I actually got a little teary eyed, with feelings of love and hope in my chest watching this. I'm a skateboarder, and for years now we've been building our own parks. Skaters are coming together, putting in their time and money and energy to create their own world. There are hundreds of these projects world-wide, and some are huge. 100's of tons of concrete moved by the hands of people committed to building a better world for themselves and each other. It's a beautiful thing. But I thought it was just us. Now I know it isn't, and I'm so happy to discover this! Britta Riley, you are fantastic! As are all your fellow research and developers. Now I'm going to look into being one of them. THANK YOU!
This is great.I have families in the States that are doing window farm. I do balcony and outside raise bed. Anyone can do it. If I can do it from a wheelchair you can do it too. Happy gardening.
There are a few components to courses in aquaponics . One resource I found which successfully combines these is the Fast track grower (check it out on google) it's the most useful blueprint that I've seen. look at all the super information .
interesting points ,if anyone else wants to uncover aquaponics diagram try Tarbetti Amazing Aquaponics Tutor (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some amazing things about it and my cousin got cool results with it.
I thought this was amazingly awesome too, until I looked it up on Google. I saw that they are now patented and selling a very expensive system... Actually, it's only part of the system, you would have to buy five of them or so. It's not recycled, it's not biological, you are not sprouting your seeds. They sell you the plants already sprouted in your system. Someone got greedy and forgot the whole point. I feel bad for all the people who donated. Here's an actual cheap and efficient way to garden in your window... Buy curtain brackets, curtain rods (or any steel rods), shower curtain hangers, and buckets. It looks super cute and modern, without all of this. You can even get all of those things used,without any plastic.
they always do like this:they become greedy and proud of having been the "pionier"...after they have used people(volunteers) time to apply "their" ideea...Now you have to buy it if you want to use it...it is cheaper to come up with your own and try to sell it to them afterwords...
Betsy Smith This is why I think that we should learn to plant what you buy. For instance the tomatoes that I growing is from the one I bought took a scoop of seeds and just dropped it dirt and it didn't cost my extras. I use plastic containers. and I use coffee grounds and egg shell and other things that you would use in compost. Cutting cost is important because if the product costs more than in the store, then what was gain?
I also have a limited space and vertical gardening save a lot of space and budget wise all of my vegetables and herbs consumption came to my garden, a lot of savings in my pocket and always eat fresh. I have my compose bin, and saved me a lot, buying garden fertilizer are also expensive, using organic compose yield twice of the harvest. Gardening is so rewarding. Yes, hydroponic is also an options and this is an excellent idea for people with limited space. Post more videos about hydroponic. Thank you in sharing
Britta Riley's Kickstarter was a scam. I donated over $100 for a window farm and she hasn't delivered to myself, nor has she delivered to HUNDREDS of international backers. Shameful
And in the end, all gathered information in the international forum was taken offline. Really shameful and again a bad example of corporate owned open source. For sure you can use it for free, if you are able to find the plans.
@clearstatic, make your own. I think she meant well; however, she probably was way over her head. You can use plywood, wood slats, and assorted buckets.
Honestly you can do this without the pumping systems or anything powered. You can easily water indoor window farmers manually. You just need to know what you need nutrient wise.
Thank you Britta Riley for this wonderful opportunity for us people to do something ourselves. I am currently an exchange student in Japan and the people are amazed like me! When no one does the change for us, we have to be the change in the world! Thank you so much! :)
This is like the industrial revolution: has a momentum all it's own. Only this time, it's the Open Source Revolution (or whatever), building on the work of others, but no one hoarding it to themselves: shifting from competition to cooperation and collaboration. It's so inspiring!
This did start out as a movement but lets face it scams, geed and exploitation has pretty much flooded most diy projects. This is even more so with hydroponics and aquaponics where stores now sell basic $40 dollar builds to people for 90+. The barrel system for $900 etc.Even going to the extent of making sure they do not sell risers or buckets with holes. Then turn around and put a desc in saying this is not homemade its factory made. So its more or less making sure the man does not know how to fish. So they can starve people into paying whatever is decided. The sad part is a lot of these system designs could be used in the third world.
Joe Buzzell Well, yes, that's true enough, and sad, especially about the third world issue. Of course, it's fine for the people who don't really want to "do it yourself." It's good that they can buy the set up, and still grow their own food, have plants in their house, etc. For the rest of us, there's the internet, where one CAN access the info, so there is still an "open source" dynamic going on.
Brandon McGinnity Sure, open source info, like the diagram of how it's set up on their website. All I had to do was download and enlarge it. Now I can build it myself.
Amazing what we can do when work together. I just saw a photo of someone who used a fabric shoe rack to grow plants. The put dirt and seeds in the pockets and grew plants vertically. It saved a lot of space.
I discovered that this video is interesting and an excellent example of exactly what can be achieved with group sourcing and community participation in constructing systems and experiences. I hope to see future videos from your channel.
