Back at it!

Sort of. I want to get in the habit of putting something out there and reflecting on stuff rather than just thinking and forgetting. I don't have a garden right now but I figured I can revamp this blog to zoom out and record what is happening in general. Here we go!

 A highlight this week was figuring out a way to draw an alligator using a ton of triangles.

Check out my dog's sweet white eyelashes!

This sums up most of my evenings.

I feel like this photo can stand in for a lot of my interactions lately. I am danger (the cat), going out and bracing myself for the worst when in reality the world is mostly full of friendly people with transparent motivations. OK, I may be giving our dog in this photo scenario too much credit. Her gregariousness can verge on overbearing, which is it's own flavor of aggression in my book, but in this moment I think she is actually trying. Maybe.

That is all for now!

Rolly Pollies, Pickling, Beer, Bugs, Science!

The cucumbers picked up the pace in a big way a few weeks ago. Their progress has kind of waned now. With the first big harvest, I had ten in one day. I gave away most of them at work because there were just too many of them. A lot of my co-workers eat salad for lunch everyday so I had a feeling it would be a welcome gift. I was so grateful to get them off my hands. I hate letting garden stuff go bad, there is an extra sting to it (though, due to the bokashi it isn't as wasteful as it could be!). We have been eating a lot of cucumber salads. I have had to get kind of creative recently to use up the stuff from the garden. I added some garden basil and jalapenos to the normal vinegar salad dressing I used on the cucumbers, that went well. Also, I realized basil is used in a lot of Asian dishes I like so I have been adding it to stir fries and stuff with some success. Jalapenos and basil make quite the combo.

The rolly pollies are getting to everything. I keep finding them munching on my cantaloupes. I cover the cantaloupes in soapy water and practically make a pile of DE (diatomaceous earth) for them to sit in, but that only lasts so long. Now they have encroached on my cucumbers too. It is the worst. They just eat away at the outside. I can cut off the skin and it is fine but everything just looks more haggard when rolly pollies have been busy etching away at them all day. I got the cucumber plant really tangled too, trying to redirect the vines. Some of the leaves near the really jumped parts are kind of fried. Next time I will figure out how to tame it better. The heat hasn't been too bad though, compared to what I had expected for this summer. And, we had some serious rain again so I think things will be okay for a while.

I have done some pickling. First just okra with a jalapeno from the garden (that's the other thing, the jalapenos have been MIA for some reason, since the first initial handful over a month ago).  Then a friend reminded me I can pickle the green beans too, so I threw in the last big harvest from them, a bunch of cucumbers, and okra into one jar with spices and onion and garlic. So there is a huge jar of garden goodness marinating at home.

We picked another watermelon. I read that one way to know if it is ready to harvest is if the nearest tendril to the fruit is dried up. The one I picked had a tendril that was partially dry, and because I was anxious to pick one and someone, somewhere online posted one of those critical sounding statements like "be careful not to wait too long or it will spoil," I went ahead and picked it. It wasn't ready. It was a little more pink this time, but they are supposed to be very red inside. I still have about 4 more goes at this, so I am not too worried. The cantaloupes are getting bigger. One kind of split open a little bit. I am not sure how that happened, just one day it had a tear in the rind. It started to turn black and rot so I cut it up for the bokashi but the inside looked real nice, like a normal cantaloupe, so that's promising!

I did try one cool thing that worked really well for the pill bugs. I scattered little plates with beer in them around  the garden, basically where ever the pill bugs were causing problems. The next day there were rolly pollies floating in all of them. And I got to finish off a lone star, which is always nice. I am pretty excited this method worked out. 

Since there isn't really much development in how the plants look, I wanted to post some pictures of the bugs and things I am finding in the garden. The cucumber plant has become home to a lot of things: lady bugs, spiders, a lizard. I think the lizard is an Anole.  And there are bees and hornets buzzing around everywhere. This is a good sign for the plants I am sure, but it makes garden care a little more treacherous. 

I just found out this is probably a pest: a cucumber beetle. Well, that explains some things.

