These coconut husks came out of a conversation.

These coconut husks came out of a conversation. The vendor at MycoFest was already saving them, already thinking about where they were going to end up. After we got to talking he offered them to me.

Husks are almost pure lignin, a hundred and twelve parts carbon to one part nitrogen, and left on the ground they will still be sitting there in ten years. So I smashed them with a hammer to open the fiber, filled the barrel halfway, and added two gallons of apple lactobacillus I brewed on the farm and a half gallon of molasses to feed it. Water to the top, a ring to hold everything under, a feed bag over the whole thing so the gas can get out. The sugar feeds the bacteria and the bacteria pull the potassium and the soluble carbon out of the fiber. They have been doing a version of this in the lagoons of Kerala for centuries. It is called retting and it is how coir gets made.

Six weeks and I will pour it off and show you what comes out. The spent husk goes to mushrooms after that. Thank you to that vendor, to @mycosymbiote , and to the whole @mycofest compost crew!

#koreannaturalfarming #permaculture #lactofermentation #regenerativeag #mycofest