remaining intact week after week.
Still early
3) We were checking for the liquid every few days during that time – but none was produced.
We left it alone for a while, unsure of how long to let the mixture break down. More importantly, we weren’t sure if we had messed it up – though the smell was tolerable (a sort-of pickling smell), because of the lack of liquid (still, after two months), we weren’t sure if we were on the right path. Mike reassured us that we might be though (and more Bokashi can fix most ills), and advised us to simply add more organic material to the mix.
Our compost after two months
More posts about Bokashi to come (for real this time)!
You can read about Sarah’s experience with Bokashi here (as a single family home dweller with a young child) – unlike us, she hasn’t been delinquent.
Lo primero es delimitar una zona de 1’5 metros de ancho por lo que quieras de largo. Escavar dicha superficie con una pala de profundidad (unos 30 cm), y desmenuzamos la tierra que hemos sacado.
También he utilizado unos tablones de obra, cortados a medida (con la motosierra), que he puesto a lo largo y ancho de la zona. De esta forma he creado un bancal (superficie elevada) de otros 30 cm de altura. Volcamos la tierra desmenuzada dentro del bancal. Al estar mullida ocupa mas volumen.
Por tanto tenemos los 30 cm que hemos escavado, mas los otros 30 cm de altura que nos proporciona el armazón de madera. Eso son 60 cm de profundidad de tierra mullida. Como la tierra no es suficiente, volcamos compost de estos sacos (el mismo que cree con los restos de un año de desperdicios vegetales de casa y de jardín en la compostera).
Reparto bien el compost por la superficie, como veis el color es muy diferente de tierra oscura. Este compost le dará a la tierra los nutrientes que necesitan las plantas. Las lombrices de tierra se encargan ellas solas de forma natural de repartir lo al interior del bancal.
Ya tenemos el terreno del bancal preparado, 60 cm de profundidad de tierra mullida y abonada. La tierra suelta o mullida permite a las raíces profundizar más y por lo tanto las plantas pueden estar mas juntas. También la tierra suelta y el compost mantienen mejor la humedad del terreno, por lo que será necesario regar menos.
Ahora que estamos a finales de Marzo voy a aprovechar a plantar unas semillas aquí en mi piso de Madrid, que luego transplantaré al huertecito. Uso unas cajas de huevos, vienen al pelo ya que luego se cortan y se trasplanta la planta con cartón y todo que se deshace con la humedad de la tierra.
Llenamos la huevera de compost, en este caso uso fibra de coco que habían dejado los anteriores inquilinos de piso (es muy bueno para germinación) . Corto la parte de arriba de la huevera.
Unas semillas de lechuga. Mi colega Goyo me ha dejado muchas semillas de su huerto de Miraflores de la Sierra. Un saludo a ese Goyo¡¡¡
Humedecemos la tierra y con un palito, hacemos unos pequeños agujeros, donde metemos unas cuantas semillas. En mi caso unas 3 por hoyo.
De momento tengo lechugas, zanahorias y tomates. He puesto un cartelito para indicarlo. Las dejamos dentro de casa cerca de una ventana e irán germinando 
Compostaje en Pila
Compostaje en Hilera
Compostaje en Trommel (Reactor)
Compostaje en Túnel (Reactor) 
balde o cubo con tapa y grifo
bokashi usando salvado como soporte
Se cubre la basura orgánica con un puñado de salvado inoculado con bokashi