Bokashi translates loosely as "fermented organic matter". Bokashi is the method of fermentation that the Compost Queens use before we hot compost at our partner farms. Through Bokashi, you can compost ALL solid food waste including meat, dairy, & seafood. Bokashi is an ANAEROBIC process, meaning it is done in closed, air-tight containers. Like almost all fermentations, you will need a ferment starter to Bokashi compost. This is why our composting kits include our Bokashi Flakes. You can start the fermentation by sprinkling Bokashi Flakes in with your food scraps in a closed container. This will help with pests and odors & help break down the food even faster! Bokashi is also great because it act as a probiotic for your compost pile, and eventually for your soil!

We love making composting easy for our customers. Bokashi Composting allows our customers to collect their food scraps without any issues with pests, smells, or added effort. It also allows our customers to include meat and dairy in their collection. Bokashi Composting is a great way to increase soil microbiology and organic matter.

Bokashi Flakes serve as the ferment "starter" to our Bokashi process. We upcycle coffee chaff (the shell of the coffee bean) that we get from local roasters. We then ferment the coffee chaff with our craft EM (Effective Microbe) mixture and Molasses. Once dried, Bokashi Flakes can last for up to 1 year.

YES Fruit and vegetable scraps Coffee + coffee fliters Citrus Rinds Egg Shells Grains and grain products Meat (and Bones) Seafood Dairy (solid) Paper towels and napkins Dryer Lint (natural fibers only) Paper and cardboard (small pieces, without slick or shiny coating) NO Liquids Cheese Wax Grease/ Oil (small amounts in food is fine) Fruit Stickers Butter papers Rubber bands Compostable plastic packaging products Kleenex or other items prone to carry COVID-19 germs Compostable diapers (( When utilizing our curbside services) Pet waste ( When utilizing our curbside services)

Sprinkle a small handful (about 1 tbsp) of Bokashi Flakes at the bottom of your bucket. Add your food waste collection (about 2-3 inches of food waste) into the bucket and then sprinkle with another small handful of Bokashi Flakes. Seal your air-tight lid completely. Limit opening your bucket to 1-2/day. Continue layering 2-3 inches of food waste with Bokashi Flakes until your bucket is full. Once full, continue with our DIY instruction guide or utilize our curbside composting services. Check out our shop for find all you'll need to start your own Bokashi Composting adventure. Visit our Blog to find our downloadable guide on to how to Bokashi Compost at home.

White, fluffy mold is a good sign! It means the Bokashi microbes are thriving! Good job! Other kinds of mold (blue,green, black,etc..) are a sign of contamination. To fix, add more Bokashi Flakes and make sure your lid IS COMPLETELY SEALED.

Pests can enter and grow in your Bokashi bucket ONLY if the lid is not completely sealed. If you have pests in your bucket, add A LOT of Bokashi flakes and seal your lid COMPLETELY shut. Pests cannot grow in a healthy Bokashi fermentation.

You sure may! We have kits and bokashi online at the Pearl Farmer's Market online and are stocked at the Farm Connection. You can now order bokashi kits and flakes directly from our website for local pick up!

No. We partner with local food-growing farms, and we are unable to process human waste of any kind.

We are unable to process most "compostable" products on the market at this time. We do not have the large compost piles of commercial composters, and we are still following the emerging research in the safety of these products breaking down in soil meant for food production. We encourage people to find ways to eliminate single use products wherever they can.

Many home composters use a Bokashi system to compost their pet waste. Although we do not recommend using the composted pet waste in an edible garden. Because of this reason, do not accept most pet waste as part of our residential or commercial services. The only pet waste we accept are rabbit and guinea pig droppings.

We do not accept any sort of compostable or biodegradable bioplastics in our composting services. We also do not recommending including them at your home compost unless they are certified backyard compostable.

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Yes! We have many wonderful apartment dwellers in our Community of Composters. Bokashi composting is a great option for apartment dwellers since won't have any issues with smell or pests. You can easily store your bucket outside your front door (no smell) or on a patio.

Contact us here! We will create a custom account based off your needs!

RESIDENTIAL: Please visit our services page to decide what composting service will work best for you. Sign up here; The process of initially accessing your materials is different for our pick up and drop off clients. Upon signing up, our team will be in contact with you about how to access your materials and start your services. If you do not hear from us within 48 hours of signing up, please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com COMMERCIAL: Please email us directly at info@compostqueenstx.com or through our commercial inquiries form.

Collect your food scraps in another container. This will help you limit the amount of times you have to open your Bokashi bucket as the fermentation is an anaerobic process (no oxygen). When your kitchen container is full, line your bucket with your compostable bag and sprinkle a small handfull of flakes on the bottom of the bag. Add 2-3 inches of food scraps inside the bucket. Sprinkle another handfull of Bokashi flakes on top. SEAL YOUR LID TIGHT. Repeat adding food scraps and a handful of Bokashi until your bucket is full. Feel free to press down your food scraps to make more space in the bucket. Keep your lid on tight in between loadings.

