OUR OWN VERSION OF MAKING EM - PART TWO

EM is basically a mixture of microscopic organisms, described as effective for improving the health of the soil and the plants. This happens by breaking down organic matter and integrating them into the soil.  These organisms primarily contain yeast, pro-biotic photosynthetic and lactic acid bacteria.  

We started our own production of EM since buying them is quite expensive.  We made it at a very minimal cost.  The Part 1 of this series showed our process up to the 30th day.  We will show you the progress from 30th to the 45th ending stage, the final EM.  This output will eventually be used for the production of our own Bokashi Bran. 

Movie 0004 from ryex76 on Vimeo.

OUR OWN VERSION OF MAKING EM - PART ONE

Bokashi was discovered unintentionally by Professor Teruo Higa in Okinawa in the early 1980s. The use of Bokashi has not spread virtually in the Philippines, especially in our own city.   Still on the smallest scale and almost a secret, never really saw a Bokashi bran other than on pictures.  No EM, no Bokashi, and no commercially made Bokashi buckets.   This has moved me and my brother to start our own Bokashi project, with my brother leading me forward.  He works for the DA and knows someone who's using this process of composting.  And the internet could provide more information.

Now we are engaged to make our own EM (Effective Microrganisms). We have to make EM so we could make our own Bokashi bran. We tried to look for the (EM) commercial brands on agricultural shops here in our city but found nothing. I found one online that's sold for a thousand pesos per liter.  A Bokashi enthusiast says these prices are ridiculous and he goes on saying that you might as well make your own.  He readily showed his own process describing it as his secret. But we researched more online to find the best way to make our own. We found an obscure article from Penang, decided that their process is doable. We decided to it that way.  And so this was how it progressed.  As for this writing, we are on our thirty-first (31st) day.  I'd be showing you the things we used and the process.  

The Thing We Used:

Bananas

Papayas

Eggs

Squash

Fruit Peels

Molasses (or Brown Sugar)

Water (Unchlorinated)

Bucket (Air-Tight)

There's not much to it.  We just chopped the mixture and put them all inside bucket along with non-chlorinated tap water and molasses.  We'll leave it inside an air-tight bucket or container to ferment for days.  Opening the container on the 10th, 20th, and the 30th day to stir, smell and check for fungus.  And on the 30th day, we'll open and stir the mixture daily until it's ready for the 45th day.  This is called the Fermentation process for EM.  Again, it is not an exact science. 

The Process in Photos:

Day 1

Prepare and Chop Ingredients

Stir Chopped Ingredients

Add Molasses

Stir Mixture

Add Water and Stir

Close Air-Tightly

Store in a Safe Place

Day 10

Fungi Start Up

Stir Up

Day 20

Fungi Build Up

Stir Up

Day 30

More Fungi Build Up

Stir Up

Never really sure how this would work out, but we're keeping our hopes up.  As they say, Natural Farming isn't really an exact science. From here, this EM process could be passed on from neighbor to neighbor as we speak.  Effective Microorganisms is a special brew of naturally-occuring microorganisms that do many different things. These microbes are mostly versatile and multifunctional. EM is used in many applications ranging from agriculture to environmental restoration to healthcare and animal food — hopefully for this purpose, we'll use it for Bokashi. A Bokashi bin in the kitchen for compost and a vegetable patch out the back door. We’ll see in time as the project progresses until the 45th Day.

WHAT IS BOKASHI?

(ぼかし) is Japanese for "shading off" or "gradation." On this case we refer to this new simple way of composting by organic farming. A compost is organic matter that has been decomposed, fermented and recycled as a fertilizer or soil additive.

BOKASHI: INTRODUCTION

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