Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Urban cohousing communities -- do you compost?

[Jokhanah *Ennes (shefarm]

eva

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 9:13 AM, <nancybtoo [at] peak.org> wrote:

>
> I have been intrigued by Bokashi but haven't tried it.
>
> Bokashi is a fermentation- it's made the same way you make sauerkraut.
>
> I was curious about the possibility of methane generation during
> fermentation.
>
> Here's what I found (from
> http://www.envirolink.govt.nz/Envirolink-reports/1-NLCC1/1014-GSDC94/) :
> > The issue of non-CO2 GHG production as part of the fermentation process
> and land spreading needs to
> > be carefully considered, both theoretically and empirically. The limited
> literature indicates that
> > methane is not produced in significant amounts while no information on
> nitrous oxide has been
> > found. There may be variation in GHG production, if they are produced,
> between different production
> > systems, e.g., starting material, inoculants, temperature etc.
>
> A microbial ecologist could probably explain better than I can why bokashi
> fermentation does not produce a lot of methane. From my brief research
> temperature and the C/N ratio of the added food waste are important. To
> get a
> lot of methane you need a high temperature (130 degrees fahrenheit) and
> moderate
> C/N ratio (30/1). Bokashi fermentation takes place at room temperature
> with a
> feedstock C/N ratio of 10/1.
>
> One of the intriguing aspects of bokashi fermentation is that it likes high
> nitrogen materials like meat scraps. For many people those are problematic
> in
> compost. And yet because of the large amount of nitrogen, meat scrapsare
> also
> valuable in the compost.
>
> I will write a separate post aboiut our successful composting operation
> here at
> CoHo Ecovillage in Corvallis, Oregon.
>
> Nancy
>
>
> On 2/25/2013 4:58 AM, david bygott wrote:
> >
> > We have been using the "Bokashi" system for years and find it effective.
> All you need is a few airtight buckets (you can buy online "gamma-seal"
> twist-off lids that are easy to open and close and fit on any 5-gal bucket)
> and the EM (effective microorganism) culture, which also you can find
> online. There's no smell (unless your bucket leaks!) When we fill a bucket
> we set it aside for 3-4 weeks to allow the anaerobic fermentation to
> progress, before digging it into the garden, so you need about 4-5 buckets
> to keep that rotation going. The process can handle just about any food
> scraps, including eggshells and chicken carcasses, but NOT plastics, and
> some items like large bones and avocado skins & pits don't decompose.
> Here's a starter link:
> >
> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/03/03/bokashi-this-is-not-your-fathers-compost/
> >
> > David Bygott
> > Milagro Cohousing
> >
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>
>
>


-- 
*Jokhanah*