GrowFromHome

Kit 1: Super Simple Starter Kit
Kit 2: Technical Concept Model
Kumppanuuskasvit: companion planting optimisation game

GrowFromHome is a Movement

A movement to grow our own food, take the pressure off farmers and eliminate the distance from farm to plate.

GrowFromHome is about growing greens, berries and small root vegetables that normally require chemical pesticides, tilling soil and using fossil fuel based tractors. We want to figure out localised growing systems that suit the immediate needs of communities and individuals.

We'd love to get to know you through your wishes and experiences through growing your own food: here is our 5-minute GrowFromHome Survey no, we don't ask about your "demographic" because, frankly, it is none of our business!

Growing food in your home in a way that suits your way of living

This is also part of a bigger global idea to minimise industrial farming, stop soil erosion and regenerate life on Earth.

By optimising groups of plants we can grow more in a small amount of space, maximising foliage and soil coverage, thus minimising soil erosion. Kumppanuuskasvit (Companion Plants) is an optimisation problem to grow a diverse group of plants with maximum yield in minimum area. It is a very nice and interesting computational and algorithmic problem to figure out. Here we optimise groups of plants in relation to the immediate local microclimates and ecosystems while also considering the global impact.

This work involves community science, like citizen-science but more locally minded. Community science is about us and the people around us. We also inform globally to our global communities. We work together to feed ourselves and eachother.

>>> TO THE PITCHDECK

Inspiration: ExtemeLocal food (cannot get more local than this)

Two completely different kits, but both are for growing food at home

Kit 1) Super-simple all-included small starter kit for people who have no green thumb. It can be conveniently grabbed at the local supermarket, just unwrap and add water at home. Includes a growing bed, some seeds etc. Very simple, no technology is included. For onboarding newcomers into the idea of growing food at home.

Kit 2) A complete, more technical setup to help you grow your own food. Anything from root vegetables, climbers and leafy greens.

The Process

1) Putting the kit together through experience and interacting with a diverse mix of people, especially those with no experience in growing their own food: newcomers. The process is to figure things out as we go.

2) Once we have an idea of what we would like to make together from step 1 (above), we want to eventually offer an easy-to-start kit (kit 1) that can be expanded and easily scaled up, out and all over (kit 2).

So far we need:

Water reservoir/tank
Water pump, tubing and connectors (must be able to handle liquid fertilisers)
Soil planter - to plant root vegetables and climbers
Vertical wall planter - to grow leafy greens
Starter pellets
Bokashi compost bin and live-microbiome or worm composting
Fruit fly trapper

We do have dreams of fully automating the setup and connect it directly to the existing water supply, just like installing a washing machine.

Prompts to answer in the comments:

What you would like to know from the computer interface for GrowFromHome?
What kind of information do you need?
What information do you need about the plants you grow?

Some answers from our on-growing community:

Juho: Hmm.. can my mobile just tell me when to add water or other stuff?
Tuukka: Information about plants and their nutritional values.
Vivian: I would like to enter my growing conditions (e.g. - temperature, sun, etc) and get recommendations on what would be best to grow. Or maybe select a bunch of options to help me narrow down the choices. Once I select one plant, I would like to know what are suitable companion plants. Assembly instructions for the kit would be nice. I would also like to know what kind of nutrients the plant needs, health benefits, and suggestions for what kind of recipes it would be good with based on its flavour profile. I would also like a guide for troubleshooting --> e.g. - if the plants have a fungus growing on them, aphids, etc, what could be the cause? That has been a problem for me in the past.