I'm trying hydroponic growing this year in my room (I live with my parents and we have a backyard but because of shade from trees and pests, we don't get many things)... I'm trying out the system with a kratky (pumpless version) and a double cup method (not really a true hydroponics system - considering it uses soils - one plastic cup holds the soils and the plant, the other becomes a reservoir for the nutrient solution - refill daily). I'm just waiting for my seeds to sprout and become big enough to pick up the nutrient solution and then I'm buying some solution/nutrients. My setup for now is a recycled ice cream container (plastic of course), with a jello/yogurt container with holes cut into it. The medium I chose was coconut fiber (had some extra from raising orchids). My main light tent (I have some crappy grow lights from raising turtles - they need the vitamin D to absorb calcium) is a recycled cardboard box lined with a mylar camping blanket. So far it's cost me nothing to set up - had everything I need, but will go to the dollar store and pick up a few things like solo cups and some cheap potting mix. And I have an order on Amazon for $50 worth of hydroponic nutrients - which will feed the plants for a long time....
how did it go? i am late to the party, and lots of things have vanished; the sites no longer link. but i am curious astrangeone do you still have access, or contact? are you still growing food?
jo Cobbett I'm still growing peppers. The "ghost pepper" and jalapenos are doing fine. I tried to do the lettuces, but they turned bushy and bitter, so I guess they didn't like this setup. All you need is a tupperware and some things to hang in them. I used plastic cups with holes punched into them, and the nutrients work well
@TheFounderUtopia Some people in the ourwindowfarms community HAVE created pumpless windowfarms. The "Core group" concentrates on the main product. There are some issues with pumpless windowfarms. There is less oxygenation, more fluid is needed (storage on top and storage at bottom to collect it, and a good timing system so that it gets sent through at the right speed. Also, the thing is more top heavy than the windowfarm with a pump.
I did a project on hydroponics when I was in elementary. It wasn't heavily focused on a cause or science. Of course, I did small research because it was part of the project but I was just so happy to see my plants grow. weeeeEEEEE!! ^_^
Her site is gone but so are several related sites. Based on what she said in her speech I have a feeling some corporation patented the process then sued them to death. Only corporations are allowed to make money in our system of government. I've had some direct experience with that very thing. I've tried checking into getting patents just as a defensive move but they are insanely expensive to get, think in the tens of thousands of dollars and potentially much more. Even non profits aren't safe since you are perceived as stealing from a corporation. About all you can do is try to share the information on places like TH-cam and so far they can't stop you from feeding yourself but don't think they haven't tried. There was a bill floated that would outlaw selling seeds that weren't patented or at least certified. The excuse was it was for our own good to make sure the seeds met certain standards but really it was to try to force you to buy your seeds from companies like Monsanto. They've already made it nearly impossible for farmers to save seeds. Seeds need to be "cleaned" as in removing any debris before they can be used. The machines are expensive so farmers were paying some one to clean the seeds for them. Monsanto didn't like farmers saving seeds including ones that weren't Monsanto seed so they started suing the seed cleaners. They couldn't fight the lawsuit so most had to abandon the business so the farmers were left with no way to clean their seeds so they had to abandon seed saving. Corporations are evil by nature.
hadnt heard about seed cleaner suits before.. there are more & more people saing seeds and acting independently.. sad that this seemingly benevolent approach got derailed
This is an elegant and much needed idea that is evolving. The window farms would also offer fresh oxygen to the human not to mention an aesthetic display of nature.
It doesn't seem that this project is active anymore. Can anyone confirm? I went to their sites, the only one up is the .org, and although I didn't scour the site its last news-related update was in May 2015.
why use electricity to power it? how about just a normal foot-pump into a bladder/baloon once a day/week, and the pressure being released slowly all the time.
To see the videos that actually kicked this off Go to the youtube channel Windowfarm or window farmers channel. I just typed her name in search to find a wealth of her video's cuz this one seems more like just a marketing pitch not the DIY it started as.
I am a member of "ourwindowfarms" the community website of ordinary people who make suggestions and test the designs. Windowfarms is diverse. There are several versions which DO NOT USE a pump and you can try them and improve them through the community website. Windowfarms is also expanding our knowledge. 2 years ago, nobody, including Marijuana growers, knew that you could pump water 15 ft high using a $10 aquarium bubble pump. This has implications for living walls too.
We apply Open Source principals to our food/medicine/eco start-ups, and it's great to see such a good example of crowd sourcing innovation; but what on earth happened to them? I can't find anything on Britta Riley or RNDIY and it seems from the comments she was either a scamster, a sellout or sued by big business? Very strange end to a too-good-to-be-true story. We need real solutions.
Sandra ! That is so right I almost cried watching Plastic Paradise because these huge companies are feeding LIES!!!' They think putting a leaf with recycle sign next to it means enviornmentally friendly when really it's not!!!