Fire fly looking things that are always on the okra plant.

Lady Bug 

Anole!

Hornet

Also, I figured I would post some of the neat plant related science stuff I have come across...

I heard this cool story on the radio about plants having memory and being able to recognize predators through the vibrations on their leaves:

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/08/329884061/plants-know-the-rhythm-of-the-caterpillars-creep

And then, on the topic of plants sort of "hearing," this episode on the PBS Nature series is about plants "talking" to one another. It has a part on Hornworns too! That was the grub that ate my bell pepper plant. It is neat, there is this weird conundrum with hornworms. Hornworms are common pests for tobacco plants, but the moth that lays the hornworms, once it emerges, also pollinates the plant. The whole thing is fascinating. It seems like science fiction- plants making choices and being able to discern between things, but it is not! It is so real! Also, it never dawned on me that till recently, everything that happened underground was a big mystery. Now we have the technology to see what is happening. I didn't know that root systems make up 80% of most plants. It's nuts! With all this new technology, some fundamental ideas we have about how things work and why they do what they do, are being totally turned around. It is all very exciting. Here's the link:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/what-plants-talk-about/video-full-episode/8243/

A couple weeks ago I planted some shallots per my step mom's suggestion. You literally just put them in the ground and water them.  I spaced them out along the edge of one side of the garden. I even forgot to water them some days, before I rearranged the drip hose, and they are still doing fine. Low maintenance, prolific plants are definitely a thumbs up in my book.

I am thinking that in August I will start planting things for the fall. Probably by then most of the current plants will be petering out. I will be starting school shortly after but it seems silly to wait nine months or so to do this gardening thing again, especially after putting so much effort into it and getting a lot in return. I think it'll work out, it has become kind of an obsession, which I am happy to have at the moment. I think it has helped keep me grounded (no pun intended, ha), and served as a much needed reminder that there are still things I can get excited about and interested in. And the things are pretty simple too, which is comforting, like spotting a weird bug or watching a watermelon slowly ripen. Also, a part of me really likes always having a problem to trouble shoot. I have always been kind of crafty, but I see now there is something energizing about spotting a problem and then making it a mission to figure out what it is and solve it, or to at least give it a valiant effort. I think that is it, it is nice to have a mission. Especially one that involves wearing your worn out clothes and digging around in the dirt. I just hadn't really done this type of stuff in while, working outside and examining bugs, not since I was a kid. I forgot I enjoyed it. I will be beginning school soon, so the garden project will have to be juggled with other things, but I think it is worth a try since we've made it this far. Thank the universe for water timers!

Also, the plant that was decimated by the hornworm has been making a great recovery. It pretty quickly started sprouting new leaves and branches. It may even look a little better than before. Go figure.

Green Beasts

Things are moving along. Nothing is churning up big time but there is a steady flow. So far beans, okra, chard, and basil are my main plants.

The bean plants themselves are looking worse and worse everyday, but they are still mustering up a handful of munchables so I can't complain too much. I finally got a lead on one of the issues. Several of the plants were weak at the bottom and starting to lean over. I found rolly pollies blanketing the stem for about two inches up from where the plants meet the ground. I read that pill bugs are beneficial to gardens but the huge number covering them just didn't seem healthy. To make matters worse, I tried surrounding each plant with cinnamon and then later a pile of DE (diatomaceous earth) and the bugs barely noticed. Those were my main lines of defense! I tried the ole' "nothing" method on the plants for a while too. The one or two bean plants that looked really good I had never doused with anything other than water, so I thought maybe the plants just needed a breather. Anyway, after trying this method for a few days the plants were sporting a nice spray of light brown on the tops of the leaves. So who knows.

We also had a brief mystery last week. One of my bell pepper plants lost all its leaves. It was a lush bushy plant one second and then a skeleton the next. 

