A Bokashi Saga

Part one

If you followed me last year, you may know I’ve tried my hands on vermicomposting (composting using worms). You might even wonder how the wriggly little rascals are doing. All I’ll say about that, is that I’m deeply ashamed of myself and I don’t want to talk about it. What you need to know for this story, is that I’ve fired myself as a vermimom and need a fool proof way to compost my food scraps.

Bokashi has never appealed to me, due to the half fermented food scraps involved. Here’s how it works:

You make a lasagne of food scraps and Bokashi grains, let that sit for two weeks, then bury the contents of the bucket in a garden bed. By then the fermenting process should be well on its way. Once buried, it turns into compost within four weeks.

That’s what I don’t like about this method, having to deal with something that’s in between food scraps and compost. I’m guessing it’s slightly less gross than vomit, since you’re draining the liquid. Anything for the love of plants, right?

Besides, since I’ve disposed of a big sticky chunk of cooked worms during the heatwave of 2022, (there, I said it) rotting food scraps don’t seem so bad. And since all of my plants appear to be scowling at me anytime I toss a half eaten sandwich that sat in a lunch pail over the weekend…

… I decided to give it a try.

To start the Bokashi method, you don’t need to invest in a $70 system. I simply got two condiment buckets from the trash heap outside the nearest fast food restaurant and made one in a few minutes.

Once I finished this nifty piece of upcycling, I was actually getting excited about putting my apple cores to good use. I wanted to get started right away and looked online if anyone in my town was offering Bokashi grains. Well, it seemed to be my lucky day!

Have you ever bought something online, that turned out much larger or smaller than anticipated? I have. And I will tell you about it in part 2 of this Bokashi Saga!

With love,

P.S. If you want full instructions on a DIY Bokashi system, I recommend this video. He doesn’t mention what you can do with the liquid, but you can use that stuff too!

P.P.S. You can also not murder your worms by (vermi)composting directly into the soil. I explain how to set that up here. They don’t work for me in winter, but I’m planning to set up a few more in my yard.

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