Skaza Essential Bokashi Composter

The Bokashi Essential kit includes everything you need to get started:

• 2 buckets, 4 gallons (15.3 liters) each, with an airtight lid, built-in spigot, and drainage strainer;
• 1 base with a drawer for collecting the bokashi juice;
• 1 compactor and 1 measuring scoop;
• 2.2 lb (1 kg) of our Bokashi activator, made right here on the farm;
• 1 user guide.

The buckets are made from recycled plastic packaging.

In each of the Bokashi Essential's two 4-gallon (15.3-liter) buckets, you can add your cooked or raw scraps: fruits and vegetables, prepared dishes, bread, dairy products, meat, fish and fish bones, and coffee grounds. Used tissues and paper towels are fine, and so are small bones, like chicken bones, but not large bones.

Never add liquids, ashes, sand, excrement, wood or wood shavings, plastic, glass, or metal. With its large capacity, the Bokashi Essential easily handles a whole family's food scraps.

The Bokashi Essential kit is complete and includes 2.2 lb (1 kg) of activator. When you need more, consider:

• our Bokashi Activator in a pack of 2 or 3 bags, or our kit for making your own activator (8.8 or 17.6 lb, or 4 or 8 kg), which is handy if you have two large buckets;
• the 20 ml measuring spoon, to use the same amount every time you add food scraps;
• a kitchen compost pail (Urbalive 3.7L, Urbalive 6L, Kaylis 7L, or Maze 9L) for the day's scraps;
• our pH Test, if you feed the contents to worms;
• the Bokashi Essential sieve, sold separately.

Every addition follows the same routine: a layer of food scraps no more than 0.8 in (2 cm) thick, an even sprinkling of Bokashi activator, then a firm press with the compactor from the Bokashi Essential kit. Add your scraps as you go instead of saving them up on the side.

Dose per addition: 1.4 fl oz (40 ml). Put the Bokashi Essential's airtight lid back on right away: the less air gets in, the better the fermentation.

Each Bokashi Essential bucket has its own built-in spigot and a strainer that keeps the scraps from sitting in the liquid. The bucket rests on its base, and the base's collection drawer catches the juice with no fuss. Empty it regularly.

Never use it undiluted: mix about 1% juice into your watering water, or 3.4 fl oz (100 ml) per 2.6 gallons (10 liters), and apply it once a month, since it's very concentrated. One of our customers uses it this way in her garden.

Once the Bokashi Essential bucket is full, let it rest with the lid closed for about 2 weeks while the other bucket takes over; remember to drain the liquid through the spigot. When they come out of the Bokashi Essential, the scraps have fermented but still look much the same: they finish breaking down into humus once they're in contact with the soil.

• Bury them in a hole in your garden, under a layer of soil;
• mix them into the contents of your outdoor compost bin;
• or add them, in small amounts, to a worm composter or a WORMacotta.

Yes, as long as you stay reasonable with the quantities, since the fermented contents of the Bokashi Essential are acidic. Do a pH test first: aim for a pH close to 7, and adjust if needed with blended eggshells or RegulaWorm.

With the Bokashi Essential's two 4-gallon (15.3-liter) buckets, you'll collect a large volume: give only part of it to your worms, along with some cardboard, and save the rest for your garden or compost bin.

All our tips: What can you feed the earthworms in your worm composter?