New content below this post.

Feedback is always appreciated.

I track tweets about bokashi and if I reply to one of your tweets, I do so as a public service. Instead of following me, subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog as most of what I write about bokashi will be here anyway.

Thanks to Carol Browne for the photo[s].

aap@greatday.ca http://www.greatday.ca
greatday.ca biosa bokashi vancouver bc canada bokashiman al pasternak bokashi composting

In this article from the Kamloops Daily News, Deanna Hurstfield is looking to start a bokashi composting network where she lives. It has a good overview of the process.

I need to respond to these lines in the article:

Bokashi seems to offer many advantages, Hurstfield said. The catch? It’s not cheap.

There are bokashi kits available through Internet dealers, she said. The costs of those systems appear to run at about $20 to $30 a month for all the supplies, substrates and microbe mixes.

Here are the costs for the first year of bokashi composting using my system:

*[two 1Kg bags are included with the bokashi kits]

In the second year or, if you have your own buckets as Deanna does, all you need is the bokashi: $60

Monthly cost: $5

I’ve been generous on the amount of bokashi you need for a year. Although I say that a 1Kg bag of bokashi will last 2 - 4 months, I’ve had customers come back for a second bag after 6 or 9 months, even a year later. Recently, a small office re-ordered a bag of bokashi nearly two an a half years after their first purchase!

While my competitor’s prices probably do come close the article’s monthly estimate for the first year, the cost in the second year is much lower.

"If we can find a microbiologist who can help us figure out what is in there, we can cut the costs even more," she said.

It isn’t hard to find what is in the bacterial culture used to make bokashi. This blog post from 2007 addresses the issue of making and using your own friendly microbe culture, as does Bokashi Composting.

I have never hidden how to make your own bokashi which will lower your costs even more. I only ask that you buy the Terra Biosa Friendly Microbes [aka EM] from me.:-)

Do it today!

Many people during the summer asked if I would be at Winter Farmers Market at the Wise Hall, so I decided to apply.

2009

December 5 - 10am - 2pm

December 12 - Holiday Market 10am - 6pm

Croatian Cultural Centre, 3250 Commercial Drive

2010

January 16

March 27

I am, of course, available at other times to meet with new and repeat customers.

There is also a coupon on p. 209 of the 2010

book [and p. 201 of the 2009 edition]

http://www.greenzebraguide.ca/GetHome.php

http://www.greenzebraguide.ca/AllListings.php

http://www.greenzebraguide.ca/Buy.php

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If you are a returning customer, send me an email or give me a call to let me know the day you plan to come. That way I will bring extra bokashi for you.

New this year: All customers will get a bokashi card. After your 5th refill, you get a free bag of bokashi!!

June 28 - Kitsilano [Map]
July 1 - Main Street Station [Map]
July 8 - Main Street
June 15 - Main Street
July 22 - Main Street
July 26 - Kitsilano
July 29 - Kitsilano
Aug 2 - Gastown [Map] - New!
Aug 9 - Kitsilano
Aug 16 - Gastown
Aug 23 - Kitsilano
Aug 16 - Gastown
Sept 6 - Kitsilano
Sept 27 - Salmon Celebration*
Oct 18 - Kitsilano
Oct 25 - Kitsilano

*in Vanier Park [Corrected 25Sep09 - Not a Farmers Market event. Regrets for the inconvenience this may have caused]

I have also applied to am attending the Gastown Farmers Market which will operate on Sundays between August and September. When I know my dates, I’ll add them here and in the sidebar.
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From the email:

T writes: Have you had any experience with the bears and the fermented compost? Are they attracted to it? I live in West Vancouver and would like to order some dry bokashi mix but was wondering about the bears when I go to bury the fermented food scraps.

All I can say with certainty is that the deeper you bury the fermented food scraps, less smell will percolate above ground. It is my opinion that bokashi compost does not smell like normal rotting food waste so it is less attractive to animals that may want to eat it.

A few years ago, I put a large quantity of bokashi prepared food waste on a raised garden bed and covered it with straw. Purposely, I left one corner exposed and waited to see what would happen. Wasps and flies were around but never landed on it.

Your own experience may vary. I hope this helps.

Al

[as this person did by some bokashi, I'll be asking for updates]

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From the email:

From: Sue N
Date: Tue, May 19, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Subject: [Bokashi]
To: aapNO@SPAMgreatday.ca

Hi Al,

I save organic waste for a friend who has a community garden plot. As I live in very small studio apartment with no cross-ventilation, the odour can be fairly overpowering every time I lift the lid of the ice-cream pail containing the potential compost.

A friend gave me a sample of your [Bokashi] product, and it made an immediate difference to the strength (and quality) of the offensive smell.  I can now continue to save this material for my friend during the summer months, rather than stopping until the cold strikes again.

Good product!

Sue N

Thanks Sue. I really appreciate this kind of feedback.

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From the email:

I got your site from one of your customers. I want to set up a
composting system on our deck here, but want to make sure that it doesn’t have flies, and that it works on a balcony.

We have a staff of about 60, so we produce a fair amount of compost.

What can you do to help set us up properly over here. Keep in mind, we are a non-profit.

A collection bucket in the kitchen can hold the food waste until it is full. At that point, it can be placed in 5 - 6 gallon plastic pail [HDPE 2] and bokashi sprinkled on top. This will start the fermentation process and keep the flies and smells down as more material is added. A 5 - 6 gallon pail will fill up in about 7 - 10 days. Bokashi can be added to the kitchen collection bucket as well.

When the 5 gallon bucket is full, it needs to sit for about 10 - 14 days to finish fermenting. At that point it can be added to a composting system for finishing.

The biggest challenge will be processing all the collected bokashi compost material. If you have the space, it can be done but it may work just as well to give some of the full buckets to your staff to process in their own compost bins at home. One of my customers, the AIBC office http://www.aibc.ca , does that now.

Here is a simple Do it Yourself compost bin http://www.yougrowgirl.com/garden/urbancomposting.php

This can be adapted to the size required.

Worm composting for large facilities is possible as well.

Here are some options:
1) in Vernon http://www.briteland.com/biobin.htm
2) in Kamloops http://www.allthingsorganic.com/Products/can-o-worms.asp
3) from Quebec http://www.woodwormfarms.com/index.php

I have one more option in the process of being developed that would be ideal for apartment size balconies. When it is ready, I will give it to you to test out.

All these systems are compatible with bokashi as an adjunct to normal composting. In a small urban space, odour and fruit fly reduction are important. Bokashi can assist with that.

I appreciate how the developers here have simplified the complexity and made it as easy as possible for many people to use bokashi. It is a great adaptation which I will see if I can implement.

Bruce from HT Naturals writes:

We started using bokashi to help control the fruit flies in our small compost collection in our office/warehouse. The bokashi has worked perfectly and exactly as we had hoped for that purpose. We definitely saw an immediate and significant reduction in the fruit flies due to the bokashi and they are virtually non existent now (when we stay on top of adding the bokashi). As an added bonus the compost is also way less smelly now. We will continue to use bokashi and strongly recommend it to anyone who is composting in a work and home situation.

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I found a picture of Anke’s bucket on Flickr and provided some advice to her. This is a DIY bucket that a company makes but also provides details on how to make your own.

After I sent her the instructions I usually give to clients, Anke decided start the process over and document it. Links to my website & blog are in the pic of the bucket with foil tape on it.

bokashi - a set on Flickr

Update: Anke added a post on her blog

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