No success

Well, my first bokashi batch was not a success.  Everything I read says that it should not smell bad, and this was not good.  It has the smell of rotting meat.  I would guess that my error was not putting enough bokashi bran in with the meat.  This batch will go out to augment my animal manure pile. I would suggest starting with smaller batches, so that you don't have 5 gallons of ick on your first try.

I did start a much smaller batch in a plastic food storage tub, and it smells like it should.  I did add some meat scraps to this one, but covered it well with the bokashi bran.  I have opened it and it smells like vinegar.  Since my soil is frozen and it is currently in the minuses, I am going to try mixing this small batch with some potting soil that needs to be revived.  I will share my results.

Second Addition

I was pleased when I opened my bucket tonight, and all I was greeted with were the aromas of the limes.  Having put chicken skins in the bucket, I expected some rotten meat odors.  Hurray for the Bokashi Bran!

We had a Holiday party after work, tonight, and I brought home a bag of food that was going to be thrown out.  They were afraid that it might have gone bad over the course of the evening.  So I added several layers of pasta dishes, coffee grounds, and some cheese cake, along with the dusting of Bokashi Bran. 

My bucket is over half full, and to expedite my project, I think that I will ask some close friends to save their kitchen scraps for me.  I am anxious to get started with the fermentation stage.  Maybe I should have started with a smaller bucket.

Getting Started!

I purchased a food-grade 6.5 gallon bucket and a gamma screw-top lid. 





 While you can make your own Bokashi bran (innoculant of micro-organisms), I purchased a commercial product for my first attempts. 

I sprinkled a small dusting of Bokashi Bran (BB) on the bottom of the bucket.



Because I don't have a spout on the bucket to drain the liquid, I added 3 inches of shredded paper and then sprinkled another dusting of BB on top.

 



I then added my kitchen scraps.  I layered 1 inch of scraps, a dusting of BB, another 1 inch of scraps, more BB, and ended by pressing it all down to remove the air. 

I decided to go big for this first attempt and put some chicken skin, avacado peels, and lime skins, into my bucket.  All of these are difficult to compost and can create odor, so we might as well get this portion of the experiment out of the way. 








I will be back with more posts to report how well this works.

Why Bokashi?

I am pumped about my new project!  Today I am starting my Bokashi Compost, and I decided that blogging would be a great way for me to plot my progress. 

My composting woes have been going on for years.  Living in the high, and dry climate of Colorado means slow decomposition, at best.  Traditional compost piles in Colorado need to be watered, either by rain or by hand.  It also takes heat, and with a growing season of a few months, heat is not readily available.  I have also done worm composting, but that has had it's downsides as well.

The other day, I found an article on Bokashi Composting, and have decided to give it a try.  The concept is simple, and the science really gets me going.  Food scraps, including meats, dairy, and fat, are fermented with micro-organisms, and then are buried for their final breakdown.  It should take 4 weeks for the complete compost, but I suspect that it will take longer in Colorado.  Let's do this experiment together and find out.