@CosmoNut
Chris trump on YouTube for LAB
: )
Here is how to compliment using lab with using miners first ( jms )
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specifically, there’s a Korean natural farming (KNF) recipe that people just call “LABs”. The jist is they collect wild yeasts and lactic acid bacterias using an open container of rice milk (the water left over from washing your rice) that they leave out for a few days until it smells fermented, and then use that like a sour dough starter to curdle real milk.
Then they take the resulting whey and either use it directly at maybe 1tsp per gal, or super saturate it with brown sugar to extend its shelf life. The curds can be made into cheese or buried in your composter 
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I just started my first culture a few days ago. Already have the three separate zones so I should be good for the milk fermentation.
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First pour tap water into bowl and let sit for 24 hours so chlorine evaporated
Then get another bowl and half fill with white rice
Add declorinated tap water to rice
Swirl with hand
Decant rice water
Get two jars
Pour in rice water
One 10%
One 33.3%
( to see what works best for you )
Place kitchen roll lid on jars with elastic band to hold in place
Place two jars in dark place at room temp
Check smell daily
When smell is bad nearly fishy 7-9+ days ( depends on room temp )
Add milk to jars leaving one third air gap at top
Place kitchen roll lids back on
Put jars back in dark place room temp
After 7-9 days ( depending on room temp ) liquid separates
Bottom clear yellow , top curds
Decant bottom liquid ( labs ) and dilute to strength you need with DECLORINATED water
What ever concentrated lab is left put in fridge
Lots of other uses for lab to
: )
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I used regular tap water in my culture. This won’t be a problem will it? I have the three separate zones and it smells a bit sour so I would think it has been inoculated? Still very new to labs/knf.
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After 24 hours your rice water mix will have evaporated chlorine anyway probably : )
When diluting lab concentrate you must NOT use water with chlorine in it or you will kill it all
A great website : )
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I have a carbon block filter on my water main for chlorine and chloramine so I should be ok.
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I’ve never had issues with tap water myself, but I’m curious how much of a difference it really makes
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It makes a huge difference, water from the grid is treated with chlorine precisely to kill all bacteria and make it safe to drink.
If you have a strong colony of lab you might not kill it entirely with the tap water, but surely you’re weakening it. Now, that’s not going to cause any problems in your garden, it just adds very little value to it and renders all the work you had feeding and growing your bacteria a bit pointless.
All you need is an extra step: take your water from the tap the day before you intend to use it, give it a stir and leave it uncovered overnight.
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There’s a few ways you can go about making compost. I highly recommending reading this book first.
A thermo compost system works great but only if you have all the material ready to go. The main reason you want it to “cook” it is to kill off any pathogens and bad bacteria.
Another common style is an “add as you go” pile. This is when you keep adding stuff, normally things like fruit and veg scraps. Coffee grinds are great too. This style of composting is most common for the average household without a lot space. This pile won’t heat up like the thermo pile but as long as you don’t add any risky stuff that shouldn’t be an issue. I never add manure that hasn’t already aged and started to compost for risk of E. coli. No meat or dairy and no cooked foods. You’ll need to keep your carbon based(brown stuff) material on hand so every time you add your kitchen scraps(nitrogen rich green stuff) you cover them with some brown material. You stop adding once the pile is around 4ft tall or the bin is 3/4 full, allowing room to turn the pile.
As it was mentioned above turning(aeration) and correct moisture(water) levels are key to any quality compost. Proper practice of this will entail your pile or bin will stay aerobic not anaerobic(normally caused by over watering). I also like to add rock dust, lime, wood ash, weed scraps etc to the pile during it’s process.
Like @ifish mentioned above LABs are a great way to speed up the process while adding beneficial bacteria. This will also control any smells coming off the food scraps but as long as your brown material is always the final layer smells are non existent in my experience. Another good reason not to use cooked food.
If you want to compost “everything”(including meat and dairy) a bokashi bucket is the way to go. I have an easy to make bokashi recipe, if you need it I’ll add it bellow.
@Faithisyours not trying to call you out mate but these numbers are incorrect. A compost pile is majority carbon based material 70/80%(brown stuff) and 20/30% nitrogen based material(green stuff)
When my compost is finished it goes in to my worm bin for another 6 months then I harvest it.
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No worries thats only my way how i approach to composting 
will try your way also
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Hey mate, I wasn’t trying to push my “compost rules” it’s just what I’ve learnt through books and videos. The ratio is important for what I believe to be to control gas exchange and the nitrogen material becoming too active and in turn getting smelly and pretty rank. That’s why the layered “lasagne method” is most commonly used, always finishing with a brown layer. This also keeps away pests and maggots.
This is copy and pasted off google: note they use even less nitrogen rich material than I suggested.
around 30:1
To provide optimal amounts of these two crucial elements, you can use the carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio for each of your compost ingredients. The ideal C/N ratio for composting is generally considered to be around 30:1, or 30 parts carbon for each part nitrogen by weight.
But if your method works and it’s not broken then no need to fix it. If you live in an area with little to no humidity and a lot of sun I can see your ratios working. The environment plays a big part, here in the tropics I hardly have to moisten my pile due to high humidity levels.
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The pile will stop getting hot , to when it finishes cooking you can use it as and how long that takes all depends on what you put in it and how often you have to turn it I know it sounds complicated but it’s kinda simple go to pile stick hand towards center of pile if it’s hot , it turn it, check it often cuz how you handle that part of it makes the difference between good compost and great compost:) good luck it’s one of those things that just takes practice
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Lactobacillus facultative anaerobe, probiotic, the most beneficial bacteria on the planet in your research you will realize that the biome of the root system of the plant has or is very similar to what is in our own gut biome or supposed to most ppls are all messed up/missing a great deal of due to the use of antibiotics the gutbiome it the path to true health
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Ok so my pile got hot for a few days then cooled off. I added more shredded cardboard and more plant matter.
So my question is if you keep a ongoing indoor compost pile how do you keep the ratios of nitrogen and carbon correct. Now that I am adding to the pile I am not getting the heat like I did in the first round. I am guessing ratio s off.
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Add greens till it heats back up you can also add sugar pee water as a kick start
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Think of it as your feeding microbes not making compost maybe that will help you on your journey
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I think My bin is getting there, already filled 3 times and volume descreased to less than half the bin.
Soon I will need to place more weeds I’m going taking out of garden so… going well.
Just made the mistake of placing some twigs on the bottom and now they are getting every where so I need to remove them by hand every now and then.
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Every week, for many years now, in an old Vita Mix, I inherited, I add 3 cups of water in the hopper. Just yesterday!
I then add stuff we collect under the sink, in a dedicated bucket, all our vegetable peeling, egg shells, anything that over ripens, or items we just do not like, into the collecting bucket.
I call the slurry dinosaur vomit.
We usually produce about 2-4 gallons of the DV, per week to 10 days of collections.
I then take that back to the compost area, where I used some garden wire to make a bin, about 4’ x 4’ x 4’ all my grass cuttings, weeds, ornamental clippings, the DV, I even save some thin branches when I cut to many, for layering later on.
I have a bag for my mower, to collet all I can of our leaves that will also go in the bin.
Every time we finish a milk carton, or rinse out cans of food, it all gets saved and poured back into the bin. Water that cooked pasta, is full of stuff.
I do not add any cooking oils, or bone, as it just seems draws rodents.
I got a subscription to Mother Earth News, like the late 70’s early 80’s or so, it set my mind on fire, how much goodies we throw away.
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