A New Flatpack Garden From Ikea Can Feed An Entire Neighbourhood

Collective Evolution – by Alanna Kelter

There are some that believe growing our own food is the single most important thing one can do to take back the power and opt out of our corrupt system. Others prefer to grow their own food to avoid mass-produced, genetically modified produce laden with chemical pesticides, and others just like the benefit of getting essentially, free food.

By growing your own food, you can support yourself and maybe even your family, and if you can do this, then you have figured out how to take control of your life, and you do not rely on the system to survive.  

As Jules Dervaes, a man who grows 6,000 pounds of food annually on his two acre property has said:

“In our society, growing food yourself has become the most radical of acts. It is truly the only effective protest that can and will overturn the corporate powers that be. By the process of directly working in harmony with nature, we do the one thing essential to change the world: we change ourselves.”

Ikea Flatpack Vertical Garden Makes That Easy

Ikea has recently come up with an awesome flatpack vertical garden that allows those living in the city or those who are strapped on space to enjoy a little green space to grow their own food as well.

Ikea is calling this “The Growroom.” It is a DIY (obviously, knowing Ikea) project that is 9 feet tall and in the shape of a sphere. This garden is perfect for growing plants, herbs and vegetables, and you can even sit inside of it with your friends and family – or alone when you speak to and sing to your plants while encouraging them to grow.

The Growroom consists of 17 sheets of plywood and 500 screws, but the only tools that are needed to put this beauty together are a screwdriver and hammer. Unfortunately, the plywood does not come pre-cut, so a table saw, laser cutter or CNC machine will also be needed to put this garden together.

It is designed to be low cost and easy to assemble to encourage more people to start their own garden, regardless of space or resources. According to the website, food produced from The Growroom can feed an entire neighbourhood! The sphere is built so that each plant can obtain water and sunlight but whoever sits inside won’t get wet. At 2.8m by 2.5m, the Growroom is just large enough for a few people to sit inside, as if it were a magical living gazebo with built in snacks.

Why Was This Designed?

It seems more and more people are either starting to grow their own food, or at least are becoming curious about it. Designers Sine Libndholm and Mads-Ulrik Husum feel that the Growroom caters to a future where more and more people are choosing to grow their own local and healthy food. These two both work for the Space10 design project in Copenhagen, Denmark, supported by Ikea.

In a blog post the two wrote, “The challenge is that traditional farming takes up a lot of space and space is a scarce resource in our urban environments.”

Space10’s website states, “SPACE10 envisions a future, where we grow our own food much more locally, to spark conversations about how we can bring nature back into our cities, grow our own food and tackle the rapidly increasing demand for significantly more food in the future, we teamed up with architects Sine Lindholm and Mads-Ulrik Husum to create The Growroom. Standing tall as a spherical garden, it empowers people to grow their own food much more locally in a beautiful and sustainable way.”

Way to go Ikea!

How Can You Get One?

In an effort to support sustainability, Space10 has explained it doesn’t really make much sense to promote local food production and have your own garden and then start mass producing and shipping across oceans and continents. So, The Growroom is released now as an open source design that encourages anyone to build their own by obtaining the supplies needed locally.

You can find the template for the Growroom by following this link.

I Live In An Apartment, What About Me?

Well, as awesome as Ikea’s latest invention is, it still doesn’t really do much for those of us –myself included – who live in an apartment. But, there is hope for people like us, especially if your apartment has a balcony. Check out No Yard? No Problem: 5 DIY Garden Projects For People Who Don’t Have Space For A Garden. And, another awesome Ikea invention, Ikea Launched An Indoor Garden That Never Stops Growing Food.

Happy planting!

Much love

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/03/13/a-new-flatpack-garden-from-ikea-can-feed-an-entire-neighbourhood/