Bokashi–What is it and why should you care?
To put it simply Bokashi is Japanese for fermented and the bokashi we are speaking of it fermented wheat or rice bran. It is used to pickle kitchen waste to keep it from reaking or attracting vermin, while giving this waste a boost on its way to becoming the most bio-active compost material you can create for the time and money it takes–usually 4 weeks.
This farming technology is not widely known in the States, but it is becoming big in the UK–especially London where companies are collecting pickled kitchen compost from whole apartment blocks and turning it into rich soil. New Zealand and Japan have lead the way in Bokashi for years.
The backbone to a Bokashi Bucket system for composting is the bokashi–fermented wheat or rice bran. This bran is created very simply by using Effective Microbes–a solution of over 60 aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and fungi–to ferment the material into something which smells a bit like cider vinegar. This EM solution is food grade and has agricultural uses for gardening and livestock rearing beyond the Bokashi Bran. Once pickled the dried bran re-activates when it comes into contact with the liquids in kitchen scraps. These EM’s are everything which should be in healthy, fertile soil but usually aren’t due to pesticides, chemical fertilizers and lack of organic materials. Once introduced to the soil they energize it and the plants you grow in it for amazing productivity.
Keep an eye here on this page for more updates as they come in and as our EM and Bokashi experiments come to fruition in the Kitchen Garden. Feel free to contact us for more information, tips and buying options.
More about the Bokashi Bucket.
We are offering Bokashi Buckets for sale in the form of a kit including the Bucket and bag of Bokashi Bran. For more information look here or contact us.
12/26/07–UPDATE: Please look here for more information on why we are no longer selling this product.
Technorati Tags: bokashi, em, Effective Microbes, bioactivity, sustainability, sustainable farming, biodynamic, composting, gardening, farming
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