My Dirty Secret

I have been keeping a very dirty secret.  Here is my horrifying confession: I have kept 5 gallon buckets of rotting food in our basement all winter long. Okay, now before you click off this page in disgust or imagine some sort of TLC Hoarding episode, let me clarify and justify. The food isn’t technically rotting, it’s fermenting. Do I seem less weird now? No? Okay, well just keep reading and hopefully, I'll be able to convince you this is a sane and worthwhile thing to do. And before you ask about the stench, let me tell you that there is no smell whatsoever. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Bokashi composting.

Since I can remember, I have known that the health of your garden depends on the health of your soil. Growing up my mom always had a backyard composter. We’d collect our food waste in a bin under the sink that stunk to high heaven. When the bin was nearly full of noxious smelling liquidy scraps, whoever was in trouble with Mom would have to carry the bucket out to the back of the yard, walking slowly and carefully so the liquid wouldn’t splash over the edge. We’d hoist the bucket of organic sludge up and tip it into the composting bin. It was disgusting. It reeked, it looked like your worst nightmare and we hated doing it. Somehow, through a mix of magic and science, Mom would turn all that mess into something nutritious and vital for our garden. But I was a kid and didn’t care about all of the environmental benefits blah blah blah. I just resented having to deal with the stinky bin.

The Why

It wasn’t until I was much older that I understood just how fascinating the composting process is and how significant the benefits are. Aside from the obvious advantages for your garden, you are also reducing carbon emissions, and sequestering that carbon into the ground. Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and securing it in liquids or solids. This is a good thing for us...a very, very good thing! According to the Project Drawdown website, “For every million metric tons of organic wastes that decompose, 469 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases in the form of methane are released. Composting—the conversion of such waste into a useful soil amendment—reduces those emissions by more than 50 percent.”

Composting is such an easy and obvious way for humans to help slow or even reverse the devastating effects of our modern-day life on Earth. It’s estimated that we have lost 30-40% of our topsoil due to industrial agriculture and monoculture practices. Scientists calculate that at this rate of soil degradation, we have about 45-60 years of harvest left. I’m not slamming industrial farmers. After all, they have fed the exponentially multiplying population of the world very well. We need farmers or we’d all be starving. However, big changes in agricultural practices are needed to replenish soil health. Enter the ideas of drawdown (carbon sequestration) and regenerative farming. I highly recommend watching the film Kiss the Ground to understand more about the current soil catastrophe we are facing. They also have a great website with lots of free resources and recommendations to start learning and ways that you can contribute to positive change.

When we moved onto our new property, I was so excited to set up a composting bin and to get started on our composting journey. Nova Scotia has a very specific and strict way of dividing household garbage. You have to separate food waste, metal, glass, plastics, and paper into different bags. All of your household garbage is subject to inspection if it’s suspected that you are not separating your trash into compostables and recyclables. It took a bit to learn but I actually really like this system and feel good about doing it. We have a giant green bin supplied by the municipality which we can use to dump food and yard waste into. Our garbage, recycling, and green bin are collected once every two weeks. We began by putting vegetable and fruit scraps, along with collected leaves and yard clippings, in our first composting bin. I decided to go with a cold composting method because I knew that I wouldn’t commit to turning the pile regularly, and also we could continue adding to the bin as needed rather than starting an entire pile at once. We added things we couldn’t traditionally compost such as meat, bones, dairy and grains to our municipal green bin. It didn’t take long before we realized the horrific mess the green bin made. In the heat of the summer, it turned into a festering maggot metropolis, surrounded by flies. The whole thing was just revolting. I phoned up the landfill to ask if we were doing it right and what recommendations they had. The woman told me that maggots and flies were problems for everyone in the summer and that we were doing everything the way we should be. I was gobsmacked. This couldn’t be the best way. She suggested that we could freeze our scraps until garbage day and then put them into the green bin. This sort of worked for us but we only had the 30-year-old fridge/freezer combo that came with our house, so we barely had any room to store food we wanted to eat, let alone our garbage. I became so turned off by the food waste collection system and felt frustrated and grossed out dealing with it.

The How

Homemade bokashi compost bin

I took to the internet to solve our food waste problem and I stumbled across Bokashi composting. Bokashi originates from ancient Asian practices of fermenting food waste to aid in decomposition. The purported pros are that there are no awful smells, the scraps decompose very quickly compared to other methods, it is not attractive to rodents or other insects due to the high acidity, and you can compost ALL scraps including ones typically not encouraged for traditional hot or cold composting. I was immediately intrigued and had to try it. There are all sorts of very expensive money-grabbing bokashi composting bins on the internet but you don’t need one. I created mine by using two 5-gallon plastic buckets and an air-tight lid. In the bottom of one bucket, I drilled multiple small drainage holes. You want the holes big enough for liquid to pass through, but small enough that your food solids don’t fall through. I placed the bucket with the holes into the other so that a small reservoir was created in the bottom bucket to collect any liquid that seeps from the fermenting food.

Bokashi bran

Then, I needed the magic ingredient: bokashi bran. Bokashi bran is a dried carbon mixture that is inoculated with beneficial microbes. It works to ferment your food waste and inject it with billions of special bacteria that will rapidly decompose the waste once it is transferred to the soil or a compost pile. It also adds loads of effective microorganisms to your soil, increasing its health. I buy my bokashi bran from a Canadian company called My Good Green. It’s around $18 for a 1kg bag which usually lasts me just over 2 months. Yes, it costs a bit and some people would snort at spending money on their garbage, but I find this to be a very advantageous expenditure. I’m enriching my soil and therefore don’t spend money on buying compost from the garden centre all while reducing my carbon footprint. There are so many options and different price points for bokashi bran. You can even learn how to make your own. I use My Good Green Bokashi Plus because it’s Canadian and have found it to work very reliably.

