Pickled, Not Stirred

My mom was here in Tulsa visiting from Victoria a few weeks ago and we setup a bit of a container garden in the backyard.  Not a huge project to start as I have only just graduated from keeping inside house plants alive.  So far...

I started with a couple of tomato plants.  So we bought containers and dirt and other garden necessities and spend a few hours outside planting.  That combined with a trip to a very cool garden center here in Tulsa called Southwoods produced this mini-garden:

Not too shabby a start!  But this really got me ready for my next project:  The Bokashi Cycle!

The Bokashi Cycle is a self-contained food composter that works by pickling the food scraps instead of fermenting them.  So no rotting food smell!  But I have to say it's no bed of roses either. Really it just smells like fish food.  Which is totally tolerable.

Unpacked All setup in the pantry

I bought the kit online and once it arrived it took all of 10 minutes to read the very detailed instructions and get it all setup.  After two weeks of layering food scraps (including meat, fish, eggs, bones, pretty much everything!) with the yeast / probiotic granules that come with the kit, you are ready to use your compost.  Simply dig a hole and bury it.  This helps to feed the earth and make the soil more nutrient rich for planting.

As I am a total amateur gardener, I am more interested in this process as a way to efficiently use all waste materials we generate in the house.  With a few exceptions of course...  It says you can use dog and cat waste in the Bokashi as well but to maybe re-consider this option if you are using the compost for food plants.  Yum.

So all I need now is a place to bury it!  Scott built this raised bed for me yesterday so I can transplant the sunflower plants that we grew from seeds.  If I can keep Milhouse out of the dirt bed then it should work just fine.

Now I am excited to see how my Bokashi compost turns out!