Bokashi Bran & Wormery
Bokashi Japenese Fermented Bran
6th July
We've been composting for years, and really love the quality (and quantity!) that we get each and every year. If you have a big garden then the 3 bin system is just great, as you can always be assured of fully composted material with minimal effort. But what do you do if you don't have the room for 3 large compost bins and the years it takes before you get the good stuff?
Do as they do in Japan! -use Bokashi.
In Japan the use of Bokashi is common place as way to compost your scraps (which can even include meat and fish) without your kitchen smelling and without waiting years before you can use it on your plants. There's the added benefit also of a rich liquid fertilizer which is just perfect for indoor plants and especially good for Azaleas, Rhodedendrums or other acid loving plants. The Bokashi bran smells faintly -a cross between the wort we get when brewing and nice horse manure. May not sound nice, but I think its a nice earthly honest smell!! The first thing we noticed when we used it for the first time in kitchen was how much nicer our peelings and scraps bin became. It both looked and smelled so much cleaner -must be all the bacteria doing thier stuff.
Its actually simple to use, you just need 2 air tight buckets, ideally with a tap to drain off the liquid twice a week, and some Bokashi (which is wheat bran) You layer your scraps of pealings, tea bags and so on with a small amount of the Bokashi bran until the bucket is full. Every few days you drain off the lovely liquid. It usually takes us 2 or 3 weeks to fill the bucket, which we then leave to one side whilst we start filling the second bucket in the same way. Once the first bucket has rested for 2 or 3 weeks its perfect to put on the garden and use directly, or if you prefer put in your wormery or compost heat. The effective microorganisms in the Bokashi speeds up the whole composting process and the natural yeast and bactera stop the bin smelling. The Bokashi Juice that is formed is thought to be particularly good for Septic Tanks -much like the 'good' bacteria in some Yogurts.
There's something nice about the smell of Bokashi bran and the compost that you get from it. Certainly something worth a try if you are starting to get a 'collection' of pots in the kitchen for the various types of waste! Highly recommended and complements the wormery and leaf mould we collect yearly.
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