When I found it, there were no scraps around. None of the plants in the vicinity were damaged, ruling out a big clumsy animal lumbering through and messing stuff up or birds landing in a tussle. Obviously there was only one reasonable explanation: sabotage. The other morning there was a big brown cardboard box sitting in the middle of the garden, and that same day the drip hose was detached and the timer had been tinkered with. I thought this bell pepper situation was just my tormentor taking things to a new level. Spooked, I avoided the plant for a while. I carried out my normal pruning and watering tasks, certain that the neighbors were lurking behind their drapes, watching my reaction as I stumbled upon their latest affront. All the passers by reeked of malintent and the shadows seemed to be getting longer and bigger by the second (or maybe it was just dusk, what ever). Finally I had no other choice but to deal with the plant. I figured I might as well just finish what was started, just to let them know I wasn't shaken. I went to pluck off one of the last two leaves but when I turned it over I found THIS on the bottom...

It is a hornworm! I yelped and jumped back a little. I was startled and it is terrifying! This grub had been eating my plant all day, and it basically ate the entire thing. I sprayed all the plants and ground near by in soapy water- they are not into the soapy taste apparently, and the grub met its fate on the concrete, under my dad's shoe. Green liquid squirted out when he stepped on it. That green liquid was my whole digested plant, reduced to a deep hued slime. Ugh that jerk grub.

I read later that there were other options for taking care of the worm. I was reminded that I could have put it in a jar and watched it turn into a moth. I would like to say that I am an adult and so over mini experiments like that and that I don't have time for watching life cycles play out anymore, but that would be a bold face lie. The moment I read that option I immediately had a pang of regret for authorizing its kill, and I felt bad that hadn't even crossed my mind when I was considering what to do next. I could have let it live out its life in captivity. I froze when I found the grub initially, I had never dealt with a bug this huge. As much as I'd love to see a grub turn into a moth though, that is pretty cool you must admit, it was overruled by the majority of me that just wanted the relief in knowing we took it out of the picture completely.

When I was little I didn't think twice before killing bugs. Sort of in the same vein, I loved fishing too. The feeling of catching a fish was great and even cleaning them was fun for me. I was also the one that did my science project on putting salt on slugs. I was given a microscope set for my birthday that year and I kind of turned into a mad scientist for a while. There was a tier in my head I suppose, and at some point that fact that it was a living creature was less significant, and I didn't really understand that there was a choice in what measure I took to deal with pests. I didn't realize that fish were still just as much living animals as whatever else people hunt. Eventually I guess I just started noticing when friends would catch and release something instead of just stomping on it. Texas is kind of  buggy place though, and my family comes from a line of people with a more no-nonsense approach to pets and bugs in general. Your obligation to wildlife encroaching on your personal space uninvited is a favor at best. My parents were pretty progressive on this front compared to most, but we still killed pests when it came down to it. For the most part I just go with my first impulse and kill the invaders, but I have softened quite a bit since my younger days and I think it is a nice practice to consider alternatives sometimes. Even if it's just an exercise in restraint. I did feel less bad though, about the hornworm squishing, after reading about another likely fate it could have met. If you see one covered in white pods, just let it be. Its days are numbered. A wasp has laid eggs on it that will feast and eventually emerge to build a cocoon. Nature is pretty gruesome on its own.

We picked a watermelon because it had looked the same way for over a week, same size and color, but we picked it too soon. It wasn't ripe enough. It still tasted pretty good but we can do better. There seem to be plenty of little watermelons popping up so we should have more than one go at this. A cantaloupe finally made an appearance! And I gotta keep a close eye on the cucumber plants. They have subsumed two chard plants and I found one of the tendrils wrapping around a bean plant and pulling it over. It is such a tangled mess right now. It is hard to catch the cucumbers in time. On Saturday I went by and found this huge one buried in the jumble.

Crazy cucumber and okra

Cucumber

Okra

Cantaloupe

Dinner: Cucumber salad, chard, and okra/bean veggie medley with a minty cucumber drink.
We are growing mint too by the way, we added it later.

So the majority of what is still standing in the garden is thriving. I wish the jalapenos would start contributing again, and it would be nice to see at least one bell pepper this season, but my chances on that front seem to be getting smaller and smaller. For the most part, I am just stoked to still see a bunch of huge bright green plants when I roll up to take care of things and do damage control.