I am so going to try making this at home.... I hate living in an apartment where nothing can be grown - I don't even have a windowsill where a plant can stand
@CommentsSurvey Indoor without electricity : solar panels or a simple mechanical system that works with a weight you reset on top each morning/evening... outdoors : put clay pots on walls, where's the problem? you get nutrient throught rain and the sun...
exactly what ive been hunting for! i have idea to turn my apartment lounge into a mix of vertical window farming, inc on walls with LED lights, powered by gravity-fed hydro (archimedes screw/waterwheel, which also help transport n keep water flowing around my room, cleaning, oxygenating n filtering naturally for the fish which will fertilise the plants. im thinking to use bamboo 'pipes' as much as possible. 10 years ago, i asked to grow plants in the communal area n got denied (fire hazard -.-) i am concerned about condensation issues, but there's ways to mitigate this apparently (not looked into it as yet, just enough to see info out there)
Does anyone know where you could get a step by step guide to setting up a few of your own, i love this idea i think it would be a great little hobby aswell. Cheers
@backacheache Yes you can. You are not going to touch the barren land, the dirt, sand/soil here, But use water and little of nutrient solution to grow plants.
A wonderful concept. I'd love to do this organically. Nice to see plastic bottles being reused instead of sitting in land fills jacking up the environment. I'm going to create an indoor garden this year and share my ideas and designs with you all. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
@Icix1 The problem is not simply explained by the word "lazy." It's a matter of industry eliminating a need for traditional tasks while raising the average dollar value of a human's time. By your logic, someone is lazy if he doesn't hand craft his children's toys, doesn't get his own cow and milk it for his milk, etc. Specialized industries for these things means we get more for less cost and we can do the things we really want to do.
Putting plants in your window will reduce the incoming light to your room. Some people will turn on lights to brighten the room up again, but it means we are consuming more electricity -> cutting carbon footprint??? Anyway, it is a good idea. Would love it if the city is more green
i like the idea of window farming but if house and flat builders were pushed to put in bay or bow windows, there would be room for big pots that will yeald more,that can just be watered by hand i have also seen this type of growing with the clear plastic shoe racks you can hang up that looked less home made, not to knock the bottles
@Trinivalts Hydroponics is a notable part of commercial food production as well; you've probably had hydroponically grown stuff and haven't even realized it.
@Icix1 And I'll give you a specific example. Your annual salary / hours you work is the dollar value you can put on an hour of your time (though you should make it a good bit higher than that cause of overheads and other factors). Let's say my time is worth $40/hr and it takes me an hour to mow my lawn. I know guys who mow lawns for $20. If I pay them to do it, I'm effectively saving 20 bucks. Same reason we don't grow our own food. A specialized industry saves us time, which equates to dollars.
@Arnthorg You've got a good point, there may be some disadvantages to using plastic bottles. However, window glass is opaque to UV-light. The Biosphere II researchers rediscovered this fact the hard way when their introduced bees died off due to flying blind! I think this project has its merits, so I'm bookmarking their site, and getting in on some experiments. Sounds like fun ;-)
@Seano71 Isn't the glass allready there? And the Space behind it. The Cups apear to be made out of non recycleb plastic bottles. Only problem i see is the frame and pump. As for the solar panels, their power can still be fed into the local network or battery for later use at night.
I admit she made a powerful and persuasive speech, but it can't interested me at all. You don't need to pay such a high price to buy that system. The only advantage of her method is that you don't need to do watering by yourself (I guess?) so even someone who know nothing about plant growing can be capable of growing vegetables. Getting a T5 LED plant light only cost US$9 in my city, with electricity bill less than US$0.5 a month if you turn on 10 hours a day. Pots and soil are very cheap as well. You don't need to pay hundreds for a window farm. I live in an apartment with more than 30 plants, most of them in soil, where some in water. It's an indoor herbal tea garden, enough to make tea every day for my mom and me. Many people hate using soil just because of the fear of bugs, but as long as you microwave your soil for 5 minutes all bugs will just die. And soak every new plant in detergent water and microwave the soil before putting it in your indoor garden. I grow those plants near my bed but within these 4 years, yet no bugs every climb on to my face haha. Knowing nothing about horticulture is no big deal. Go to Houseplant Journal or other IG plant blogs. Plant youtubers like James Prigioni and Nick Pileggi. Join a plant forum and get help. You can grow plants cheap and nice easily without that expensive system!
This is beautiful. However, in hydroponic crops, don't we have to buy the nutrients from the same chem industry (Bayer, Monsanto etc) we are trying to avoid?
+Bob Stak All there is is an expensive version of the original idea. $300 for 8 bottles and $30 for a monthly box of seedlings? Come on! No plans, no sharing of ideas, no community.
