Lets talk about food scraps! One of my favourite topics. Because I'm a bit weird like that. If you are keen to start composting your foods scraps, how should you do it? I use both a worm farm and a bokashi bin for my food scraps. You see, the worms can be a little fussy (they're just like having kids really) and you don't want to over feed them or the food will start rotting before they can eat it. Whatever I can't give to my worms goes in the bokashi bin where you can put pretty much all food scraps!
"What on earth is a bokashi bin?" you say... well I'm glad you asked. It is pretty much a bin you put your food scraps into and kind of pickle them. It is super easy, you just add all your food scraps for the day and sprinkle some special sawdust stuff on top. That is it! So easy. Well my husband would argue the very last step is not easy, but I don't really have to deal with that part so I don't mind! He hates digging holes.
Once the bokashi bin is full, you leave it for a couple weeks to become super pickled and then you dig a hole in the garden and tip your pickled scraps right in. Very good for plants apparently. Makes them shoot up like a rocket. So if you are looking for an easy option and you have a loving husband (or equivalent) to dig a hole for you, the bokashi bin could be for you!
The worm farm is also reasonably simple, but you can only put certain food scraps in (mainly fruit and vege) and you have to make sure you don't put too many scraps in there or over heat your worm farm. You just chop up your scraps, spread them over the worm farm, put the lid back on, and let them worms have their feast. They love all fruit and veggies except citrus, onions and garlic. They also like egg shells, coffee grinds, tea bags, paper, cardboard, leaves, hair and dust. The liquid that drains out of the worm farm turns into "worm tea" which is great fertiliser for your garden.
So which would you choose? Or do you want to work your way up to having both like I do? I like the bokashi bin because I leave it in my kitchen so it is super easy to add my scraps to. And I can add everything to it! But, you do have to have some lawn or a garden for a loving person to dig a hole every few months or so. And I like the worm farm because its fun watching all the worms slithering round and multiplying. And there are no holes to dig. The down side of the worm farm is that sometimes you get it wrong and have to start again.
Happy composting!
Maria