Oh, and happy 4th of July weekend!

R.I.P. Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Soybeans. C'mon Watermelon!

The zucchini and squash were mercilessly eaten alive by a grub, future moth, that had the audacity to lay eggs and get comfortable inside the trunk of the plant and then start eating it from the inside. The grubs are called Squash Borers. I had a bad dream about these jerks but I assumed they attacked the squash veggie it's self, not the trunk. One day, the zucchini plant is chugging along producing these huge zucchinis like a champ, the next day all the leaves are drooping as if someone scolded it for showing off. 

Six hours later, I am trying to apply some diatomaceous earth (this stuff has become my new best friend) and the plant just topples over, severed at the trunk. I found these chumps inside...

A Squash Vine Borer

Look what they did!

Turns out these grubs are pretty hard to prevent and once you have them, from what I can gather, it is really just a matter of postponing death by infestation. Because the stems of the plant are hollow, the bugs bore into them and then camp out inside. They lay eggs at the foot of the plant and then the eggs hatch and make their way into the plant too. Theoretically you could poke around or actually cut into the plant with out killing it and just remove all the bugs surgically, but it is likely that you would only find a fraction of them since the plant is so huge and branchy. Also, you risk infesting the other plants if you keep the afflicted ones around for too long. That is what happened here. One plant started showing that it was struggling, then the one next to it was on the verge. I ripped out two zucchini and a squash plant all in the same day. Then the next day the other squash was falling over. There was ultimately one zucchini plant left standing, and despite the powder I caked at the bottom and me dripping diatomaceous earth water mixture actually down into the tubes of the plant, they got to it anyway.

Apparently, to really ward them off you need to treat the soil before the plant gets too far along. If I had put some diatomaceous earth mixed in the with top soil first, making the environment down on the ground inhospitable to these crawling bugs and the eggs, it's possible it could have been prevented. The diatomaceous earth is a powder that scrapes up crawling bugs and dries out/makes eggs and exoskeletons brittle (pretty brutal huh?). The good thing is that we got at least two rounds of vegetables from the plants before they went kaput. That's more than I can say for the soybeans. Those fellas never really became edible. I don't know what happened, it was maybe too hot or I let the beans stay on the plant too long. I tend to do that. The soybeans were just losing leaves and getting gradually more yellow. I removed them this weekend to make room for the other plants, and just to stop bringing down the garden. There is something about dead plants that can really kill the spirit of a place (one reason winter really wears on me). 

The woman at the plant store where I brought a zucchini branch to get diagnosed (thank you The Great Outdoors, it's always a pleasure) said that butternut squash is a good alternative in the squash family because it doesn't have a hollow stem. I am a little worried about the melons and cucumbers but I read somewhere that they are less likely to get attacked. I realize now I just assumed this is because their vine tubes are smaller but I am actually not sure at all. It would be pretty cramped I imagine, for big dummies like the ones that invaded my garden. I still went ahead and scattered some diatomaceous earth where the dead plants were and in the soil around the melons. Hopefully the melons will survive. I have been sort of rooting for the watermelon because it still just seems crazy to me that people can grow something that delicious and huge at home.

I was reminded that it is almost always a good time to plant something. Again, I keep forgetting gardening is a constant cycle. I could start planting things for the fall in the current empty spots. We'll see. I am kind of excited about giving the melon plants more room to grow since they were sandwiched between the huge squash and zucchini before. They were already reaching pretty far out into the other plant's territories as it was.

The okra is just loving the heat. Also, I discovered that okra produces a beautiful flower. That was a pleasant surprise. I was moping around the garden, trying to psych myself up to take out the soybeans when I spotted this...

It definitely sprinkled some magic into what was looking to be a pretty grim day.

