Laurie St Thomas

I have a few questions for people who have made bokashi ferments regularly.

Situation:
I've recently been making bokashi compost using bran from SCD Probiotics from KCMO.   I have access to leftovers from a Senior Center and am using them to kickstart making soil for a community garden.

 I also have access to a wide variety of outdated foods, expired but still good foods, and spoiled leftovers that sat in my own fridge way too long and got moldy.

Each bucket is different, but I'm relatively new to doing this.  

Questions:
1) I have used 5# flour mixed with bran to be the "starter" at the bottom.  I used it because this particular batch already had a great deal of liquid in it and I wanted something to absorb much of the liquid.  Is this a good or bad idea?

2) I literally add just about everything to it.  1 cup of leftover lime juice, a year old.  Moldy chili.  Vegetables gone bad and forgotten.  Soup,  Gravy.  paper.  Plants.  Cardboard.  Is there any rule of thumb that tells you how much bran to add for each layer depending on what the inputs are?  

3) What happens if air gets into the container?  Does that slow it down or just kill the stuff on the very top?

4) Any other hints or tips... it doesn't seem to be very straightforward when I try to research it.  For example, what happens when I add it directly to compost?  Do I need to dig it in, or can I just let it sit on top of compost pile and continue to add debris to the pile occasionally?  D

5) Does it need to be buried to continue to ferment or to keep animals from getting to it?  

6) Does heat affect how quickly it ferments?  Is there a temperature that it should not go above?  I keep my buckets outside in the shade mostly, around 80-90 degrees, but have left them in the sun before too.    Are there any temperatures that are too hot or too cold?

Thaknks for the help and for sharing your bokashi journey with me.  

Question about this webpage, https://supeckseptic.com/rid-x-and-septic-tank-additives/

which essentially says using Rid-X is bad for septic systems.  I have a septic system and have used Rid-X, which to me looks just like bokashi bran.  I recently used a liquid instead from SCD Probiotics in Kansas City.    I'm curious if the webpage is correct.  Single parenting and can't really afford a clog or blow out in my septic field.

Would love to get some feedback.  Thanks!

Bryant RedHawk wrote:hau Chad,  I will share with you one of my secrets for making great EM-1 and 2, buy some "Ridex" and use 1Tbs per Liter of warm water (think of proofing yeast) then add that to your EM brew.

Ridex is bacteria, more specifically the same bacteria you produce when making EM, so it is a way to boost the numbers of those bacteria we really want in our soils.

Redhawk

I had 2 dump truck loads of wood chips dropped on the back edge of my property a few years ago.  The piles were enormous.   They had been freshly cut and it was awesome to see the steam rising from them in the fall as they began to decompose.  

I used them to mulch a 100 ft rectangle of vegetable garden as well as other paths and garden beds.  Still had a lot.  Over two-3 years they broke down; and now mixed with clay soil make the greatest dirt.  

I actually planted directly in them the spring after they were dumped in the fall, by spreading out cardboard, a thick layer of mulch, and then planted vining squash, cantaloupe and watermelon.  They did great.  The wood chips did nothing to the soil except keep it moist.  

Don't know if you will ever see this, but I would love to know what that looks like now.   I have a dam created about 20 years ago at the bottom junction of a Y where water naturally ran into a ravine.  My neighbors property is almost one foot away from the bottom of the dam side and the hill created by the dam.  

My pond is slowly emptying; and I can't tell if it's drought, or if it's from the easement road that hadn't been used for the previous 20 years that runs in an L shape along the corner of the property that starts the downward descent of land until it become the pond area.  Zone 6, now hard packed clay from heavy construction traffic.  

I wanted to put something along the dam for privacy but didn't want trees on it, but the bamboo sounds great - but hard to manage. It's difficult for me to envision what this would look like.  If you do see this, would it be possible to share pictures?

Thanks in advance.

Mike Turner wrote:I had a somewhat similar problem when bought my property 20 years ago.  There wasa big 10 foot wide and deep erosion hole at the end of the spillway to my pond, with the additional problem that when they subdivided the  property, the end of the spillway was on the neighboring property that I didn't have access to.  I planted a row of a deep rooted running bamboo (Semiarundinaria fastuosa) along the property line where the spillway left my property. The dense rhizome network  that this bamboo has formed has stabilized the soil and stopped the progression of the erosion.   I also planted a 10 foot high running bamboo on my earthen dam that has since spread to totally cover the dam, covering the dam with a 2 foot deep dense rhizome network.  This network has stabilized the dam, keeps tree seedlings from establishing themselves on the dam, and makes it difficult for muskrats to dig holes in the dam.  The bamboo is small enough that I can easily clear cut it from parts of the dam if I ever needed to to maintainance on in.  Unlike tree roots, bamboo rhizomes don't get thicker with age, remaining at their 1 inch thickness for their entire 15 year lifespan and are continually being replaced with new rhizomes to form an impenetrable mesh of rhizomes in the topsoil.  The one time a freak rainstorm dumped 14"of water on my property in a couple of hours, the resulting flood overwhelmed my spillway and overtopped the dam.  The myriad of bamboo stems on the dam caught and trapped debris being carried down by the floodwaters, and actually increased the mass of the dam.  This flood washed out the next dam below mine that was covered with grass.

Same questions - have you had an Anotolian before? Where are you located? Yes, he is still available.  Email me at Sensational.Solutions@zoho.com with the subject line DOG so I can see the email easily and we can connect.  

Christine Gutterman wrote:I’m not sure if you still have him, but I’m looking for an Anatolian to guard my baby goats I’m getting this spring.

Where are you located?  Have you had an Anatolian before?

Sorry it took me so long to respond; I didn't see the message until today

invisible fencing might work; but he is powerful and fast.  I can’t afford it currently.  

kansas city metro area = location

Please share this in other forums and please be on the lookout for anyone wanting a livestock dog. Thank you

I honestly have fallen in love with this sweet dog.   It breaks my heart to have to find him a more suitable home.  We have almost 4 acres, with a pond on it, but we do not have a fence tall enough.  We have the regulation size 4’ chain link; he sails over that easily.   Maybe a 5’ with electric might work.  But its also a small backyard fence right off the back porch and is really just about the same footprint as the house itself.   I would need to have it be a 5/6’ metal one that goes all the way around.  

One thing I can say for him is that we (the kids, not me) have taken him for walks around the perimeter of the property when we first brought him home every day.  The kids got kind of busy and so am I, but he seems to have a relatively good idea of what is his when he runs around.   He is a stubborn learner but plays well with our other dog and the two little ones he’s met; is learning to sit and wait to eat until I walk away from putting his food down.