Bokashi : Using biology on the Farm

In this expanded episode we begin to talk about how we use the Bokashi fermentation process to recycle our food to feed our worms which ultimately yields us biologically active worm castings that we use in worm teas or as an additive to our seed soil mixes.

 Bokashi primarily uses Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) to digest the sugars, carbohydrates, some proteins, fats from food waste in a anaerobic container. This food waste can also include many things not recommended for standard aerobic compost piles or to be put directly in worm bins. Bokashi system can handle cooked food waste, vegetable & fruit scraps, meat scraps cooked or raw, fats, greases, some most dairy except liquid milk. It processes these items with no odors or putrefaction. The finished ferment is in essence pickled.

In our system we ferment a full container for 2-5 weeks depending on temperature. Cool temps around 50F need about 5 weeks to ferment, warm temps around 75F can ferment in as little as 2 weeks. The finished ferment is then mixed with aerobic bacteria/fungi in a bin called a "Soil Factory" for 2-3 weeks to allow the acids in the fermented material to be neutralized then this closer to neutral PH material is fed to our worms. We do not apply the just fermented Bokashi to our worm bins until it has had time to de-acidify in the "Soil Factory" bins. Although there is evidence that you can put Bokashi Ferment directly in worm bins we have found the worms process the Bokashi faster after it has time to become less acid. Also keeping the worm bins less acidic avoids imbalance issues such as mites, excessive pot worms etc. in your worm bins.

As in all pickled/fermented items acidity is the key that keeps nasty pathogens like e-coli etc or bacteria that create odors suppressed. So the finished fermented materials should never be applied directly to any parts of living plants with out time being allowed for soil microbiology to be able to neutralize the acidity. The leachate can be used as a soil drench but only after diluting it 1:100 with water or 2.5 tbls per gallon of water(10 ml leachate per 1 liter water).

This video is our first on the fermentation cycle of Bokashi. We will later be doing a video on the "Soil Factory" as a followup on final aerobic processing.

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Видео Bokashi : Using biology on the Farm канала Bare Mtn Farm