The idea is nice of course but in my opinion, we should try to avoid using plastic first. It is a useful but dangerous material. Have you watched the documentary 'Plastic Planet'?
It looks like we are reusing plastic that was already manufactured and used. This is so much better than making your own anything for your own purpose. If we can reduce plastic consumption to the point that there is not enough to reuse for this purpose that would be great, but every plastic bottle used for this purpose is one more plastic bottle that doesn't get thrown away or recycled.
@frostyuk2007 awesome, especially in winter and especially in areas with scares water. Please, give me a break! It's for enthusiasts and people who want to grow twice more than traditionally you grow using a simple soil and natural humus on windowsill. I am from a cold and unfriendly Ukraine:) I pay a dollar for a good 5kilo soil, a dollar for the same amount of humus that I disperse on 25 kilos of soil. I can't grow the weed, but I grow spinach, cress-salad and basil in winter just fine.
Hi, i'm from Belgium and I love this idea and want to try it. But for some reason i can't get on the rndiy website and i really want to! Is the problem just with me or do other people experience the same problem? and can somebody maybe help me ?
Thanks for the details its new for me to know about window gardening I normally use bottels for new seeds and pot them in big pots when they grow after few days i like your idea very much I am from India and I like to know more about the designes and the plants & vegitable we can grow kindly if possible pleaseemail me the related details its very exiting.
+Educating Savvas You may have better success with: our-dot-windowfarms-dot-org/ Had to remove the actual "dots" to keep the address from appearing as spam on TH-cam.
There´s one problem with this. When architects design buildings, they make windows big enough to provide inhabitants with sufficient sunlight, because the lack of it has an impact on health. Putting plants in windows blocks the light. What about this?
Energy intensive, where are the materials for maintaining this come from? Where is the energy to maintain this come from? Need natural processes that in itself can regulate and maintain itself.
Was not a surprise when I did go after their web page and discovery it was only a fucking store. Nothing about DIY or community. Nice try. You guys from TED should make it public... to show people that some "looking good" speeches need attention about if they can be trusted.
@Rundfunk90 I'm not sure you understand the difference between a copyright and a patent. (FWIW: I'm not very clued up either). You could, for example, copyright (and licence under the GPL) the schematics or blueprint for a particular design, but you have no control over someone who would themselves try to patent something similar.
I think they want it replaced with soil because 'dirt' refers to something dirty or something you get on yourself (like that awful light brown dirt) and something you don't want things as opposed to soil which brings with it the image of gardens and flourishing plants, richness, value. That's just my guess. (ps.I am US American.) tl dr: dirt is unwanted and soil is wanted in is connotation.
@TheCreatlach I'll give you the same answer I gave the last guy to try and respond to this. I was speaking more generally about all videos, referencing things the speakers tell us to go to and potentially even providing a list of further reading.
If you're at all interested in this (as I was) I'll save you some time. "Window Farms" went out of business but the community version can be found here: windowgardeners.org/ See also: - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windowfarm#Controversy_and_complaints - www.windowfarmsfraud.com/ - www.kickstarter.com/projects/windowfarms/learn-to-grow-and-share-with-new-windowfarms/comments
I actually got a little teary eyed, with feelings of love and hope in my chest watching this. I'm a skateboarder, and for years now we've been building our own parks. Skaters are coming together, putting in their time and money and energy to create their own world. There are hundreds of these projects world-wide, and some are huge. 100's of tons of concrete moved by the hands of people committed to building a better world for themselves and each other. It's a beautiful thing. But I thought it was just us. Now I know it isn't, and I'm so happy to discover this! Britta Riley, you are fantastic! As are all your fellow research and developers. Now I'm going to look into being one of them. THANK YOU!
This is great.I have families in the States that are doing window farm. I do balcony and outside raise bed. Anyone can do it. If I can do it from a wheelchair you can do it too. Happy gardening.
There are a few components to courses in aquaponics . One resource I found which successfully combines these is the Fast track grower (check it out on google) it's the most useful blueprint that I've seen. look at all the super information .
interesting points ,if anyone else wants to uncover aquaponics diagram try Tarbetti Amazing Aquaponics Tutor (do a google search ) ? Ive heard some amazing things about it and my cousin got cool results with it.
I thought this was amazingly awesome too, until I looked it up on Google. I saw that they are now patented and selling a very expensive system... Actually, it's only part of the system, you would have to buy five of them or so. It's not recycled, it's not biological, you are not sprouting your seeds. They sell you the plants already sprouted in your system. Someone got greedy and forgot the whole point. I feel bad for all the people who donated. Here's an actual cheap and efficient way to garden in your window... Buy curtain brackets, curtain rods (or any steel rods), shower curtain hangers, and buckets. It looks super cute and modern, without all of this. You can even get all of those things used,without any plastic.
just got the same surprise ! that S.... :S
just realise that their was an other link on their page ! it still open diy !
our.windowfarms.org/
they always do like this:they become greedy and proud of having been the "pionier"...after they have used people(volunteers) time to apply "their" ideea...Now you have to buy it if you want to use it...it is cheaper to come up with your own and try to sell it to them afterwords...
thank you so much sweetheart! I will see what I can do cheap!