I have been forgetting to take pictures regularly so here is a run down on progress for most of the plants. I have three Jalapenos. The bell peppers are still taking their time but the plants look full and green, so there's some hope. At least now one of them isn't totally taken over by the zucchini. The bush beans are steadily producing even though something keeps eating the leaves on the perimeter. I have used soapy water spray and diatomaceous earth spray (just a little diatomaceous earth mixed with a lot of water) and it still won't cease. It is hard to tell if I am even slowing down what ever it is that is eating them. The chard is also keeping on, though I still feel like I need to get the hang of when to trim the leaves and figuring out which ones are the best to pick. Also, the cucumber started subsuming one of the chard plants. We moved the trellis I had for the soybeans so the cucumbers could use it. The cucumbers immediately took to it, climbing up. And last but not least the watermelons are looking more and more like real watermelons! They are the miniature kind so I am hoping to pick them soon. I am itching for another big harvest. We got spoiled with the initial squash and zucchini ones.

One tomato turned red and we ate it immediately. It was superb. The other tomato plant has yet to produce anything. We are thinking it is probably a container/root space issue. Not enough root space for the type of tomato plant. Ugh always so much learning. No I'm just kidding, I love it.

Till next time friends.

I Can't Stop This

The plants are going crazy, just blowing up. We had some serious rain the past couple weeks and the plants responded really well. I swear, I checked one day and there were just a few flowers, the next day all the flowers had baby vegetables growing underneath. This weekend we left some of the vegetables on the plant for an extra couple days and they literally doubled in size in that small amount of time.

When things first started popping up a part of me was convinced that it was some freak occurrence. Every time we picked something I would have a moment of panic thinking it might be the only fruition from the plant we see for the season. That fear has been put to rest pretty quickly. The only thing I am still sort of unsure about are the tomato plants. One has zero fruit showing up, the other three have only one or two tomatoes and it has been that way for several weeks, just one or two tomatoes. We'll see what happens.

I was pretty shocked by this recent surge in progress. I had been doing things to maintain the plants and keep pests at bay but I don't think this latest growth spurt can really be attributed to any of that. At least not much. This was bigger, cycle of life, nature's inner workings type stuff. Dare I say, beyond my control? I think the key players in this crazy turn were the steady, sometimes torrential rain that showed up with uncanny timing, and the man power we put in at the beginning to make the garden bed just right. Before planting we were meticulous (thanks dad) when it came to digging out all the previous dirt and making the bed deep enough, we laid down a weed barrier, and used some super quality dirt and compost. I also watered twice a day pretty consistently. Then the rain showed up at these really strategic points. It seemed like we had a good rain at every stage- when the seeds were just put in the ground, when they had grown to little seedlings, and the ones recently when the plants were established but had not yet bloomed.

While I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for things to appear I kept reading that the best defense for a garden is good soil, but then I would promptly shrug this off. Boring, moving on. I wanted something more to do now. As my worry mounted leading up to this crazy harvest period I became convinced that there was either some way to drastically mess up the garden in the mean time or that there was some thing I could do to alter what I was certain was an already shaky trajectory considering that I was the one in charge. I see now, having witnessed the burst in production, that once I put the seeds in the ground, other than watering, there was actually only so much I could do to make a difference. I could mitigate some problems but in fact, the majority of the leg work falls on the plants. So it's true, their not all quacks. A critical factor is the soil. It helps to create the most friendly, welcoming environment/atmosphere possible for the seeds to take off in and get a strong start. Gardening after a certain point seems like just watching and eventually playing damage control. Who knows, maybe in a week I will have a completely different take on this. This is Texas and it is heating up outside.

Speaking of damage control, my soy beans have turned yellow and a couple of my chard plants didn't really sprout... I may have over picked them thinking they were weeds early on. Also, the zucchini totally subsumed one of the bell pepper plants. So gardening has not been with its perils lately. Also, I had some bad dreams about bugs eating my squash after someone told me this is a common problem in Austin. I dreamt that I forgot to check on the garden and then when I went by and poked them they turned into mush. I have had stress dreams about the garden before. The one prior involved me accidentally getting days wrong and somehow missing a whole week of watering. Everything was decimated. These dreams have actually proven to pretty helpful for kicking me into gear. I wake up so relieved to find they are not true I hustle to fix the pressing issues.

