Meet the Couple Bringing Bokashi to Fort Collins
Sam and Kate Stevens, owners of Garden of Oz, are on a mission to take small-space composting to a larger scale
Sam Stevens is proud to say she grew up in the dirt. Born in Colorado Springs and raised in Fort Collins, Sam spent a healthy amount of her childhood in her mother’s rose garden, digging in the soil, planting seeds in the spring, and watching them erupt into a vibrant spread into the summer. It was here she learned that a little care and attention can create simple miracles.
Kate Stevens, on the other hand, grew up thinking gardening happened when a delivery of mulch appeared in her driveway in Kansas City. Her father would hand her a rake and task the teenager with spreading the mulch evenly throughout the yard. Landscaping, she later learned the distinction. After moving to Colorado and meeting Sam at Fort Collins High School, Kate decided to take a stab at growing. She went to Walmart and bought a cheap planter box and some starters, which she placed in the fully-shaded backyard of her first rental near the CSU campus. Spoiler: nothing grew.
Fast forward to 2014. The high school sweethearts are married, and they’ve just bought their first home with a big, empty, sunny backyard. Though neither of them has successfully grown food before, they install raised garden beds, plant fruit trees and grape vines, and intentionally cultivate only things they can eat. A few successful harvests and pounds upon pounds of box store soil later, the two ponder ways to grow more efficiently and sustainably. They start with the foundation of it all — soil — and find composting to be an obvious, albeit imperfect, solution.
“We looked at our food waste and felt like it was a massive resource that we were literally throwing away, so we started experimenting with compost,” Sam said. “However, I’m not a fan of bugs and mice and I recognized that sometimes the little compost bins just aren’t ideal in some homes. So I started doing some research.”
This is when Sam discovered another simple miracle: Bokashi.
A Japanese term for “shading” or “gradation”, Bokashi is a form of fermentation that uses essential microorganisms like lactobacilli — the same bacteria used in sour beer brewing — to prepare organic matter for decomposition. Unlike traditional composting, Bokashi is an anaerobic (oxygen-less) process, which means the heap of inoculated bran and food scraps, normally housed in a sealed bucket, produces no odors and can accommodate things like dairy, citrus, and meats. Where compost piles can take months to decompose into usable matter, Bokashi can transform into a generous amount of healthy, active soil in four to six weeks.
If you’re a lifelong gardener and have never heard of Bokashi, you’re not alone. The method was central to Asian agriculture for centuries, but it wasn’t formalized commercially until 1982, when Dr. Teruo Higa of Rykukus University in Okinawa, Japan, isolated a few strains of bacteria and microbes responsible for the fermentation process. His research showed these strains, when mixed with water, molasses, wheat, and bran, could ferment foods like raw meat, dairy, bones, citrus, egg shells, coffee grounds, and tea bags in a quick and odorless manner. It took a few decades, but word has spread to the rest of the world, mainly online. Because air-tight Bokashi buckets don’t produce odor or methane, don’t invite pests, don’t take up much space, and have a quick decomposition time, they’ve become an attractive composting option for those who live in small apartments or densely-populated buildings with little to no outdoor space.
“It’s the Everything Compost,” Kate said. “It could do things our outdoor bed couldn't handle and that I couldn't tolerate.”
Like Kate’s college garden, the Stevens’ first attempt at Bokashi composting turned out to be an “utter failure.” After some light use, the bran had developed some bad bacteria and turned into a rotten mass, prompting Kate to toss it. But the pair kept at it, and in 2022 started developing their own bran, working as armchair scientists and comparing store-bought brans to see how their freshly fermented versions compared.
“The results we were seeing in bin activity were night and day,” Kate said. “I just looked at Sam like, ‘I think there’s something here that we can share and we can help other people with.”
And so came Garden of Oz, named after their beloved Orange Tabby rescue, Oz, who roamed the Stevens’ garden until his final days. Using their “Bokashi Buddies” and bran as a catalyst, the Stevens envision their business as a vehicle for food waste reduction, soil education, community garden improvement, and, especially, local partnerships.
They’ve partnered with Montana-based Planetary Design to create Airscape lids for their buckets. They work with OneCanopy nursery in Loveland to host events and support each other’s missions. They’re diverting spent coffee grounds from Mugs to create exfoliating hand-made soaps, boost their soil blends, and experiment with “Coffeekashi.” In March they inoculated 350 pounds of spent beer grain from Stodgy Brewing Co. to create what they call “Beerkashi”. In the past decade, a number of Colorado farms have taken to using brewer’s spent grain to feed animals. “Beerkashi”, however, could make this abundant yet underutilized resource useful for growers of every kind.
