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As fall starts to fade and winter starts to makes its annual appearance, I find it difficult to keep my outdoor compost pile active.
Sometimes, it's the cold, and sometimes, the snow makes it difficult to access. So I have turned to alternative methods of composting to try to alleviate this problem. I have an active red-wriggler-worm composting container in my basement but am always looking for additional ways to recycle my kitchen scraps.
MICROBE COMMUNITY
Recently, I found out about an intensive method of composting that may be a great alternative in the winter months because the first stages of the process take place indoors. This method, which originated in Japan, is called bokashi.
In home-composting applications, kitchen waste is placed in a container that can be sealed with an airtight lid. A bokashi mix is added that usually takes the form of a carrier, such as rice hulls, wheat bran or sawdust that has been inoculated with composting micro-organisms. The micro-organisms are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter. The user continues to place alternating layers of food scraps and bokashi mix until the container is full.
Two bokashi buckets are often employed in order to create an alternating setup. Waste from the first one is allowed to continue to ferment for at least 10 to14 days. It can then be buried in the garden at a depth of 1 foot or incorporated into an active compost pile.
PLANT WATER
The fermented bokashi mix is an excellent way to heat up the compost pile.
The process does produce excess liquid, so most bokashi buckets come with a spout to drain it off. It can be diluted at a rate of 1-to-100 parts water and used on gardens and houseplants or it can be safely disposed of down the drain.
The finished fermented compost will still retain its original physical properties — for example, the carrot skin will still look like a carrot skin — but it will be pickled in appearance. The complete breakdown of the waste occurs after it has been buried or transferred to the compost pile.
I am excited about trying this method of composting this coming winter as my worms never eat all of my kitchen scraps. Reportedly, bokashi compost does not smell bad. Maybe come spring, I'll be able to report back about the process and absence or presence of an odor.
Anne Lenox Barlow is the horticulture educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Clinton County. Office phone numbers: Clinton County 561-7450, Essex County 962-4810, Franklin County 483-7403. E-mail questions to: askMG@cornell.edu.