The first time we picked vegetables, after the initial excitement, I was feeling kind of overwhelmed. I think the breadth of the project was finally sinking in. The sudden progress and realizing we were only half way through the season had me a little worried that I had maybe bit off more than I could chew. I was thrilled at first as we called out all the new vegetables we found, but eventually I started to get freaked out. "OK, that's enough, I am good for now" I wanted to say. In the car after visiting the garden I was trying to put my thoughts into words and it just wasn't happening, then Andrew helped me out with "there is not a pause button." Exactly. You can't come back to it later and pick up where you left off, it just keeps going. Also, if a plant isn't doing well, it doesn't just immediately keel over and disappear like in a video game. Or beep to tell you are on your last life. Improvement is gradual, and progress, good or bad, is constant. The garden is going to keep going whether I show up or not and the reality is that the plants have reached a point where they have some momentum. I would have to drastically change some thing to get them to just stop producing altogether. This has been hard for me to grasp. I am always looking for imperfections which I think has helped me be vigilant about a some things, but a critical eye can be exhausting. Case in point, it happened again where I had been looking at the beans for a week getting discouraged that nothing was showing up then Andrew came by and immediately pointed out a whole bunch that had probably been there for days. It would have been so nice for my piece of mind, to have noticed those beans earlier. I am starting to realize that there is not an expiration date on my worry for this project. Unless I can figure out a way to to bring a second set of eyes with me every where I go, I need to start focusing on the observation part. Sometimes I skip that step and miss out on some really nice moments for mini celebration, and I don't really give myself or the plants the credit they deserve for surviving and thriving so well. I mean it is a rough and tumble world, and they have made it this far. That is no small feat.

The cooking and eating of the vegetables has been an excellent remedy for the onset of garden fatigue. Cooking dinner with produce you helped bring into being is amazing. It is probably a placebo thing but after eating something we just picked from the garden, I feel more energetic, like absorbing one of the blinking stars in Mario that makes you invincible and super alert and fast for a few seconds. Again, probably all in my head but I will go with it!

Anyways, with out further ado here are pictures...

Bush Bean

Edamame

Baby watermelon

Squash

Chard

Tomatoes

Monster Zucchini Plant 

Tomato

You can see squash and blurry Jalepeno,
but in the center there is basil

Jalepeno

The weekend bounty

Washing that Chard

Dinner!

I Will Attempt to Sell You on Bokashi

In my first post I mentioned this indoor composting method I have been trying. I am pretty into it. I discovered it about a year ago we when were going through a phase of trying to eat at home more.  I was getting frustrated with how much food we were throwing away. The main clue was my smelly trashcan, but I also didn't like the idea that I was buying things that I only used a bit of before chucking the rest in the trash.

Every time I cooked or had something to eat there was some part of something that went in the trashcan- an orange peel, egg shell, the white stuff inside a bell pepper, the tops of strawberries, parts of garlic, the onions I always pick around. Or we weren't eating left overs fast enough. Towards the end of the week I would open my fridge and a litany of whines and conflicting feelings would just bubble up - throw it all away! I don't want to eat spaghetti again! I am broke! I don't want to take out the trash! 

Needless to say, I started browsing ways to deal with food scraps if you don't have a yard. The Bokashi bin stood out for three main reasons: the gross factor is pretty limited, it is easy, and you can put anything in it, including oil, meat, and dairy. In my household we have slight germaphobic tendencies and regular bouts of laziness. A terrible combination one would think, for composting indoors. Not for Bokashi, this method suits people with both those inclinations.

Before We Begin...