Betsy Smith This is why I think that we should learn to plant what you buy. For instance the tomatoes that I growing is from the one I bought took a scoop of seeds and just dropped it dirt and it didn't cost my extras. I use plastic containers. and I use coffee grounds and egg shell and other things that you would use in compost. Cutting cost is important because if the product costs more than in the store, then what was gain?
You can feel the emotions in her voice, the image of these thousends of people across the globe, working together for the benefit of all.
I also have a limited space and vertical gardening save a lot of space and budget wise all of my vegetables and herbs consumption came to my garden, a lot of savings in my pocket and always eat fresh. I have my compose bin, and saved me a lot, buying garden fertilizer are also expensive, using organic compose yield twice of the harvest. Gardening is so rewarding. Yes, hydroponic is also an options and this is an excellent idea for people with limited space. Post more videos about hydroponic. Thank you in sharing
Britta Riley's Kickstarter was a scam. I donated over $100 for a window farm and she hasn't delivered to myself, nor has she delivered to HUNDREDS of international backers.
Shameful
Tony Blake good to see it's being noted. horrible ethics in business will outweigh any attempt to improve food security.
no waaaay. really?
wow.
And in the end, all gathered information in the international forum was taken offline. Really shameful and again a bad example of corporate owned open source. For sure you can use it for free, if you are able to find the plans.
@clearstatic, make your own. I think she meant well; however, she probably was way over her head. You can use plywood, wood slats, and assorted buckets.
Honestly you can do this without the pumping systems or anything powered. You can easily water indoor window farmers manually. You just need to know what you need nutrient wise.
what nutrients would you need for garden veggies?
I think she's lazy to water the plants.
People really need to rely on themselves to produce their food because that's one step closer to freedom.
👏
Love the inovation and working together attitude!
This serves the greater good. The people, the environment and the gardener. Truly utilitarian
Thank you Britta Riley for this wonderful opportunity for us people to do something ourselves. I am currently an exchange student in Japan and the people are amazed like me! When no one does the change for us, we have to be the change in the world! Thank you so much! :)
This is like the industrial revolution: has a momentum all it's own. Only this time, it's the Open Source Revolution (or whatever), building on the work of others, but no one hoarding it to themselves: shifting from competition to cooperation and collaboration. It's so inspiring!
This did start out as a movement but lets face it scams, geed and exploitation has pretty much flooded most diy projects. This is even more so with hydroponics and aquaponics where stores now sell basic $40 dollar builds to people for 90+. The barrel system for $900 etc.Even going to the extent of making sure they do not sell risers or buckets with holes. Then turn around and put a desc in saying this is not homemade its factory made. So its more or less making sure the man does not know how to fish. So they can starve people into paying whatever is decided. The sad part is a lot of these system designs could be used in the third world.
Joe Buzzell Well, yes, that's true enough, and sad, especially about the third world issue. Of course, it's fine for the people who don't really want to "do it yourself." It's good that they can buy the set up, and still grow their own food, have plants in their house, etc. For the rest of us, there's the internet, where one CAN access the info, so there is still an "open source" dynamic going on.
Brandon McGinnity Sure, open source info, like the diagram of how it's set up on their website. All I had to do was download and enlarge it. Now I can build it myself.
Amazing what we can do when work together. I just saw a photo of someone who used a fabric shoe rack to grow plants. The put dirt and seeds in the pockets and grew plants vertically. It saved a lot of space.
This is a Great idea to Start now!! during this pandemic/soon to be Great Depression. Stay strong NYC!
I discovered that this video is interesting and an excellent example of exactly what can be achieved with group sourcing and community participation in constructing systems and experiences. I hope to see future videos from your channel.
You would have to keep the right Ph. balance in the fluid. This would require daily checks and use of nutients for moving Ph. up or down as needed.
I think I'll try the window farm hydroponics out .I already use leca
I'm trying hydroponic growing this year in my room (I live with my parents and we have a backyard but because of shade from trees and pests, we don't get many things)...
I'm trying out the system with a kratky (pumpless version) and a double cup method (not really a true hydroponics system - considering it uses soils - one plastic cup holds the soils and the plant, the other becomes a reservoir for the nutrient solution - refill daily). I'm just waiting for my seeds to sprout and become big enough to pick up the nutrient solution and then I'm buying some solution/nutrients.
My setup for now is a recycled ice cream container (plastic of course), with a jello/yogurt container with holes cut into it. The medium I chose was coconut fiber (had some extra from raising orchids).
