When I think of hydroponics I typically conceive of a vast and expensive operation. An operation that's only truly feasible if you have the necessary economic clout to make it happen. But, according to a short Popular Science article titled "You Built What!?: A Vertical Veggie Farm," that thought couldn't be farther from the truth.
In the article, Britta Riley, a DIY enthusiast out of New York, turns to hydroponics as the fuel to power her vertical veggie farm. After some success attempting to create her own hydroponics system using household items, Riley turned to the internet to share ideas and improve her design. And so Windowfarms was created.
Eventually the crowd produced an idea they could stand behind and, in 2011, Riley utilized Kickstarter to raise money to produce a $179 dollar, consumer-ready hydroponics kit. After raising roughly five times her goal, her aspiration became a reality. This relatively inexpensive kit (the Windowfarm community also has a $30 dollar design) allows window farming to be viable in most situations.
link to article: http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-02/you-built-what-vertical-veggie-farm
This would be an excellent way for urban communities to have the opportunity to create their own small gardens and feel as though they are making an impact on the environment. If expense is not as much of an issue, more attention will be called to these great projects. If I had a home in the middle of a densely population area, I could easily purchase the thirty dollar model even on a college budget. I feel that many could even afford the $178 one.
ReplyDeleteThis is good in alot of different ways because for one it doesn't make a mess which stops alot of people from having indoor plants. Another is that it isnt very work intensive, so i could get this for my grandmother and she wouldnt have to worry about bending over and watering the plant 2 times a day. It would be awesome if they expanded the idea to have it be big enough to grow veggies and what not.
ReplyDeleteI ran into this article not too long ago as well and it got my room mates and I thinking that we didn't have to have a house to have a garden. At first we figured that we could just make our own window farm like they did, but decided it wouldn't produce enough for our needs as we are vegetarians. So we build a full fledged hydroponic system with 46 growing slots and grew everything from basil, to lettuce to bok choy to swiss chard. It was a little pricey, but about the cost of farmers market produce.
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