Over the last couple of weeks I shared about two of the five lazy ways to compost. I talked about the tumbling composter and the wormery. I think they are both great. Maybe you already heard of them. I was glad to learn that some of my friends already use them. At this point you might be asking yourself, “Are there really 5 lazy ways to compost?”
Despite knowing about the first two lazy ways to compost for 10 years or so I’ve so far failed to implement a composting system for my family. What’s more, for a long time I thought that worms and rotting, hot vegetation were the only ways to compost. That was until a couple of months back when I discovered Bokashi composting.
There’s not as much information around the web about bokashi composting as about the other methods. Here is what I have read about it:
- It is less like composting and more like pickling. It does have a smell but is not stinky like rotting compost is.
- It’s done in an airtight bucket, in the absence of oxygen, with the aid of a bran mix which contains the necessary micro-organisms.
- You chop up food scraps, including meat, dairy, and bones, and put them in the bucket with layers of the innoculated bran.
- Once the bucket is full you leave it to ferment for two weeks.
- It’s helpful to have a tap on the bucket to drain off any liquid.
- After the two weeks of fermentation you take out the compost and bury it in a shallow trench in your vegetable garden bed.
- It’s not supposed to attract vermin and animals.
Of the three lazy ways to compost that I’ve talked about so far this is the one I want to try. It fits my selection criteria:
- Reasonable start-up cost.
- Can be done indoors.
- Takes both animal and vegetable materials.
The one thing the bokashi method is not practical for is getting rid of leaves and other garden waste. I’m considering another approach to take care of that. Which is your favorite lazy way to compost so far? Have you tried more than one way? Would you like to start composting, or get back to it? Do you know anyone who uses the bokashi method?
Pickles photo under a creative commons license from FlickR. Find bokashi items at Amazon.com.
Sponsored by LaZyGreenPeople – join the Lazy Green Movement at LaZyGreenPeople.
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Okay I have wanted to start a worm farm for some time now, this was interesting. A little different but along the same lines.
I’ve been composting with Bokashi for over a year now and it’s become part of my kitchen routine – scrape the food scraps into the Bokashi bin, add the bran, wash the dishes… I think you captured the benefits of composting with Bokashi well, but although Bokashi is good for most kitchen scraps, I tend to leave out things like tea bags (too moist and tend to go mouldy) and bones (don’t break down and as a result tend to attract vermin). Take a look at my post Bokashi Explained for more information on Bokashi, or Bokashi Instructions for a comprehensive how to. Best of luck with your Bokashi experiment!
I never heard of this method, but it does sound the most user friendly for us. We don’t have meat in the house, since the Mountain Man doesn’t eat it, and I’m not willing to cook it just for me, but we do have a lot of dairy (you know, the half eaten yogurt containers . . .)
I’m not sure how soon I’ll be getting started with bokashi, but I’ll try to keep you updated when I do.
I’m just wondering if the yoghurt might have a bit too much on the moisture side to work well in the bokashi system. Hmmm… part-eaten yogurt pots (contents I assume – LOL) – there must be some creative use we could put that to. Never happens here, so I can’t speak from experience. Unfinished food is pretty much non-existent at our table.
Good description. Worms love bokashi compost food scraps and eat them up faster, so you can now combine two lazy ways of composting for your plants and garden.
Cheers, Al