You really gotta hand it to the Japanese.

[conuly]

Whatever it is, they'll find a way to make it better.

I present... really, really intense Japanese compost, everybody.

I thought "turning it every once in a while" was just the greatest innovation in the compost since bins, and now the Japanese are there, as always, turning my worldview on its head.

Bokashi. It's the garbage reclaiming wave of the future!

On that note, once you're done making stock, is there anything, anything at *all*, that you can do with bones other than make scrimshaw?

Comments

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Give them to the dogs. Chip them and sprinkle over areas where moss is not desired. Place them in vinegar and then compost.

[conuly]

1. Don't have dogs
2. Like moss
3. Vinegar? Really? Why is that?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Bones are rich in calcium, an alkaline earth metal. Vinegar on the other hand is an acid, and it ionises the calcium out of the bone (or in a more day-to-day fashion, dissolves it), leaving the bone soft and more easily decomposed. You could then even use the vinegar in food to make it more rich in calcium, if you fancy that. Also, adding a bit of vinegar to food can make uptake of calcium present in the food more easy.

[conuly]

So it's doubly good, then?

I have decomposing bones, and I also have calcium-enhanced vinegar.

Ultimately, though, that'll mess with the pH of my compost, so I need to even that out with a base of some sort though, right?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

I am not that good at chemistry, but a calcium ion (Ca²⁺) is positively charged, or alkaline. I would bring that question to someone that is well versed in chemistry.

Although if you rinse off your decalcified bones before adding them to your compost, you should be rinsing off most of the vinegar, and you would already have removed a great deal of the alkaline calcium.

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Give them to the dogs. Chip them and sprinkle over areas where moss is not desired. Place them in vinegar and then compost.

[conuly]

1. Don't have dogs
2. Like moss
3. Vinegar? Really? Why is that?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

Bones are rich in calcium, an alkaline earth metal. Vinegar on the other hand is an acid, and it ionises the calcium out of the bone (or in a more day-to-day fashion, dissolves it), leaving the bone soft and more easily decomposed. You could then even use the vinegar in food to make it more rich in calcium, if you fancy that. Also, adding a bit of vinegar to food can make uptake of calcium present in the food more easy.

[conuly]

So it's doubly good, then?

I have decomposing bones, and I also have calcium-enhanced vinegar.

Ultimately, though, that'll mess with the pH of my compost, so I need to even that out with a base of some sort though, right?

[velvetchamber.livejournal.com]

I am not that good at chemistry, but a calcium ion (Ca²⁺) is positively charged, or alkaline. I would bring that question to someone that is well versed in chemistry.

Although if you rinse off your decalcified bones before adding them to your compost, you should be rinsing off most of the vinegar, and you would already have removed a great deal of the alkaline calcium.