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I have been working on this video for awhile now. Any free moment I would do a little bit more to finish it (I have been really busy at work).
This is a very basic and simple illustraion on how we use our Bokashi bin, together with our worm farm to recycle our kicthen organic waste.
The only improvement I could suggest to our system is that we should have two Bokashi bins. When one is full, we let it sit until the next one is full. This will give the first bin a longer time to brake down the waste (ie giving the EM powder more time to work). Then we would simply rotate the bins around.
I have written many posts about our Bokashi bin and so I thought adding a video on how to use a Bokashi bin with EM Bokashi powder would help.
We use our Bokashi bin in conjunction with our worm farm. We were finding that we were creating too much household organic waste for our little wormy friends. Also a limitation to having a worm farm is that they can be a little fussy on what they will and will not eat.
However we put everything into the Bokashi bin (except for meat bones) even those items that worms won’t eat like citrus, dairy and protein. View the video below which will show you how to use a Bokashi bin.
When the Bokashi bin is full we then add the whole contents into our worm farm. As the waste inside the bin has already started to brake down due to the EM Bokashi powder, I have found that the worms are eating the contents (even though there is protein, citrus etc) and the EM powder will also continue to brake the waste down as well. The EM Bokashi powder doesn’t appear to bother the worms.
If you have a large garden you can burry the Bokashi bin waste into the ground but as we live in the inner city with limited garden space, we need our wormy friends to continue the brake down process.
As the waste has already started to brake down due to the EM Bokashi powder, I am finding the worms together with the EM powder are decomposing the waste a lot quicker than just the worms on their own. This has solved our problem of creating too much waste for our little worms to handle.
Also below I have added my original video about using a worm farm.
Also wanted to mention again that if you live in Sydney, the City Council have free composting & worm farm half day courses. You are even given a free compost bin or worm farm at the end of the course (about three hours).
How to use a Bokashi Bin
How to use a Worm Farm
On the 12th of July 2008 I wrote a post titled ‘What to do with dog poo?’.
This post was about how we were going to recycle our dog poo (and with two dogs, believe me when I say we have a dog poo factory at our house).
Now moving ahead to the 19th of October 2008, I bought some new plants back home from the nursery. These plants were replanted in larger pots with potting mix and the dog poo that had EM Bokashi sprinkled on it (again read the post ‘What to do with dog poo’ for more info).
Here are photographs I took on that day:
Today over four months along, I took another photograph of that same plant:
Wow our garden pot plants love the dog poo. As the soil level of pot plants need to be replenished, we top up with a mixture of potting mix and dog poo (sprikled with EM Bokashi powder).
For more help or advice with EM Bokashi powder or Bokashi bins have a look at Bokashi composting in Australia’s blog.
Sorry for my little absence. We were having some internet and computer issues at work. Even though I have other forms of internet access like my black berry, the extra work curriculum; like writing blogs was difficult. For me it felt like I had fallen off the face of the internet world i.e. two weeks without checking facebook, blogs etc is a very long time!
Just because two weeks I wasn’t here in this space in person, I was here however in spirit (if you know what I mean).
Here is what I have been doing on my green journey these last two weeks.
1 Given away to ‘Free Cycle’ large display frames, a modern book shelf, photography books, computer stuff and heaps of bits and pieces. Just stuff we don’t need anymore and though we could have sold through Ebay we couldn’t be bothered. Giving away stuff is far more rewarding than selling through Ebay and far better than throwing to landfill!
2 Went to Reuse Garbage Centre in Marrickville Sydney and bought some 2nd hand bricks to put under our large outdoor garden pot plants. This way our dogs can’t eat the plants anymore. In browsing around I also bought some stuff for the office and home.
3 Dropped by an opt shop and bought a little bookshelf that fits perfectly in our bathroom area. I plan to sand the wood down then give it a fresh coat of paint. I have been looking for something that will fit this small space in the bathroom. The shelf cost me $15 2nd hand but a new one that I priced was around $187. Buy 2nd hand saves our money and the environment.
4 I have always wanted a slow cooker. Instead of buying a new one, I jumped onto Ebay and bought one that had only been used three times for only $20.50.
5 Completed my grocery shopping list of companies that are Australian owned and make products that are Australian made. Buy Australian owned and made helps Australia’s economy, our framers (who are doing it tough) and the environment (less shipping emissions).
6 Found out that KR Castlemaine produces a range of free range bacon. My husband and I have gone without for months since I wrote the post about Lucy. Now that I have found Australian free range bacon, we can enjoy our bacon again (every now and then).
7 Placing all kitchen household scraps now in our Bokashi bin. Soon will be adding this to our worm farm. I will let you know how this goes.
8 My birthday is in two weeks time. As my husband says I am now officially the hardest person to buy for, we went shopping for a really good vegetarian cook book (I know……. but it is all I really wanted).
I have to say that I am loving this green journey of mine!
If you take a sneak peak at the statistics of each individual post on my website you will discover something a little strange.
The overall top posts in regards to how many hits (different from the daily top posts which I display on the left hand side) are all to do with dog poo! Funny hey?!?
It is been awhile so here is an update on our household dog poo and what we do to recycle it.
Currently I am scoping up the poo and placing inside a bucket with a lid. I do this daily then sprinkle ‘EM Bokashi’ over the top (about a handful). For more information on why I am doing this please read ‘what to do with dog poo’ post.
Since I have been doing this we have noticed that there is no really bad smell in the bucket. The previous bad smell has been replaced with a vinaigrette type fragrance. The bucket is kept outside which used to attracted lots of flies (even with the lid on) but now we are adding ‘EM Bokashi’ the files are not flying around the bucket anymore.
Very soon I plan to burry the dog waste in the large plant pots around our home.
As regular readers will know, we live in the inner city of Sydney. We are lucky to have a reasonably large back courtyard (no grass) where the dogs are kept. This means we are able to have large pots. But what if you live in a unit with no real option of burring dog waste?
I think I have finally come up with a solution (feel free to judge my thinking). Try scoping up the doggie poo in those biodegradable doggie bags then sprinkle ‘EM Bokashi’ over the poop.
Then tie the bag up tight so no air can get in, which will make it an anaerobic brake down process (without air). Apparently ‘EM Bokashi’ neutralises the methane and hence is not emitted into the atmosphere if brake down is anaerobic
You then could burry the bags in a family or friend neighbour’s yard. Or if have no other option then you could put into the garbage bin (because you will not be adding to the landfill methane problem).
I am really interested to know my readers thoughts on this one. J
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