Get Yo’ Green On Tuesday – An Indoor Bokashi Meat and Milk Composter Review

Clean Air Gardening sells this cool Indoor Kitchen Composter which composts more than traditional veg material, it also composts meat and milk. While I have practiced outdoor composting for several years, I have never done indoor composting and was curious if this worked. You can see a video review in the above short video.

According to the package directions, composting happens directly in the 16” X 10” X 10” pail so it is perfect for apartments and condos. Bokashi composting uses a different method than outdoor composting. Essentially it pickles the waste, turning it into fertilizer using fermentation. It works in half the time of conventional  composting. Moisture released from food waste can be drained out through a spigot at the bottom of the compost bin and can be made into a compost tea for house plants.

Clean Air Gardening shipped out the composter and a 2.25 lb bag of a special Bokashi mix that enhances the microbial action of the compost and allows traditional veg material as well as meats and milks to breakdown. Bokashi is a Japanese word that means "fermented organic matter." It can also be used as a soil amendment to increase the nutrient level and microbial diversity of the soil.

According to Clean Air Gardening, here’s how to use the Indoor Kitchen Composter and Bokashi mix:

“Before putting any compost in your Indoor Kitchen Composter, start by laying down a layer of Happy Farmer Bokashi. Then, when you add fresh food waste in the Kitchen Composter it's important to add additional Bokashi on top of every layer of scraps. Once the container is filled to capacity, let the waste continue to ferment for two weeks and then transfer into your garden or planter.”

Overall, I felt this product works and is rather amazing in it’s ability to breakdown meat, bones, and milk waste. However, it can be smelly if you do not cover the food waste properly (note the look on my face in the video). It is a wonderful idea for apartment dwellers and for people who have a strong motivation to save landfill space. I do prefer traditional composting better because it is less expensive. To maintain the Indoor Kitchen Composter, you must repurchase the bokashi several times a year.

For those of you interested in really taking a bite out of the landfill space situation, I think this is a more than fabulous idea. If you are interested in purchasing this composter or others, Clean Air Gardening has a wonderful selection. Go to www.cleanairgardening.com for more information.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Comments

[Rob.b]

This is a very effective technique to get rid of unpleasant odour, and to get great quality fertilizer for your kitchen garden. I am getting impressive results after using my Bokashi Bucket.

[Compost Tea from the Bokashi Indoor Kitchen Composter]

Hey this is a very interesting article! Thanks! Just check the detailed info there Compost Tea from the Bokashi Indoor Kitchen Composter

[Bokashi Morgane]

I recently began to use Bokashi, and I'm really happy about it. it is a very good way to compost.

[DSF]

Not just animals, no.

Animal products aren't recommended in a traditional residential pile because of odor, pests, and pathogen risk. Larger compost set-ups get hot enough and stay hot for long enough to completely decompose whole animal bodies in a matter of days--no risk there--but that's hard to do at home. Not impossible, but maybe more work than the average garden composter wants to do.

Fermentation appears to have anti-pathogenic properties comparable to hot composting; there's not too much info out there, but the studies I found seemed promising so I decided to give it a try. Since which time I've been happily fermenting meats and dairies in my bokashi buckets.

Vermicomposting, too, is supposed to render the eventual compost safe as well as beneficial, but I've never tried that, having found something that works for me.

Great expression in that vid!

DSF

http://bokashislope.blogspot.com
...time to feed the buckets!

[Shawna Coronado]

The Indoor Kitchen Composter is done "indoors" and is enclosed in a container, so it's not so smelly or difficult to handle.

Outdoor meat and dairy composting can be quite smelly and rodents (like skunks and raccoons) can get into it, both issues are serious concern for some communities. Dead animals sitting out in the heat in your compost bin doesn't smell very good, so your neighbors might be upset.

It is possible to compost meats in outdoor compost bins, but because meats and bones have been cooked and process in oils that do not compost well, they may not breakdown completely. This could leave you with chunks of meat remaining in the compost, particularly if you use red wigglers as part of your compost bin. They are not fond of meats from what I understand, so will not eat them.

Plus there is always the concern that exposed rotting meat will produce disease.

If you live far away from neighbors and don't care about attracting the rodent community - I'd say outdoor meat composting would be a good idea. :-) I've seen it done in Mexico and was amazed at the process.

[Naomi]

I had no idea such a thing existed. Very cool.

Is the main reason for not composting meat and dairy just animals getting into it? I've always wondered. We compost outside, too.