An Urban Micro Farm Delivered to Your Door
November 30, 2010 by Robin Plaskoff Horton
It’s like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that delivers but, instead of just delivering the produce, it delivers the farm. Home Grow Micro Farms, a new service in the greater Los Angeles area, delivers pre-planted, high-productivity, low-maintenance organic vegetable growing boxes directly to your home or business. Having identified the “growing” demand for home grown produce, Home Grow’s service offers customers the opportunity to grow their own vegetables anywhere there is sunlight, including balconies, decks, and rooftops. The “micro-farms” are delivered equipped with a self-watering irrigation system, and the company claims they are nearly twice as productive as a traditional raised bed garden. All you do is watch them grow and then harvest the fresh vegetables.
Reggie Casagrande lettuce from Home Grow Micro Farms
Growing your own food like this is generally a great way to reduce your environmental impact as eliminates the need for long distance transport–except that this service requires delivery, so maybe it cancels out that benefit?
According to founder, Lucas Brower, who holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Science from Stanford University, “We strive to take as much of the work and the waiting out of the gardening process as is possible.” Vegetable boxes are delivered with the plants already established.
It takes about 30 days before the first harvest is ready. Once the vegetable boxes have reached the end of their productive lifespan, new boxes are delivered, pre-planted with the next season’s crops, and the old boxes are removed.
Home Grow Micro Farms believes its self-irrigation system offers an advantage over a traditional garden by greatly reducing water consumption. “Our self-watering irrigation system uses a sensor to provide the plants with the exact amount of water that they need,” says Brower. “Additionally, our special potting mixture is covered to reduce water loss caused by evaporation.”
The Home Grow Micro Farm Menu
This is How it Works
After a brief consultation, a Home Grow farm “technician” delivers the boxes to the client’s location. The garden boxes are placed in the client’s chosen location, and the automatic water system is generally installed in less than 10 minutes. Micro farms are expandable and can include any number of 1 x 3 foot boxes. Home Grow Micro Farms are priced starting at $180 per season.
Category: Bulbs and Plants, Container Gardening, Edible Landscaping, Finding, Green & Sustainable, Irrigation, Urban Agriculture
Tags: eco-friendly delivery, Los Angeles micro farming, sustainable agriculture, urban farming, urban micro farming
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What a fabulous business concept.Are they planning an East Coast roll-out before next summer?
— December 1, 2010 @ 06:54
Great post information everyone can use : )
— December 1, 2010 @ 11:23
I love this!
— December 2, 2010 @ 13:20
Holy goodness…this is something!
— December 3, 2010 @ 13:26
What a fantastic idea!
— December 4, 2010 @ 23:54
Patrick, glad you liked this one. It’s pretty great what people can do with limited effort in small spaces!
— December 7, 2010 @ 11:26
No plans for east coast roll out, but there are urban farms in many eastern cities, including New York, some who deliver. Consider joining a CSA in your area.
— December 7, 2010 @ 11:33
Although I commend Lucas Brower for his contribution to organics and greening the earth. But the concept has some serious flaws and is potentially detrimental. The sustainability factor is close to zero! Imagine this… If I wanted fruit and they delivered a tree full of fruit and when the tree is done fruiting you send it back. That makes no sense at all.
Nice try…
— December 8, 2010 @ 15:02
Thanks Scott for your comment. I encourage people to share their perspectives, that’s we create dialogue and inspire action!
— December 10, 2010 @ 14:09
It’s a great idea, but what about seeding the plants to regrow each year? I don’t like the idea of having new shipments of plants delivered each season…
— January 26, 2011 @ 21:48
What a great idea! Another way to encourage people to grow their own food helps us all.
— February 9, 2011 @ 12:57
Hi – Great idea if it gets people growing that wouldn’t otherwise. I have to say though that they look like Earthboxes that have been painted white. Almost anyone can set them up, plant them and maintain them. Can’t imagine paying someone else to do it – it truly is that easy. That said, I applaud anyone who is enabling others to grow edibles!
— February 15, 2011 @ 18:57
Easy, yes, but so is doing laundry and some people hire folks to do that for them if they can afford it! I agree with you that the benefit really is getting people growing things who might not otherwise do so.
— February 25, 2011 @ 15:09
Farm in a Box | Urban Gardens | Unlimited Thinking For Limited Spaces Pingback said:
[…] your empty wall or fence into a garden. It’s as easy to hang as a picture. It automatically waters itself and allows you to grow indoors or outdoors in any season. And here’s the real dirt (or not): […]
— March 3, 2011 @ 15:04
Vegetable Gardening In A Box | Plantworks Inc Pingback said:
[…] waters itself and allows you to grow indoors or outdoors in any season. And here’s the real dirt (or not): […]
— June 21, 2011 @ 04:59
I can’t believe how much plastic is used in this.
— August 26, 2011 @ 16:35
I have to share with you all a great project my girlfriend passed onto me that is happening here in Edmonton. It is called â??The Organic Boxâ??. It provides weekly deliveries of local and non-local organic produce, brought in direct from local farmers and Canadian distributors depending on the season. Each box contains about 15-20 fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to your home or work.
They aim to bring their members as close to their producers as possible, sourcing all their produce from local farmers throughout the Alberta growing season. They will deliver a box of healthy organic, local fruit and vegetables to your doorstep weekly or bi-weekly â?? your choice. The quality of the produce is guaranteed and deliveries begin mid May and run for 13 weeks.
— October 10, 2011 @ 04:10
Something I’ve always wanted to do and want to learn more about. One concern related to urban farming is soil quality and/or toxicity. Last year I visited a school in New York that had an extensive garden space. They couldn’t use it, however, to actually grow vegetables because of toxins in the soil. The school leaders said they took a year to de-tox the soil (a valuable science lesson for the students, to be sure) but were still not sure if it would be ready for the coing school year.
— March 6, 2012 @ 21:30
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of
content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
— November 2, 2012 @ 15:49
This is a great idea and it might help with my problem of the squash bore. How many boxes per season? Where can we find out how to sign up for a season? Thanks Ellen from Georgia
— November 6, 2012 @ 09:59
What is the price charged for each pre-planted vegetable box; other trms conditions. Please mail urgently the terms and conditions; any other information brochure to my mail ID: cshydbad@gmail.com
— December 10, 2012 @ 01:22