Steps to a Successful Bokashi Compost

The process is extremely simple. I collect all of our food scraps in a kitchen countertop composting bin. This includes meat, bones, dairy products, grains, bread and of course veggie and fruit scraps. A very small amount of oil can be added, but I usually stray away from oil and opt to throw that into the municipal green bin. To start a new bin, I lay down a super thin layer of brown paper bags, unbleached napkins or even cabbage or lettuce leaves on the bottom of the bucket. This is to prevent solids from falling through the drainage holes into the liquid reservoir. Bokashi does not like liquid. I recommend using a kitchen composting bin that has a slotted bottom so liquid drains away from the solid waste. On top of the paper or leaves, I sprinkle a sparse layer of bokashi bran and then proceed to layer about 1 inch of food waste and then a sprinkle of bran. The measurement of bran does not need to be precise. I usually use a palm full for each layer. You can’t overdo it, the more the merrier, but you also need to be economical. I make sure to sprinkle the entire surface. Once the waste is layered with the bokashi bran, it is time to seal it. Bokashi composting is an anaerobic process, meaning it does not like oxygen. I put a piece of wax parchment paper over the scraps and then press it all down with a piece of rigid cardboard cut to the shape of the bucket. I press the cardboard down very firmly so any liquids are pressed through the drainage holes and as much oxygen as possible is kept away from the waste. Then I use the lid that came with the bucket to seal it off. I keep adding to the bucket in layers and once it is full I leave it an additional 10 days to ferment. Technically, you should drain the bottom bucket of any liquid that collects (called Bokashi tea) every few days. I tend to leave it in the bottom bucket until I’m ready to dump my bin because honestly, I can’t be bothered. I always check that my bokashi compost isn’t sitting in the liquid. The Bokashi tea can be dumped down household drains to clean them and boost septic tank health or be heavily diluted to use as a natural fertilizer for the garden and houseplants. In the summer and fall, I keep my bokashi bins outside in the garage, but when temperatures start to fall below 15 degrees, I bring them into the basement where they can stay at room temperature. There are a couple of caveats though to ensure a healthy bokashi bin:

1.        Do not add liquids to your bokashi bin! Excess liquid will hinder the process.

2.        Ensure that your food scraps are not already moldy. Moldy scraps will proliferate tons of blue/green mold which you do not want in your bokshi bin.

3.        Make your container as air-tight as possible and force out oxygen.

4. Strive to keep your bins at room temperature or warmer. If you live in a cold climate like I do, you need to ferment indoors during winter. Don't get freaked out, it's not smelly if you're doing it right!

The next part is the important part. Bokashi compost does not break down into the rich, black soil-like compost you are used to seeing. It is pickling your food scraps. When you open your fermented bokashi bin, you will see your food waste exactly as you put it in, but it will be covered with a thick layer of fuzzy white mold and will smell like apple cider vinegar. If you see lots of blue/green mold, or if there is a rotting smell, something has gone wrong with your bin (which occasionally happens) and you should put it into your municipal green bin for collection. The next step in the process will transform your pickled waste into garden gold. You can either add the fermented food to your traditional compost pile, dig it into a trench in a fallow spot of the garden, or create a bokashi soil factory. I do a mix of the last two options.

Fermented bokashi compost

Garden trench for bokashi

Bokashi soil factory

Throughout the early spring, late fall and winter, I opt to dig trenches in my garden beds and fill them with the bokashi compost. I mix the food into the soil with a shovel and then cover it with about 1 foot of soil. Microbes in the soil and bokashi will quickly set to work and decompose the food over a period of about 4-8 weeks.  Note that bokashi compost should not be added to places in the garden where you are actively planting as the contents are acidic and will harm your plants. Wait about 1-2 months and then plant on top. You will have luscious and thriving plants. In the summer when my garden is full of plants, I create a bokashi soil factory. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? I use a large plastic tote and put about 1 foot of soil in the bottom. I then dump my bokashi compost into it and add another foot of soil on top and leave it for 2 months. After two months this can be spread around plants and trees for a healthy mid-season boost of fertilizer.

I keep two bucket systems on the go at all times. While one bucket is full of scraps and fermenting, I am filling and layering the other. Some may ask why even bother with the added step of fermenting if you still have to compost the scraps after? So many reasons!

1.        The fermented waste decomposes so much faster since it is teeming with hungry microbes. Instead of taking months to a year like traditional composting, you can have a rich soil amendment ready in as little as 6 weeks.

2.        There are no disgusting bugs (maggots, barf!) to deal with and rodents are not attracted to it.

3.        It doesn’t smell bad! In fact, if done correctly, it smells like a strong vinegar salad dressing.

4.        You are boosting your soil’s health with the addition of beneficial bacteria.

5.        You do not need a large amount of space for this method. Ideally, four 5-gallon buckets.

We have been using bokashi composting for almost a year now and I will never not do it. It’s easy, fascinating, effective, and gives me a sense of saving the world I wasn’t achieving with other composting methods. So if you’ve stuck with me and read this far, I hope I’ve either convinced you to try it or piqued your interest. Even if you never do it but mention this method to a friend who wants to compost, I think writing this has been worthwhile. Thanks for reading!