I am posting DIY Bokashi bucket instructions but you can buy manufactured bins.
 They look nicer and have a spigot. Probably the main reason it took me a year to get started was the start up cost if you go this route. Most manufactured or pre-made buckets are about 40 dollars, with an added ten for the Bran mixture, and I kept reading that it is ideal to have two buckets (it is). Eventually I buckled down and chose a couple sites with clear directions for making them yourself. It is less expensive, it literally took about 10 minutes per bucket once I had the supplies, and they definitely do the job. I'll admit the pre-made ones maybe worth it to avoid the hassle of shopping and for visual appeal, but I found these features mattered less or seemed less significant with time. Do what you gotta do to get started, if for you that is ordering it on the net, by all means - give it a go.

For those that don't have access to a yard don't get discouraged by the last step in the Bokashi process.
The last step in the Bokashi process calls for burying the Bokashi scraps in dirt or a compost pile. This seemingly requires a yard or compost bin but people have figured out ways around this. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you don't stop there. I have links to solutions further down.

Austin gives rebates to people that compost and offers composting classes.

I live in an apartment so it was hard for me to figure out how to get the rebate and ultimately focusing on this as a first step was preventing me from starting. If you can get one though, I'd recommend it, even if just to let Austin know that you support cool initiatives like this.

http://www.austintexas.gov/composting

Bokashi Part 1:

My Attempt to Explain Bokashi,

Links to Instructions for the DIY Bucket,

and Troubleshooting

This composting method works via an anaerobic process (I am sort of flying by the seat of my pants here, so bear with me) so as opposed to most compost methods it does not require contact with the air to get the decomposition process started. You keep the waste in an air tight bucket and cover your food scraps with a bran mixture that is mixed with micro organisms that work to ferment or sort of pickle your waste. As your bin is filling up, a liquid will gather in the reservoir below (you'll understand if you see the instructions). This liquid can be emptied about once a week, depending on how much you accumulate, and you can dilute it with water and use it on your plants. The microbes in the leachate are great for plants. People call it Bokashi Tea.

Once your Bokashi container is full (there are basically layers of food and then bran mix) you close it up and put it away for a few days. You don't want it to get super hot or super cold so if you are in a land of extreme temperatures, like summer Texas, maybe just sealing it up and putting in a closet is best. Remember, it doesn't smell or anything so no worries about stuff leeching out and permeating your things.

After anywhere between a few days to two weeks, take your Bokashi scrap mix and either bury it in the ground or in a compost pile.  If you bury it in the ground, you want it to be about a shovel head deep and wide enough to sort of spread the Bokashi scraps so that they all make contact with the dirt. Before you bury it completely again, also put a scoop of dirt on top that you mix in with the scraps, then bury it completely. If you put it in a compost pile burry it a little, don't just throw it on top. Or you can put it in one of those ones that spin.

After a couple of weeks you will have excellent compost dirt that you can mix in with your garden. Or if you are not a gardener just let it sit buried and bask in the reality that your trash is mostly paper now and you kept this stuff from sliming up a landfill.

The site below goes into more detail about the Bokashi bran mixture:

http://www.compostguy.com/anaerobic-digestion/bokashi-basics/

And this is a great FAQ page for Bokashi. Lots of excellent troubleshooting tips.

http://www.sunburstunlimited-org.doodlekit.com/home/faq_about_bokashi_composting

Here are the links I used to build the bucket myself: 

1. http://www.timetorecycle.com/compost/bokashi.asp

2. http://www.everyday-simple-living.com/bokashi.html

One of my buckets

My Suggestions/Troubleshooting:

1. Start with two buckets.
You skirt the possibility of running across a situation where you stop for a while and lose steam.

2. The screen is optional.
The second site I listed calls for a screen. I went ahead for the screen but I don't think it is necessary. It just ensures that scraps won't fall through the holes and start rotting and smelling in the reservoir below. If the holes are small enough though, this shouldn't be an issue. The problem with a screen is you have to buy a whole roll even though you only need a small portion, and it costs about 10-12 dollars. I was able to use the remaining part on constructing things in my garden (a critter barrier for my tomatoes). You could do this cool DIY project too: http://www.restoredstyle.com/diy-earring-display-frame/. Basically it is more precautionary than anything, so don't let this cost point hold you back.