The process of initially accessing your materials is different for our pick up and drop off clients. Upon signing up, our team will be in contact with you about how to access your materials and start your services. If you do not hear from us within 48 hours of signing up, please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com

Check your email for our orientation letter and it will include your first service day. We do pickups every 4 weeks on the same day for each neighborhood. If you would like to access your materials earlier than your initial service date, email us! You can also sign up for text and/or email reminders through your customer portal and we'll remind you at 5pm on the day before you need to set your buckets out. You can also see when you're next visit is scheduled. Don't have a customer portal? Email info@compostqueenstx.com to create one.

Cibolo Conservation Center 140 City Park Rd, Boerne, TX 78006 Impact Guild 708 W. Summit Ave. San Antonio, TX 78212 Behind the Oaks Market Stand 8522 Greaves Lane Schertz, TX, 78154, United States Eco Centro 1802 N. Main Avenue San Antonio, TX 78212 Cafe Cotidiano 1443 South Saint Mary's Street San Antonio, 78210 Gardopia Gardens 619 North New Braunfels Ave., San Antonio, TX 78202 Rainbow Gardens (Bandera) 8516 Bandera Road San Antonio, TX 78250 Barrio Barista 3735 Culebra Rd, San Antonio, TX 78228 The Gardens of Hacienda de Tecolote 7910 Donore Pl San Antonio, TX 78229

Yes! You can order a bulk leaf pick up through your customer portal.

If you're a future residential customer, we suggest you take our free two week trial and get a feel for how much waste you (and your family) are producing. We offer extra bucket delivery around the holidays or when you know you'll have more food waste than normal. If you are a future commercial customer, we can help you determine how much waste you are producing based on several factors. Email us at info@compostqueenstx.com to learn more!

We recommend our customers to leave their buckets on their front porch. We ask that you leave them somewhere visible to our driver, or contact us to let us know if you need to arrange a specific spot.

We are working to process our compost at Talking Tree Farm. There we use a combination of Bokashi and Hot composting to process the food scraps into nutrient-rich compost! Follow us on social media to see our current projects and process of the piles. When the "black gold" compost is ready we work to distribute it to our clients of six months or more, sell it locally, and donate additional amounts to area community gardens.

You can now change all your account details in our customer portal! If you are having any issues, please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com and let us know how you'd like to adjust and we will get back with you shortly.

If you are moving out of our service area and would like to cancel, please notify us through your customer portal or email us at info@compostqueenstx.com. We will give you more information about how to return your materials. If you would like to keep your service, please notify us of your change of address. For Drop Off clients, please also let us know if you would like to use another drop off site. For all pickup customers, please contact us so we can let you know what your new pickup day is, if it changes.

After 6 months of service, our residential clients are invited to the farm twice a year—in Feburary and August— for Customer Compost Return events. We also donate additional amounts to area community gardens and farms. We also sell our compost locally. We will send email updates about how to access your Customer Compost Return at the beginning of each season, so be sure to add us your contacts so that our messages don't go to spam!

Through your customer portal, you can change account details, cancel services, request services, and order products. If you are a pick up customer, you can also track the amount of waste collected and your CO2 diverted. You can also check when your next service will be, skip a service (for a credit), and sign up for SMS and email reminders.

Upon signing up for services, you should have recieved an invitation to set up your customer portal using the email that you signed up with. Can't find your invitation? Email us at info@compostqueenstx.com; we can resend you an invitation or help you access your portal.

We can reschedule you on a route ASAP for a $15 off-cycle fee or you can use our drop off sites at your convenience. Please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com to learn more.

Yes! All our Pickup clients can use our drop off sites as well. Just email us at info@compostqueenstx.com to learn more.

We recommend using Uprooted Gardens and Two Hoes Gardening to help you set up your garden. We can, however, prepare your soil for an upcoming season. As part of our Soil Enrichment Program, we will help you integrate Bokashi Fermented Organic Matter and Nutrient Rich Soil into your garden to act as a long-term fertilizer, soil ammendment, and probiotic. This will help your soil retain water, nutrients, and the microbiome that helps plants thrive!

Please fill out our volunteer application and we will be in touch soon.

Please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com - we look forward to talking with you!

For Residential Customer Support + Residential Billing: +1 210-628-9532 For Compost Sales, Retail Order Scheduling, and Soil Enrichment Services: +1 210-628-9419 For Commercial, Event, and Educational Services and Community Partnerships: ‪+1 (210) 628-9472‬ For Commercial Billing and for all other inquiries: +1 210-628-9541 We are open M-F, 9am- 4pm. Because we are a small team, and are often out in the field, please give us a few days to respond. If you need immediate assistance, please leave a voicemail or text message, and we will return your call as soon as possible.

Please email us at info@compostqueenstx.com - we look forward to talking with you.

For Residential Customer Support + Residential Billing: +1 210-628-9532 For Compost Sales, Retail Order Scheduling, and Soil Enrichment Services: +1 210-628-9419 For Commercial, Event, and Educational Services and Community Partnerships: ‪+1 (210) 628-9472‬ For Commercial Billing and for all other inquiries: +1 210-628-9541 We are open M-F, 9am- 4pm. Because we are a small team, and are often out in the field, please give us a few days to respond. If you need immediate assistance, please leave a voicemail or text message, and we will return your call as soon as possible.