How does Bokashi work?
What is Bokashi?
Bokashi is basically a way of composting materials that most gardeners would tell you are not to be put into your regular compost bin. Produce such as meat, bones, and dairy are not really suitable for regular composting as they take a while to compost and can attract pests like rats and flies. When I first began composting I threw some meat into my compost bin and a few days later found a whole bunch of maggots crawling around in the compost bin.
Maggots are not necessarily a bad thing in compost as they do help to break down the materials, however, they do turn into a mass of flies (also creatures that can help with composting materials), which can then become a buzzing annoyance. The problem was mainly the smell. My compost smelled of death and decay, not rich earthy aromas of healthy compost, the putrid stench made me gag. It did dissipate after a month or so. I decided to do some research and see if I could find a way of composting meat and all the other materials that people say you should not compost, this lead me to discover Bokashi.
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Bokashi composting is not a composting method in itself. It is more of a precursor to composting. It is a way to process those leftover meats and dairy. It speeds up the decomposition process, eliminates the smell of death and decay, and introduces soil-enriching microbes into your compost.
I found out that Bokashi is basically a process in which you ferment your food waste and then you can either add it to your compost bin, bury it in your garden or raised bed or add it to a traditional compost pile. Fermenting the food waste encourages effective microbes to grow and begin breaking down the biological matter so that it can then be easily broken down by composting creatures, such as worms and pillbugs, and other little creatures that aid in decomposition.
One of the main microbes that are utilized in Bokashi is Lactobacillus. This is the same microbe that is used to ferment cabbage to make sauerkraut. I have made lots of pickles and fermented vegetables over the years so am familiar with the use of Lactobacillus.
I decided to give it a go, I bought a Bakoshi kit and tossed all of my food scraps into it for several weeks. For every layer of food, I added to the Bokashi bin I added a handful of Bokashi bran. The bran is usually rice bran that has been inoculated with effective microbes. Once the bin was full I left the bin for 4 weeks. After the 4 weeks were over I opened the lid of the bin to check on the progress, the food inside smelled sour and pickled, like a good sauerkraut, it did not smell like a septic tank. I had thrown all of my food waste into the bin over the course of several weeks including cheese, cooked and raw meat and bones, and even a yogurt I had found at the back of the fridge. I found there was a white mold all over the food scraps but after researching this I found that was a good sign and the white fungus helps with the decomposition.
I then dug a hole in the middle of my vegetable garden and tossed the scraps into the hole and covered it over. After 2 weeks I dug into the patch where the scraps were and found that the vast majority of what I had thrown in there had become rich dark compost. There were a few identifiable pieces, some eggshells, and some bones, but they take a long time to break down so was not worried. Bokashi is a great way to repurpose even more of my family's food waste and create amazing, mineral-rich compost that can aid me in growing even more vegetables for my family.
