I was tag surfing this morning (hard at work, as usual) and came across this brilliant little design for Windowfarms. It’s basically a small hydroponic system that uses minimal power to produce food in areas of limited space. The kicker is that it’s a vertical garden, ideal for apartment dwellers. I’m thinking that, for myself, it would be an ideal addition to the greenhouse I’m planning to build next year. Really maximize my use of available space.
I spent a good deal of time on the website, Windowfarms, and it’s impressive on so many levels- not the least of which is that an open source community has been formed to share ideas, improvements, and questions as people around the globe build their own Windowfarms in various climates, with variable sunlight, and using a multitude of materials.
The plans are free to the public and it’s said for as little as $30 (USD) in materials and an afternoon, you can build your own 3 container vertical unit. Plans for a considerably larger unit are also available. You do have to register with the open source community and agree to the terms of service, which basically state that you are free to use the plans however you like other than commercially, i.e. you can’t sell these plans or the products produced from them. This is in order to keep the technology in the hands of the people. (Note: By all means read the terms of service- it’s interesting and gives a real feel for the community around this idea. Not the standard TOS I’m used to reading/not reading.)
I should tell you that I found the video for Windowfarms not on their site, or Youtube, but on a WordPress blog, Permaculture Power. It’s a great little blog with lots of videos and links to the resources. Check it out for other wonderful little gems. I’ll add it to my blogroll as well for easy reference.
Great link Thanks!
I actually built one from their initial design and had to modifiy it because several components were difficult to source. Here is the link to the blog I wrote and the details are all in there. I still need to photoillustrate some of the steps.
http://millrisespin.shawwebspace.ca/pages/view/how_to_build_a_z-mama_windowfarm/
Thank you so much! That’s awesome!
How is the winter going? Did you add insulation to your walls?
You guys are my heros .
Winter is finally here- it’s -30 right now following a couple of months of mild weather. We’ll be berming the north side of the building and that’ll help to insulate the structure but not much insulation other than that (apart from in the ceiling). We’ve kept windows to a minimum and strategically placed so hopefully (fingers crossed) we won’t need much more. But our first winter will tell…