My main light tent (I have some crappy grow lights from raising turtles - they need the vitamin D to absorb calcium) is a recycled cardboard box lined with a mylar camping blanket.
So far it's cost me nothing to set up - had everything I need, but will go to the dollar store and pick up a few things like solo cups and some cheap potting mix. And I have an order on Amazon for $50 worth of hydroponic nutrients - which will feed the plants for a long time....
how did it go? i am late to the party, and lots of things have vanished; the sites no longer link. but i am curious astrangeone do you still have access, or contact? are you still growing food?
jo Cobbett
I'm still growing peppers. The "ghost pepper" and jalapenos are doing fine. I tried to do the lettuces, but they turned bushy and bitter, so I guess they didn't like this setup.
All you need is a tupperware and some things to hang in them. I used plastic cups with holes punched into them, and the nutrients work well
@TheFounderUtopia Some people in the ourwindowfarms community HAVE created pumpless windowfarms. The "Core group" concentrates on the main product. There are some issues with pumpless windowfarms. There is less oxygenation, more fluid is needed (storage on top and storage at bottom to collect it, and a good timing system so that it gets sent through at the right speed. Also, the thing is more top heavy than the windowfarm with a pump.
I did a project on hydroponics when I was in elementary. It wasn't heavily focused on a cause or science. Of course, I did small research because it was part of the project but I was just so happy to see my plants grow. weeeeEEEEE!! ^_^
Where is she now? You can't find her on the internet at all! No news about what she did with the fund raiser money also.
Her site is gone but so are several related sites. Based on what she said in her speech I have a feeling some corporation patented the process then sued them to death. Only corporations are allowed to make money in our system of government. I've had some direct experience with that very thing. I've tried checking into getting patents just as a defensive move but they are insanely expensive to get, think in the tens of thousands of dollars and potentially much more. Even non profits aren't safe since you are perceived as stealing from a corporation. About all you can do is try to share the information on places like TH-cam and so far they can't stop you from feeding yourself but don't think they haven't tried. There was a bill floated that would outlaw selling seeds that weren't patented or at least certified. The excuse was it was for our own good to make sure the seeds met certain standards but really it was to try to force you to buy your seeds from companies like Monsanto. They've already made it nearly impossible for farmers to save seeds. Seeds need to be "cleaned" as in removing any debris before they can be used. The machines are expensive so farmers were paying some one to clean the seeds for them. Monsanto didn't like farmers saving seeds including ones that weren't Monsanto seed so they started suing the seed cleaners. They couldn't fight the lawsuit so most had to abandon the business so the farmers were left with no way to clean their seeds so they had to abandon seed saving. Corporations are evil by nature.
hadnt heard about seed cleaner suits before.. there are more & more people saing seeds and acting independently.. sad that this seemingly benevolent approach got derailed
now thats how fake news spreads. Its more likely they took the money and ran...
That isn't true- she never actually delivered her products for international orders, and later she hid
+Ted should remove this video of this scamster.
We plant vegetables in our yard a habit passed down by my grandmother. In our school and house we use empty plastic bottles and cans as pot.
So peaceful so full of life.
This is the NEATNESS thing i have ever heard of so wonderful &enlightening.
This is an elegant and much needed idea that is evolving. The window farms would also offer fresh oxygen to the human not to mention an aesthetic display of nature.
It doesn't seem that this project is active anymore. Can anyone confirm? I went to their sites, the only one up is the .org, and although I didn't scour the site its last news-related update was in May 2015.
This is super exciting not only the money this can make but the family's it can help feed
why use electricity to power it? how about just a normal foot-pump into a bladder/baloon once a day/week, and the pressure being released slowly all the time.
The website is not working, it just shows ads related to similar stuff.
To see the videos that actually kicked this off Go to the youtube channel Windowfarm or window farmers channel. I just typed her name in search to find a wealth of her video's cuz this one seems more like just a marketing pitch not the DIY it started as.
YW ;)
Thank you for this info
Thank you for this info
I am a member of "ourwindowfarms" the community website of ordinary people who make suggestions and test the designs. Windowfarms is diverse. There are several versions which DO NOT USE a pump and you can try them and improve them through the community website. Windowfarms is also expanding our knowledge. 2 years ago, nobody, including Marijuana growers, knew that you could pump water 15 ft high using a $10 aquarium bubble pump. This has implications for living walls too.
We apply Open Source principals to our food/medicine/eco start-ups, and it's great to see such a good example of crowd sourcing innovation; but what on earth happened to them? I can't find anything on Britta Riley or RNDIY and it seems from the comments she was either a scamster, a sellout or sued by big business? Very strange end to a too-good-to-be-true story. We need real solutions.
Sandra ! That is so right I almost cried watching Plastic Paradise because these huge companies are feeding LIES!!!' They think putting a leaf with recycle sign next to it means enviornmentally friendly when really it's not!!!
