Everfarm

I spent a great deal of time during Covid-19 watching Netflix documentaries about the environment, animal agricultural practices, vegan diets, fantastic fungi etc. I also spent time attempting to keep plants and leafy greens alive that were growing on the balcony. There was a genuine attempt at “sustainability” in my household. This included sorting and recycling, worm farms to break down food waste, adopting a vegan diet, and an attempt at growing produce. I had discovered the world of vertical farming and had an idea of turning the outside plant and vegetable pots into a small household vertical farm that was self-sustaining. This gave birth to the idea of “Everfarm”. 

I started by purchasing a book on vertical farming. Focusing specifically on hydroponics which is the growing of plants without soil (Hydroponics – A practical guide for the soilless grower – J Benton Jones Jr. – see reading list). The book went into detail regarding the various methods of indoor farming and growing plants in soilless mediums. I drew inspiration from a couple of companies (see Aerofarms, Plenty, SquareRoots). The first attempt at an indoor farm was mediocre. Deep water raft method was used with bell pepper seedlings. Nutrients and aeration was added to the water. The seedlings took but died shortly after an initial growth spurt. This was not ideal and no attempt was made at measurement of the surrounding conditions. 

I took the next step to build a simple automated greenhouse. First focusing on keeping the existing herbs and veg alive without going down the hydroponics route. This setup consisted of: water tank, water pump, tubing, water sprays, a timer for the pump with a battery, solar panel, and a solar charge controller. The solar panel was used as to not have to worry about power supply outside the house. The pictures below show some simple designs, work in progress parts, and the finished product (admittedly I forgot to take a decent photo of the finished product). The solar panel, solar charge controller, battery, and pump needed some research and calculations to ensure I had the right size components and wiring requirements. 

The designed setup worked and it did a great job of keeping the plants watered each day. After keeping track of the plants for a couple of months all seemed to work well. However it was a lot of upkeep. Constantly refilling the water tank, pruning the plants, dealing with an aphid outbreak, nasty looking worms eating away at the roots. There was also the issue that as the plants started to grow, the pot depth was limiting the size of growth for certain fruits. Sun exposure on the balcony made the greenhouse really hot on certain days and I had no way of regulating the temperature. I started to look for what the next version of this setup would look like. 

At this time I was following various companies to see what else people were doing to enable indoor farming at the home. Here are some of them (Click and Grow, Farmshelf, OGarden). There was a variety of products out there, varying widely in price and focusing mainly on leafy greens. What was clear however was that none of these ideas would be capable of outcompeting getting foodstuffs from the grocery store. These ideas seemed more as hobbies and less as a practical means for sustaining your household. Keeping plants alive is hard, and it was at this point that I realised that I didn’t enjoy working on this idea. I therefore decided to not take it any further. 

Here are some lessons learned: