"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Farmpunk Kit
Allison Tweedell and I have come up with a design for an off-the-shelf Farmpunk kit. The purpose of this kit would be to create an easy and trendy way for middle class suburban people to create backyard farms and join the farmpunk movement, improving the food security of their household and community. It would consolidate everything they need into one convenient and easy to buy package.
There would be two sizes - a small, compact kit, and a larger kit. The small size would be intended as a hook - a method to get people who are dirt-fearful into the gardening scene. The larger size would be a step up, including more tools, dirt, and seeds from what's contained in the small size. Presumably, if you go for the larger kit, you already own items similar to what's in the small kit - if not, you can buy the small kit itself, or invest in the tools you need that are sold individually by the same company at the same vendor.
The small size is intended to be roughly the size of a cereal box, or roughly 3"x10"x12" or so. The intended usage, based on the size, would be to get people into small container gardening or very small scale yard gardening to start.
The larger size would likely be the size of a small, plastic tote - I'm thinking about 2'x1'x1'. The intent behind it would be to get people to go outside and start breaking the soil in their backyards and get going on some serious yard-farming, hopefully while maintaining container gardens indoors.
Both kits would contain the following:
A manual
A physical book with a general plan for your backyard farm as well as info on making good soil, where to plant, when to plant, watering, wet and dry cycles, soil types, sun amounts, and plant growth in general. Along with this would be an online component with more detailed information, a farmpunk network, and a crowdsourced farmpunk encyclopedia.
- Small
This size kit's manual would have information on container gardening. Light levels in the home, the importance of moisture regulation, and feasible indoor or porch plants.
- Large
Depending on the tools included, this would contain extended information on their uses and
care. It would also go into depth on the seeds and soil amendment contained, as well as
slightly more advanced information. Basics, like mixing and amending your own soil, would
still be included, as well as a reference to the online compendium.
Estimated cost: $5 - paperback, reduced binding to save costs
Soil and/or a soil amendment
A sample of soil, fertilizer, hydration compound, etc provided by some sort of sponsor. Amount would depend on the size of the kit. Hopefully there would be a sponsor that would provide this, and if the farmer wanted to get more they could buy from the sponsor.
- Small
The product contained in the small kit would be intended as a sample only, to expose
the buyer to potential products if they decide to garden on a larger scale.
- Large
The product contained in the large kit would be intended for outdoor use. There would be
referrals and suggestions for other, related products made by the same company included.
Estimated cost: $0 - assuming the sponsor provides not only the material, but covers the packaging and shipping costs as well
Seeds
Specific seeds would depend on the kit variety, could be fruits, vegetables, flowering plants,
herbs, etc.
- Small
Since the intent behind this kit is to get people into container gardening to start, the seeds
contained would likely focus on herbs and other potted veg and fruits - tomatoes, etc.
- Large
The first step of any gardening attempt is to take stock of the soil and, if it is found to be
suboptimal, to enhance it if you can. Beans are used to convert nitrogen into a form useable
by plants, and so a healthy amount of legume seeds would be included as a way to amend
the soil in that nature before serious gardening took place. More substantial food seeds
would be included, such as squash, potatoes, lettuces, etc. Subsequent seed stocks could be obtained via seed collection from this beginning provision.
Estimated cost: $10-20
Tools
These tools would be made to be small and collapsible, so as to fit in the kit, but also as durable as possible. This would probably take the most innovation of the kit, and is what would separate it from merely a conglomeration of pre-existing products.
- Small: Trowel, gloves
- Medium: Some mixture of or at least Buyer incentives for a shovel, spade, hoe, hose, water wand, etc
Estimated Cost: $20
Coupons/buyer benefits:
Purchase of these kits would entitle the buyer to a free or reduced cost set of planting containers of a predetermined size and shape, as well as a watering can and package of potting soil under the same parameters. The cost reduction would not apply to purchases that do not include the planting kit. All would be sold by the same merchant, located near the planting kits. This way, if you have no materials whatsoever, you're well enabled to buy the materials you need at a discounted price, but if you've already got things like pots and potting soil, it's not necessary to buy the additional supplies. This also reduces the size of the kit itself.
Total cost: $35-45
This would hopefully be cheap enough that most middle class families would want to buy it. In addition, it should pay for itself over time for those who invest in it and use it, all the while being environmentally friendly and improving food security!
Like any good commercial object, it could have possible accessories and add-ons. Apart from the tools you could buy in addition to the kit, you could get things like small, collapsible or easily built greenhouses for your backyard, a hydroponics farming kit, or maybe even someday an indoor/vertical farming kit.
