Nutrient Recycling Methods For Small Spaces

Two methods for nutrient recycling in small spaces that Vera Greutink highly recommends in Edible Paradise are bokashi composting and vermicomposting.

Bokashi Composting

To get started on making an inexpensive bokashi bucket, I found a video that I think explains some of benefits of bokashi composting well and how to do it.

Bokashi Instead of Hot Compost



From the video description, provided by Fraser Valley Farm:
"I prefer Bokashi fermentation over hot composting of kitchen waste for a number of reasons, which I'll outline here. I'll also show you how the system works, and how to build your own DIY Bokashi bucket system. "

Vermicomposting

To get started on creating and maintaining an indoor worm composting bin, I found a video that I think shows a pretty simple method of doing vermicomposting.



From the video description provided by LeafCo:
"Compost your food scraps indoors with this easy, quick and cheap DIY worm bin."

Other Methods

What other methods of recycling nutrients in small spaces might work well for people in urban environments?

With Bokashi you have to spend money for the additive to make it ferment. That’s why I don’t use it. Vermicomposting works in small spaces but you can’t put much in it unless you have a large worm farm, in which case it takes more space than a compost bin. It also doesn’t produce as much compost as a regular compost bin, but the quality could be better.

hau Tim, I have always used milk as my bokashi starter, another item that most folks have around is sauerkraut, a little of the juice will give a new bokashi the kick start it needs.

so really, you don't have to spend money to buy a fermenting agent (the additive), you just need to understand fermentation and check the fridge for something that will do the trick.

Redhawk

Thanks Bryant, I make sauerkraut all the time and have leftover juice. I’ll research it now!

I've been loving my bokashi program now that it's in full swing. I spent about 40$ on a jug of EM-1 and about 20$ on a 50 lb bag of organic wheat hulls. I mix the wheat hulls 50-50 with coffee chaff I get from a local roaster. I inherited a bunch of molasses but that's cheap too from the farm store. All told I think the last 40ish gallon batch of the stuff I made cost me around 30$. It's lasted for months using it quite liberally in the garden as well as using it for all our kitchen waste. We gather that in a gallon bucket by the sink and then dump the full bucket into a 10 gallon bucket with a seal and cover with a cup of bokashi (not a real cup just a container, i think it's from sour cream or cream cheese, not sure the actual volume). When the 10s full I dump it into a 20 gallon trash can with a spigot and use the juices that drain off to make aerated teas. After the 20 is full and the next 10 is full I find somewhere to dump the 20, usually in a pile with other bigger chunkier yard waste and it composts down real quick. All kinds of fungi and things get going in the 20 gallon bin. I live with a small yard and being able to build up the kitchen waste in a way that doesn't go rancid and doesn't attract animals until we have enough to actually compost has been a godsend. We innoculate with sauerkraut and the like when we dump them in our compost or empty the dregs of the jars in the compost.