{"id":44176,"key":"Bokashi_Workshop","title":"Bokashi Workshop","latest":{"id":1208908,"timestamp":"2025-11-28T01:07:30Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"''' How to put on a Bokashi Workshop '''\n\n=== Preparations at least one day ahead ===\n\n* 2 plastic tubs (preferably food grade) per participant; one for making bokashi; one for using bokashi with food waste. Alternative: one plastic tub (for food waste collection) and one large ziplock bag (for making and storing bokashi) per participant\n* sufficient de-chlorinated water (at least 1 liter per participant); (just pour water out of tap and let it sit for 24 hours)\n** or boil water and let it cool down... or as last resort, use hot water tank which might already be sufficiencly dechlorinated)\n* source Friendly Microbes (commercial or homemade)... see [[Bokashi]] for list of suppliers; encourage some sort of co-op or sharing\n* source of micro-nutrients: sea-salt or kelp\n* source of carbon: easiest is wheat bran or rice bran from animal feed store (suggestion: 2.5 kg per participant)\n\n=== Introductory Comments ===\n\n* Local governments are beginning to collect green waste incl. meat, dairy and oils to compost them; acknowledge that up front\n* list advantages to handling one's own green waste:\n** educational and a \"gateway drug\" to other composting and fermenting recipes\n** in case local government stops collecting green waste, or has incentives to reduce city collections\n** less pests, less smell, more ingredients for the compost\n\n=== Stories that Motivate ===\n\n* The story of how \"Effective Microbes\" were discovered in Japan\n** Dr Terua Higo pioneered the study of multiple micro-organisms ; A mixture he had thrown on a patch of grass (as a failed experiment) became famous; he noticed the area where he had thrown the \"waste\" product had grown considerably.\n* Lakes and streams pollution reduction with mudballs [http://www.iemss.org/iemss2010/papers/S0/S.0.04.Effective%20Microorganisms%20EMTechnology%20for%20Water%20Quality%20Restoration%20and%20Potential%20for%20Sustainable%20Water%20Resources%20and%20Management%20-%20ZURAINI%20ZAKARIA.pdf ref.]\n* Story of Garbage enzymes\n\n=== Teach only one simple Recipe ===\n\n* Recipe: 3/4 liter blood-warm dechlorinated water, 3 tsp (15ml) microbes, 3 tsp (15ml) molasses, 1 pinch seasalt/kelp; 2.5kg bran\n** adding more microbes and mollasses is fine.\n** Recipe as a ratio: 150:50:1:1 of bran:water:microbes:molasses\n* make sure the water is blood-warm (temperature of blood = 37 deg Celsius) by combining dechlorinated water with boiling water\n* mix ingredients together saving microbes for last; then wait 15 minutes\n* mix just enough liquid into each plastic tub\n* have participants \"massage\" the mixture (10 min) until it feels moist enough to almost hold when squeezed together (30% moisture)\n* verify that even the deepest parts of the tub are well mixed\n* have everyone squeeze their tubs and put some plastic on top to keep it anaerobic\n* advise participants to put something heavy on top of plastic when they get home; an appropriate sized plate is best\n* advise them to wait for 2-4 weeks in the warmest place of the house (or even better on a warm seed-starting mat)\n* discuss the indicators of finished, ready to use bokashi: white fungus (no other colors of fungus); or one month and no fungus\n* explain how to use it: layer 1-2 inches of food waste with thin layer of bokashi\n* discuss advantages and disavantages of drying bokashi (2 year shelf life) vs wet bokashi (2 months shelf life); best to dry in the sun outside rather than in oven where it will smell up the whole house\n\n=== Review and Send Off ===\n\n* make sure participants understand the different steps and indicators clearly\n** must store freshly made bokashi in the shade and in the warmest spot of the house for up to a month (or till white fungus appears)\n** at that point, decide if it will get used within a few months, or if it should be dried (do not dry before this point)\n* remind them that if a batch has gone bad (and it is easy to tell by smell), to put it straight into composting\n* they can use any left over liquid as a spray for smelly parts of the house; or directly instead of bokashi on food waste\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n| description = Bokashi composting is an easy way to manage food waste. Appropedia provides workshop tips to teach it effectively.\n}}\n\n[[Category:Anaerobic digestion]]\n[[Category:Environment]]\n[[Category:Green household]]\n[[Category:Green living]]"}