Like any good commercial object, it could have possible accessories and add-ons. Apart from the tools you could buy in addition to the kit, you could get things like small, collapsible or easily built greenhouses for your backyard, a hydroponics farming kit, or maybe even someday an indoor/vertical farming kit.
As I know very little about farming, this was made possible by the invaluable collaboration of Allison Tweedell (who should be posting this in her blog as well in the near future, will add link soon). However, I'm sure it still has vast room for improvement, so if you know anything, or have any ideas whatsoever, please let me know! Also, this is something I probably won't be able to actually create and market, so if you think it is a good idea, please take it and run with it! In addition, any ideas about how to market this and turn it into a successful business would be awesome!
Views: 60
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Comment by Megiddo Tell on March 22, 2010 at 3:24pm
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This is a great idea! One thing that I may be able to contribute is my plan for a keyh*** garden. The DXF is done but I have yet to do a bill of materials. I will put it up on the guild wiki as soon as it is ready.
Again, great job
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Comment by Caroline Meeks on March 22, 2010 at 3:29pm
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Be cool if the instructions were in comic format and it also had amusing videos. Sell the experience.
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Comment by Amos Meeks on March 22, 2010 at 4:28pm
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Good idea, mom. Wintermute has offered to do that, I think.
I look forward to reading about the keyh*** gardens, Megiddo!
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Comment by Turil Cronburg on March 22, 2010 at 4:29pm
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By the way, if you're interested in an exceptionally wholistic approach to what I call the "evolved garden", take a look at my list of components from my blog post, The Evolved Nature Sanctuary. The four main elements of a thriving living system are:
1. physical needs: food, water, air, warmth, and light
2. emotional needs: a feeling of personal connection with others
3. intellectual needs: information about how things work
4. spiritual needs: a sense of contributing something to the evolution of life itself
The more different individuals from diverse species that you are able to provide these things for, the more sustainable and integral the garden space will be, and the more it will naturally evolve into an even more awesome space! It's like permaculture taken to the next level by integrating art, science, and nature into one big diverse culture of life.
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That is very true, Turil. I would hope that this would help all four of those:
1. Provides food
2. Would hopefully create a network or farmpunk "movement" where people could connect over their yardfarms.
3. The manual and online resources would hopefully contain more information than you could ever want on yardfarming
4. Good for the environment, good for keeping people alive.
Am I interpreting those correctly?
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Those are very valid things, and to incorporate them directly into the garden is the goal for a wh*** garden system. So, perhaps using the garden as a meeting space for farmpunk workshops and seed swaps, while also including some kind of signage/art that communicates #3 and #4 in the garden itself, so that human visitors get the message. Also, the first set of elements - phyisical needs - are all required for a garden to grow, because these are the things that all plants and animals need to grow. Thinking about where you're getting your water, if it's warm enough for the kinds of plants you want, how much light the garden gets, if there's enough of a breeze to circulate air around the garden, and if all the inhabitants (from bugs to bacteria to fungi to plants to mammals) are getting the right nutrients are all crucial things to pay attention to for a healthy garden.
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Comment by Joanna Chaplin on March 22, 2010 at 6:07pm
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The best garden would have all those things. But most people who have never touched a trowel in their life would find such a system for their own garden to be overwhelming.
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Only the first set - physical needs - are required for a normal survival/hobby garden, though I know a lot of folks who do pick up a trowel but don't know about these basics, and do end up giving up. Which is why knowing is half the battle. :-)
The wh*** four sets, on the other hand, are what's needed for a truly thriving garden space that serves everyone in the community, sustainably. When you take a look at the most successful garden spaces in the world, you see that all of these elements are present in some way. You might not be able to get all of them, but the more you get, the more successful your garden will be, and the less effort it will take to keep it growing.
If you have time and are interested, take a look at the BBC doc**entary: A Farm For the Future, that someone offered here a few days ago.
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The hope for this would be to provide the knowledge and the encouragement in a basic enough way (like the day by day workout plan for a couch to 5k program, but for farming) that people with no prior knowledge would be able to pick it up.
Also, my hope would be that having a garden in your yard would replace the perfectly manicured lawn in the social sense, in that it's seen as wrong and socially unacceptable to have a totally useless perfectly manicured lawn, while it's seen as socially necessary to have a garden in your lawn space.
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Just a heads up... The Keyh*** drawings are up at the guild wiki and I have a blog post over at my place
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