Farming a box is a simple, versatile, and scalable, one-of-a-kind, vertical gardening
system.
Of course, you'd grow anything you like in it, but it was designed to grow food.
Basil, lattices, strawberries for your desserts, herbs and tomatoes and cucumber and all kinds
of vegetables.
I'm an architectural designer, and I've been building and designing sustainable, healthy
housing for over 15 years.
My idea is to actually build farmable surfaces right into the structure, plantable walls
that are irrigated, serviceable and convenient.
But as I worked on the concept, I realized that this kind of design will only be available
for wealthy individuals and corporations, which is fine, but my next thought was, how
can I scale down the idea to make it more universally available?
And that's how I came up with Farming a Box, or FIB as I call it.
Then I called my friend Todd Mettlin.
So we should just model this up really quick so I can make sure that I really got this.
Todd is an award-winning industrial designer and a super guy to work with.
You've got a 2.5-inch hole, and that's enough room for the actual plant itself, and keeps
the dirt in.
Yeah.
No, it's a fabulous idea.
Yeah.
It's brilliant.
Todd has led the way in refining FIB's design and the production of the prototypes that
we've been using to prove the concept.
My name is Wayne Pendry, and I'm an energy consultant, and I'm a teacher at a non-profit
school where I teach green building construction skills.
Wayne headed up testing the films to see what grew well and what didn't grow well.
I've grown all kinds of plants, oregano, parsley, chives, sage, mustard greens.
I had a really great crop of hot peppers.
So many people don't own property or don't have a place where they can grow food on the
ground with farm in a box.
You'll be able to grow food on a wall inside, outside, on a post, a deck, a rail, whatever
you have.
They're modular and they fit together so you can expand upon it and make it as big as
you want it to be.
One FIB, two FIBs, you can have a whole wall of FIBs.
Being able to scale these units into infinite combinations is so close to my original vision
of indoor farming that it just makes me so excited.
But the real gem of FIB's design is the technology.
The advantage the FIB gives you is the self-controlled watering system.
This is really a key to the whole success of the FIBs.
Self-waters turns on, turns off by itself.
You don't have to worry about over-watering or under-watering.
You put your plants in, you put water in the reservoir, just put some water in and forget
about it and let it do its own thing.
The plant knows how much water it needs.
With the way the FIB works, it only gives it as much water as it wants.
Make it simple to use, let everyone have a good time.
There's no other product like Farm-in-a-Box and the vertical gardening sphere, and this
unit is patent-pending.
It was my wife that pointed out that the enclosure made it impossible to touch the dirt to determine
the moisture level.
How would you know when the plants need water or if you're drowning the plant by over-watering
since you can't actually see the dirt?
Todd and I engineered a self-watering technology that has truly put Farm-in-a-Box in a class
all its own.
Farm-in-a-Box is a great new tool.
Found primarily for urban dwellers, but perfect for just about any individual, family, or
office environment.
In 1986, I built the world's largest portable camera because I wanted to record detail that
even my eye couldn't pick up.
In 2008, I created the world's first zero-carbon heating and cooling system as a key component
to my sustainable housing initiative.
As the saying goes, necessity truly is the mother of invention.
And that's where I need your help.
My team and I are a Kickstarter today, looking to garner enough support to fund the production
of the first run of 10,000 units.
My purpose now is to get this to market.
We want to get this Kickstarter off, so to speak, part of the expression.
We've been refining and shaping this product for three years now, and it's ready to make
its way into the world.
Your contribution is needed and appreciated.
Please share our idea with your friends, your family, your neighbors, at home, at work,
and online.
Let's feed the planet.