@Icix1 dont have to teach this generation but teaching to the new ones is the key. Not everyone dont care.
I am so going to try making this at home.... I hate living in an apartment where nothing can be grown - I don't even have a windowsill where a plant can stand
I appreciate your idea
@CommentsSurvey Indoor without electricity : solar panels or a simple mechanical system that works with a weight you reset on top each morning/evening...
outdoors : put clay pots on walls, where's the problem? you get nutrient throught rain and the sun...
So what do i do get when i get fines from my HOA and city for growing plants in my house?
+Christopher Banacka File a suit against NASA for growing their plants indoors and using your money to do it
exactly what ive been hunting for! i have idea to turn my apartment lounge into a mix of vertical window farming, inc on walls with LED lights, powered by gravity-fed hydro (archimedes screw/waterwheel, which also help transport n keep water flowing around my room, cleaning, oxygenating n filtering naturally for the fish which will fertilise the plants. im thinking to use bamboo 'pipes' as much as possible. 10 years ago, i asked to grow plants in the communal area n got denied (fire hazard -.-) i am concerned about condensation issues, but there's ways to mitigate this apparently (not looked into it as yet, just enough to see info out there)
Be the change! I Will consider This once i get my own place great idea!
Jon Tor Strøm
Hill Tung To yy
Very, very cool! Starting my own window farm soon.
Amazing, where can I learn to do this, is there any website public DIY documentation about this?
Does anyone know where you could get a step by step guide to setting up a few of your own, i love this idea i think it would be a great little hobby aswell. Cheers
@backacheache Yes you can. You are not going to touch the barren land, the dirt, sand/soil here, But use water and little of nutrient solution to grow plants.
This is awesome ideas... another new things to do
@gaiatechnician I myself cant wait to join this kind of community , for so long I would want to grow my own garden and now I have the best way for me.
Is consumed electricity cost effective to grow the plant? Isnt it more expensive?
A wonderful concept. I'd love to do this organically. Nice to see plastic bottles being reused instead of sitting in land fills jacking up the environment. I'm going to create an indoor garden this year and share my ideas and designs with you all. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Mitochondrial Eve nope they have clay pellets rather than soil, but those are plastic bottles.
@Icix1 The problem is not simply explained by the word "lazy." It's a matter of industry eliminating a need for traditional tasks while raising the average dollar value of a human's time. By your logic, someone is lazy if he doesn't hand craft his children's toys, doesn't get his own cow and milk it for his milk, etc. Specialized industries for these things means we get more for less cost and we can do the things we really want to do.
Putting plants in your window will reduce the incoming light to your room. Some people will turn on lights to brighten the room up again, but it means we are consuming more electricity -> cutting carbon footprint??? Anyway, it is a good idea. Would love it if the city is more green
i like the idea of window farming but if house and flat builders were pushed to put in bay or bow windows, there would be room for big pots that will yeald more,that can just be watered by hand
i have also seen this type of growing with the clear plastic shoe racks you can hang up that looked less home made, not to knock the bottles
Great talk! Thank you
Fantastic project!
@Trinivalts
Hydroponics is a notable part of commercial food production as well; you've probably had hydroponically grown stuff and haven't even realized it.
@Icix1 And I'll give you a specific example. Your annual salary / hours you work is the dollar value you can put on an hour of your time (though you should make it a good bit higher than that cause of overheads and other factors). Let's say my time is worth $40/hr and it takes me an hour to mow my lawn. I know guys who mow lawns for $20. If I pay them to do it, I'm effectively saving 20 bucks. Same reason we don't grow our own food. A specialized industry saves us time, which equates to dollars.
@Arnthorg You've got a good point, there may be some disadvantages to using plastic bottles. However, window glass is opaque to UV-light. The Biosphere II researchers rediscovered this fact the hard way when their introduced bees died off due to flying blind! I think this project has its merits, so I'm bookmarking their site, and getting in on some experiments. Sounds like fun ;-)
Building various hydroponic systems - both off and on grid - is very easy, fun and affordable. If any of you out there are on the fence, go for it!
@Seano71 Isn't the glass allready there? And the Space behind it. The Cups apear to be made out of non recycleb plastic bottles. Only problem i see is the frame and pump. As for the solar panels, their power can still be fed into the local network or battery for later use at night.
A lot of people at Occupy Detroit would find this pretty interesting, that is if they don't already know about this or something greater in the works.
I am going to do this on a small scale.thank you for this :-)
My roommate sent me this video last night and we are about to dive in on the idea
This is golden. Thank you.
I admit she made a powerful and persuasive speech, but it can't interested me at all. You don't need to pay such a high price to buy that system. The only advantage of her method is that you don't need to do watering by yourself (I guess?) so even someone who know nothing about plant growing can be capable of growing vegetables.