3. I use a screw top lid for the bucket (as suggested at the bottom of the page in the first link posted above).
It is more expensive, seven dollars, but it is easier to open - another laziness and burn out prevention tactic, and it keeps air from getting in.

4. If you don't have a drill, they will make the holes for you at Home Depot.

5. You need a barrier between your food and the empty space above it in the bucket.
They make this seem optional on some sites but it really isn't. Mold kept forming on the side of my bucket where there was condensation. I read that some white mold is ok, and it wasn't forming on the food, but I didn't want to risk it. This barrier, be it something more solid like a pot lid or simple like a paper plate, really keeps it at bay. I have been using a cut out piece of cardboard.

6. It is ok if there is not a lot of liquid forming at the bottom.

You're still doing it right.

7. The leachate is smelly.
I was worried when I went to pour out the accumulated water and there was smelliness but that is normal.  It is the only smelly part of the process. 

8. Keep a bowl in the kitchen to accumulate scraps before opening the bucket.

I have a bowl sitting on my counter where I put scraps while cooking, so I can put them all in the bucket at once after the meal. This reduces the amount of times the Bokashi scraps in the bucket are exposed to air and it's just a hassle having to open and close it all the time. It also helps to give you a chance to consider using parts of the scraps in your garden- like egg shells or coffee grounds.

9. You might want something to press down the scraps as they add up.
We use a plunger.

Bokashi Part 2:

No Yard No Problem

The last part of the Bokashi process was the real stickler for me. The whole thing is touted as this urban-living-friendly alternative until it asks for a big hole in the ground or a compost pile. Kind of defeats the purpose one would think. I did some research and found some ways around this.

1. Burying Bokashi in a bin.

http://eachoneteachonefarms.com/2012/08/12/new-video-burying-your-bokashi-bucket-indoors/

and

Suggestions for Bokashi in an Apartment or Condo.

http://eachoneteachonefarms.com/2011/09/29/bokashi-composting-in-an-apartment-condo/

The links above are to the same website that also has video instructions, which is great if you want some reinforcement that you are on the right track. I found it through the first link, and the second page listed has some excellent ideas.

2. Drop off locations in Austin.

You should call some of these ahead of time to see if they take Bokashi, since they may have restrictions about meat or dairy.

http://compostcoalition.com/map-drop-locations/

It does takes some extra work if you don't have a yard but I figure the pros of the extremely easy, brainless, gross-less process, out weigh my anxiety over having to leave the house and reach out to others. The burden you place on others is actually pretty minor and most people are interested and excited to learn more about this cool new thing.

Part 3:

Reflections

As a result of this whole venture we take our trash out less often, it consists of mostly dry stuff like paper and packaging from things, the Bokashi tea (the liquid that accumulates at the bottom diluted with water) is great for our house plants and the garden, I am more aware of my ecological footprint, and I feel like I have a better understanding of how some basic natural processes work now that I am a part of ushering them along. So it is kind of a home run.

After having done this process through, and researching and finding even more cool ideas and ways to execute it, I am just kind of pumped and struggling to find a good reason not to try it. I think the hurdle to composting is the idea that you have to have be into gardening to get anything out of it. Not only does it make parts of your daily life easier, but in a fundamental way if you eat food or enjoy greenery in the world you sort of depend on something using compost or quality dirt at some point. So it isn't that foreign or irrelevant to your life. Whether you do anything with it or just leave it buried in your yard, it is still much more useful than it would be sitting in a dump. 

Sometimes in our house when we can't fall asleep at night we put on educational shows or weird science shows to lull us to sleep. Lately the show of choice has been "Dirty Jobs." The host, Mike Rowe, travels the US to take part in the dirtiest jobs he can find. The other night, I could not keep my eyes closed during this one episode where Mike visits the San Francisco dump. It was pretty gross and I noticed when looking at the trash, how much of the grossness was due to food scraps. After doing Bokashi for a while, it was a relief to think that the extent of the grossness, the vastness, and the waste is not necessarily inevitable, though it is easy to think so. Bokashi is a way to reduce your contribution to this mess and to give your food a second life.