The WindowFarms Project is a unique way to grow small food plants with almost no footprint. There is no need for land, soil, gardening gloves, hoes, rakes, shovels, none of it. This system of gardening allows a homeowner (or renter) to establish a compact window garden using a mixture of recycled goods and a few things that can be found at most hobby or home improvement stores.
What Is a Window Farm
In urban areas like Downtown Lansing even those of us without any yard (or rooftop…or balcony) can have access to home grown vegetables and greens. The WindowFarms Project allows users to help develop their own indoor vertical hydroponic growing environments. The farms are made from old one liter bottles, an aquarium air pump, some aquarium tubing, and a few hydroponic staples including nutrients and growing medium.
Where Can I Get Hydroponic Supplies
The hydroponic materials can be bought locally at Home Harvest Garden Supply at 4870 Dawn Ave, East Lansing, MI. If you are not local to the Lansing area there are several online hydroponic supply retailers. A quick Google search should provide you with all of the growing supplies that are needed. All of the others can be found either at a local pet or grocery store.
Why Build a Window Farm
This indoor gardening system, once complete, can be run continually at a very minimal electrical cost (just the air pump) and produce enough vegetables to feed a family of four at least two meals a week. Not bad for an essentially low cost, indoor, living art piece.
The sheer number of plants that can be grown in such a small space is mind boggling. The WindowFarm system can easily accommodate an entire herb garden or a unique salad garden. Although it is designed for growing small to medium sized plants some gardeners have grown Swiss Chard, Zucchini, and summer squash in theirs.
Are There Instructions Available Online
A complete step by step instruction manual is available at the WindowFarm website. At the site you can also sign up to be a contributing member in the non-profit organization and add your knowledge and suggestions to the community. WindowFarms is more than a project it is a movement to empower urban gardeners and show just how innovative people can be.
The WindowFarms Project Has Been Featured In
- Entrepreneur Magazine: WindowFarms named in Top 100 Ventures to Watch in 2010, June 2010
- NPR Weekend Edition Feature
- ABC New York Ch7 Eyewitness News Feature
- Ready Made magazine 10/09 Feature and Ready Made Blog Feature
- Art in America 10/09
Kenneth Sleight - Ken Sleight is a resident of Haslett, Mi. He was voted among his friends as, "most likely to be the phone a friend on Who Wants to be a ...
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