BOKASHI

Organic live Fertilizer

Japanese: an all-purpose beneficial microbial inoculant: bran, infused with EM (Essential Microbes)
Bokashi (fermented organic matter) sets in motion the fermentation process, transforming food waste and
other organic materials into nutrient rich compost.

Care of Bokashi:
Store in a dry, dark location (a kitchen cabinet is ideal). Do not store below 40 degrees or above 104 degrees F.
The bran material is filled with live microbes (aka good bacteria) and below 40 or above 104 will kill it.

Uses for Bokashi:

Bokashi Tea
Add 1 ounce bokashi to one gallon filtered water. Let stand (sealed airtight) for 12 hours. Then water
plants, flowers, vegetables etc.

Gardening:
1. Mix dry bokashi with potting soil for potted plants at a rate of about 1-3% bokashi to soil.
2. Use bokashi-fermented/pickled food waste trenched & buried between rows of your garden.
3. Mix dry bokashi in the soil as you are planting your vegetables, fruits, or flowers.
4. Use bokashi tea as a spray or in a watering can for your garden plants.

Composting (in a bucket with kitchen food waste)

In a bucket, cover the bottom of the container with a thin layer of bokashi (@ 1 cup). Add your kitchen
waste, including meat and dairy. On top of every 2-3 inches of kitchen waste, sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp. of
bokashi. Mash down with a plastic bag to compress (so it becomes anaerobic, which means without
oxygen). Keep container sealed throughout the filling process. When full, keep sealed for 2-3 weeks.
Your kitchen waste will then be pickled/fermented and you can do one of the following:
1. Transfer the composted contents of the container into your garden beds or flower garden
by burying it 6-8 inches under the soil. Trench it between already planted rows and it will
feed the rows of flowers or vegetables.
2. Add it to your outdoor composting system, which will increase the rapidity of decomposition
in your bin.
3. Add some dirt to you bucket, stir it up a little, recover for 2 weeks and you will have pure
compost when you re-open it. Fast and easy way to produce your own good dirt!
4. The pickled/fermented kitchen waste is edible and will support the human body in an
emergency.
Bokashi prepared material is not composted in the bucket itself. The food will look the same as what
you put in an onion will look like an onion but the pickling has changed its structure completely. It
has to go into the ground or a compost bin to finish. Worms just love the organic material and breed
like crazy. In compost bins, the bokashi waste breaks down more quickly than normal and you dont
have to worry about green/brown rations. Dig out some old compost, put the bokashi waste in the bin,
and cover it with the compost you removed. This, in combination with all the other naturally occurring
microbes, speeds up the composting process

Septic Sanitizing
Add 1 ounce bokashi to one gallon filtered water. Let stand for 12 hours (sealed airtight). Then
pour/flush activated bokashi water down the sink or toilet drain.

Probiotic (human and pet intake)

Add 1 tsp bokashi to your cereal, smoothie or in a small glass of water and swallow. Bokashi adds to and
aids the good bacteria in your digestive tract, facilitating more complete digestion and bowel function.

Grain Planting
Add 1% bokashi by volume to the seed drill when seeding for fertilizing the fields.

Reduce odors
Sprinkle on pet bedding, add 2 cups to kitty letter per litter change, feed to animals, sprinkle on smelly
yards.

Note: Bokashi is created by soaking organic wheat or rice bran in EM (Essential Microbes) then fermenting and
drying the microbe enriched bran.
Liquid EM has proven extremely effective in clearing ponds and streams of algae; reducing fungus and mold
from plants, shrubs and trees; reducing skin conditions (itching, mange, etc) on pets; reducing odors by spraying
where farm animals reside.

Make Your Own Bokashi Bucket for Kitchen or Office Composting

Its pretty simple to make a serviceable bokashi bucket yourself. For the price of two 5-gallon buckets and a few
minutes spent with a drill, you can make your own bucket for bokashi-composting. Heres how:
1. On the bottom of one bucket, drill 20 to 30 holes with a 1/8 to inch drill bit.
2. Set the drilled bucket into the other bucket, which you have not drilled holes in.
3. Cover the bucket with a tight-fitting lid. Usually, you will find matching lids near the buckets in the
home center. Better yet, use 2 recycled matching buckets.
4. Start adding your food scraps and bokashi to the bucket.
A few tips for using this system: the bucket needs to be air-tight for the contents to ferment properly.
Remember, bokashi composting is an anaerobic system. If you find that the lid youve purchased doesnt fit as
tightly as youd like, place a cloth or old t-shirt over the top of the bucket, and then snap the lid on. The extra bit
of fabric will make the bucket more airtight. This basic system doesnt have a spigot, but it would be easy
enough to harvest any liquid by lifting the top bucket off of the bottom bucket, and pouring any liquid that has
collected in the bottom bucket into a separate container to be used as tea. If you want a spigot, you can find
them at most hardware stores and home centers for less than ten dollars.
All together, this system should cost less than $20, and requires nothing more than a basic drill in the way of
tools. Good luck! (Organic Gardener, July 2008)

Contact Sunburst Unlimited, Inc. (406-868-2359) for information on

acquiring your own supply of bokashi, bokashi composting buckets, and
EM-1.