Do It Yourself Bokashi.
Be sure the yogurt says live and active cultures.
For Sherry’s version, you only need three ingredients – the whey drained from active yogurt, water and blackstrap molasses. Oh, and a fourth thing that doesn’t really seem like an “ingredient” but I suppose it is – newspaper. It’s pretty simple and not much more work than using the storebought variety. I’ve read of people (with more land and food waste than us) making up a 100 pound batch of the stuff once a year. Anyway, these following accounts are very similar to Sherry’s process.
Here are three websites for making your own Bokashi. The first is a You Tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96fSXccQx9Q
These next three have recipes:
http://www.cityfarmer.org/bokashi.html
http://theduckherder.blogspot.com/2007/06/bokashi-to-you-too.html
Our next posting: The Bokashi verdict.
Filed under: Composting, Soil Amendment
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Newspaper!?? Must learn more. Carol
Just place a piece of newspaper between each layer of waste. At the bottom of the post is a link to Bokashi Composting, which tells a little more about it.
So it also works with newspapers? Doesn’t that make the bokashi bin a regular compost bin? Because it’s the bokashi mix with the micro-organisms that make the Bokashi so special.
The newspaper is “marinated” in a mixture of yogurt whey, black strap molasses and a little water. After it sits for about two weeks, it’s opened and dried. That provides the “bokashi bacteria” for the bin, and is what separates it from a regular compost bin. The newspaper is layered into the compost as we add food waste. The bacteria sort of pickles the waste matter.