“This grain is such a valuable resource that breweries – to no fault of their own – aren’t repurposing. There's no infrastructure. There's no support. There's no policy,” Kate said. “Unless a farmer is picking it up, it’s just getting thrown away. On one brew, Stodgy pulls over 700 pounds of spent beer grain. We want to quickly be a place where brewers can count on us to come and collect it, inoculate it, and give it back to farmers in wet applications, dry applications for home Bokashi, restoring fields, and bringing living things back to the soil.”
In addition to breweries, the Stevens hope to partner with local farms, businesses, organizations like MakeSoil and ShareWaste, and community gardeners to install Bokashi pick-up and drop-off sites and supply revitalized soil.
“Partnerships matter so much. We’d love to see this on farms too,” Sam said. “Imagine — I’m living in an apartment, and I have my Bokashi bin, and I can take it to a farm and see where and how my food’s being grown. Then I go to the farmers market and buy my food locally, knowing that I’ve contributed to closing the loop. That’s a beautiful relationship. That’s the dream.”
Creating a full-fledged direct-to-consumer business that also closes gaps in the local supply chain is a big undertaking for a law student and full-time high school teacher, but there’s promise in a sustainable model intended to make life easier for its users.
“I learned to garden the hard way, but that doesn’t mean we all have to,” Kate said. “Did I really need to spend three seasons figuring out how to grow potatoes? Or could someone have shown me a faster way that accounts for our climate, for our region, for our sun? That knowledge is here. And we want to give people opportunities to share work, knowledge, and resources, to have uncompetitive experiences where we can exist in the same space and learn from each other and together make a good impact.”
Put simply:
“We just want people to play in the dirt.”
Learn more: gardenofozco.com
Follow Garden of Oz: @garden.of.oz.noco
Calendar
April 1: Boulder and Longmont County Farmers Markets are open!
April 3 - May 1: CSU Master Gardeners 2023 Spring Series
CSU Master Gardeners will be leading free gardening classes every Monday 12-1 p.m. at the Loveland Public Library. No registration required. Click here to view the schedule.
April 5: Community Convo: Let’s talk bees!
Join us as CSU Extension Native Bee Counter and CSU Master Gardener Grace Wright leads a convo about local pollinators and their connection to our food system. Learn more about our incredible pollinators and how, as a community member, you can take action toward preserving and promoting healthy habitats. Wednesday, April 5, 4-6 p.m. at Stodgy Brewing Co.
April 7: Xeric Landscaping Webinar
It’s hard to know how to successfully create a low-maintenance, water-saving, xeric landscape. John Murgel, a CSU Extension Horticulture Specialist based in Douglas County, will help you make sense of it all with this webinar sharing proven xeric practices. Friday, April 7 from 12-1pm. Register here!
April 8: Seeds and Bees - Seed Swap & Giveaway
Hosted by The Growing Project, Loveland Youth Gardeners, and People & Pollinators, this free event includes a seed swap, build-your-own native bee house, and expert advice on planting and growing. Saturday, April 8, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Wolverine Farm Publick House. Volunteer opportunities here.
April 8: Spring Plant Swap
Bring plants, pots, seeds, and other plant care items to trade with new friends, followed by a Plantiness Party at 2 p.m. All ages welcome. Tickets are $35 and include a pot to decorate, a plant for your pot, and a plant to gift. Saturday, April 8, 12-2 p.m. at Emporium Sports Bar.
April 12: How to Grow Tomatoes Webinar
Join CSU Extension Horticulture Expert Cassey Anderson and earn about all aspects of growing tomatoes in your backyard – including cultivars, cultural care, and how to successfully use containers. Wednesday, April 12, 12-1 p.m. Register here!
April 13: Mother Earth Free Market
Think clothing swap, but with anything and everything – food, plants, clothes, toys, kitchenware, books, etc. Bring what you have to give and accept what you want from others. Thursday, April 13, 5-7:30 p.m. at Wolverine Farm Publick House.
April 16: Poudre River Cleanup
Poudre Watershed and Odell Brewing Co. are sponsoring a river cleanup followed by a River Appreciation Celebration. Registration is free! Sunday, April 16, 2023, 9-11 a.m. at Odell Brewing Co.
April 29: “Belong”: an Open House Fundraiser for The Family Center/La Familia
Meet La Familia staff, learn about their work supporting families in Northern Colorado, and enjoy a food truck, mobile bar, kids activities, music, and a firsthand early childhood education experience. This event is free, though donations are appreciated. Saturday, April 29, 2-5 p.m. at La Familia.
Stray Links
The Coloradoan: What happened to Northern Colorado's most visible and largest heron colony?
The Coloradoan: What to know about Colorado's existing wolves and conflicts around reintroduction plan
CDA’s Community Food Access Program improves access to and lower prices for healthy foods in low-income and underserved areas of the state by supporting small food retailers.
Explorado Market is now open in Old Town!
Registration is open for CSU Extension Gardening Training courses.
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