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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InPrint Graphics

is at 1935 West Broadway across the street from the big box FedEx Kinko’s*.

I have used the services of both stores which are open 24 hours but InPrint is better. Here are a few reasons why:

They let me access the internet, download files and edit them without charging me a penny.

They printed the files directly from the computer, so there were no darkened images.

They designed and printed my banner

There is the fixed priced and the "I’ll give it to you for this much" price. The deal price is probably built in, but it feels good anyway.

However, nothing prepared me for what happened on Tuesday evening this week.

I needed more brochures printed and when I went to pick them up I discovered I had brought the wrong credit card. Ready to leave my order behind until I returned with the proper payment, I was shocked when Dave said

"Take it now."  What?

"Yeah. Yeah. Its okay. Take it now." So I did and came back a few hours later.

This is Prabhakar "Dave" Davkar

Thanks Dave!

I have experienced a casual, but professional work environment. When I went to InPrint in May, I made a decision not to worry about how long it would take get what I needed done. I haven’t tried them on a rush order yet. They are sometimes very busy so patience is required. Usually that pays off in more attention for you when most needed. And you may see some customer interactions that are worth the price of admission!

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*long time Vancouverites will remember that the Kinko’s current location was also home to Cardz Computers - I worked there for six months in the early ’90s.

It is official. I have 16 days at the Vancouver Farmers Market this year. Eight days each at Kitsilano & Riley Park. You can see a schedule on the right, but for the record, here are the days:

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If you are in the Vancouver network on Facebook you can join the Farmers Market group page here and their fan page here.

I also have a fan page on Facebook: Great Day Bokashi

From an email by Tina D

MOBY has invited Al … to do a Bokashi Composting workshop. I have been using the system for a year now and love it ( no fruit-flies in the summer). Please RSVP moby_lize@yahoo.ca if you would like to attend.

See below for more information.

Bokashi Composting Workshop

Check the craigslist link for info

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/cls/594388059.html

Date: Sunday March 9th

Time: 11am
Location: MOBY Garden
Cost: $5 - can be used toward the kit which costs $45

Limited space - 12 people only. Please RSVP to moby_lize@yahoo.ca

For more information please see these websites:
http://www.greatday.ca
http://www.bokashiman.com

This is not an official guerrilla gardener meet-up so please to moby_lize@yahoo.ca

To be clear, we will not be making bokashi. I am showing the process, how it works and the results bokashi compost dug into Tina D’s MOBY garden plot in January. In all, we’re looking at about 30 - 45 minutes.

Oanh a lawyer in England via Australia writes about her experiences exploring composting options and finds that bokashi is best solution:

Halfway between Ca Mau and Sai Gon: Compost-ing

So I started reading about Bokashi again. And this time, one year on, many more people have it and have used it, and can attest to it. Since entering the blogging world, I tend to trust bloggers’ reviews of products. I can gauge how similar I am to them, or their process of thinking, by reading happily around their archives and deciding whether or not what they say can apply to me. I tend to search reviews on the internet and specifically on blogs.

…

Initially, I avoided Bokashi Man because, although he’s a blog [sic], he was a seller of the Bokashi bran and plastic buckets. I thought he would be commercial. But eventually, I returned to his site and had a proper read. He is full of useful information, and is not just trying to sell his product. Indeed, he directed a person from New Zealand (we Aussies call them Kiwis, but I think perjoratively, so perhaps I should not) to another site from which they could purchase the product. He’s also a decent read….

Nice.

P.S. There’s a neat pic on Oanh’s blog.

Technorati Tags: compost, composting, indoor, reviews, bokashi

…New Zealand! That is the first outside of North America and the farthest away to date. It will be hard to beat.

As much as I would like to claim being a global business [I do have a few clients in the U.S.A.], I explained that the cost of shipping and carbon footprint would be to high and bokashi products are already available in New Zealand.

I feel like Kris Kringle in “Miracle on 34th St“. Yes, you can buy it from me but the store across the street has it cheaper.
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I like the fact that they get their own sign:

It was a cloudy day

Then a sunny day

More sun

The colour on this tree is amazing when it is cloudy

and even better when it was sunny

A few hours of wind had many leaves falling

What can I say? He comes cheap these days…

This customizable version of the famous music video of Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues is part of a promotion for Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits collection in stores October 1.

Also available as a Facebook application

Fun.

Hat tip: William Azaroff via Facebook
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Technorati Tags: dylanmessaging, marketing, bob+dylan, web2.0, promotion