Getting a T5 LED plant light only cost US$9 in my city, with electricity bill less than US$0.5 a month if you turn on 10 hours a day. Pots and soil are very cheap as well. You don't need to pay hundreds for a window farm. I live in an apartment with more than 30 plants, most of them in soil, where some in water. It's an indoor herbal tea garden, enough to make tea every day for my mom and me.
Many people hate using soil just because of the fear of bugs, but as long as you microwave your soil for 5 minutes all bugs will just die. And soak every new plant in detergent water and microwave the soil before putting it in your indoor garden. I grow those plants near my bed but within these 4 years, yet no bugs every climb on to my face haha.
Knowing nothing about horticulture is no big deal. Go to Houseplant Journal or other IG plant blogs. Plant youtubers like James Prigioni and Nick Pileggi. Join a plant forum and get help. You can grow plants cheap and nice easily without that expensive system!
This is beautiful. However, in hydroponic crops, don't we have to buy the nutrients from the same chem industry (Bayer, Monsanto etc) we are trying to avoid?
So where is the R&DIY homepage?
www.windowfarms.com/
+Bob Stak All there is is an expensive version of the original idea. $300 for 8 bottles and $30 for a monthly box of seedlings? Come on! No plans, no sharing of ideas, no community.
+Paul Lamens .org not .com
windowgardeners.org/
Hello everyone don't click on those links they no longer exist and have weird sites now
what happens whit the heater down the window, what about your home insurance as well?
People power doesn't lie within what you can force the government, or anyone else do, it lies within what YOU can do.
The website do not work :(
Fantastic idea...... thank you for you video :)
Clock the guy at 00:35 when his mates said "remember, it's fancy dress today Jim".
The idea is nice of course but in my opinion, we should try to avoid using plastic first. It is a useful but dangerous material. Have you watched the documentary 'Plastic Planet'?
It looks like we are reusing plastic that was already manufactured and used. This is so much better than making your own anything for your own purpose. If we can reduce plastic consumption to the point that there is not enough to reuse for this purpose that would be great, but every plastic bottle used for this purpose is one more plastic bottle that doesn't get thrown away or recycled.
@frostyuk2007 awesome, especially in winter and especially in areas with scares water. Please, give me a break! It's for enthusiasts and people who want to grow twice more than traditionally you grow using a simple soil and natural humus on windowsill. I am from a cold and unfriendly Ukraine:) I pay a dollar for a good 5kilo soil, a dollar for the same amount of humus that I disperse on 25 kilos of soil. I can't grow the weed, but I grow spinach, cress-salad and basil in winter just fine.
Hi, i'm from Belgium and I love this idea and want to try it. But for some reason i can't get on the rndiy website and i really want to! Is the problem just with me or do other people experience the same problem? and can somebody maybe help me ?
seems like all the sites are being taken down. i don't understand why or how or what is going on but all the links seem to not go anywhere now
totally cool talk.
They should seriously stick the website in the description
in my opinion it is another way of "greenhouse" hang on the windows and equipped with pump
Thanks for the details its new for me to know about window gardening I normally use bottels for new seeds and pot them in big pots when they grow after few days i like your idea very much I am from India and I like to know more about the designes and the plants & vegitable we can grow kindly if possible pleaseemail me the related details its very exiting.
Is it just me or does the website not work?
+Educating Savvas You may have better success with:
our-dot-windowfarms-dot-org/
Had to remove the actual "dots" to keep the address from appearing as spam on TH-cam.
+William Ellerbe
This worked for me, thanks!
Just take out the - dot - and put an actual . in it's place and you're good to go!!
Jennifer Grove Happy to find out that the URL worked for you. It's amazing to see the difference that a window farm can bring.
Doesn't still work.
you are right; getting that spooky feeling that someone is trying to take the diy part out of all this..
Yay! Awesome!!! Loved spying Jackson in this vid! ~Heather @aftertheharvest @superforest SuperForest loves Windowfarms!
Never thought Windows would be subject to the open source community! ;)
LOVE.
So did this project come to a halt? Haven't heard, or website has not been updated.
So amazing!
There´s one problem with this. When architects design buildings, they make windows big enough to provide inhabitants with sufficient sunlight, because the lack of it has an impact on health. Putting plants in windows blocks the light. What about this?
Energy intensive, where are the materials for maintaining this come from? Where is the energy to maintain this come from? Need natural processes that in itself can regulate and maintain itself.
Was not a surprise when I did go after their web page and discovery it was only a fucking store.
Nothing about DIY or community.
Nice try.
You guys from TED should make it public... to show people that some "looking good" speeches need attention about if they can be trusted.
You most likely only went to the store which is the.com, our.windowfarms.org is the actual community site.
someone took that down.... no way to reach it anymore. sad yes?
It was up not that long ago hmm...
It was a community, it was DIY. No more though: www.windowfarms.nl/nieuws/whatever-happened-to-britta-riley/
@Rundfunk90 I'm not sure you understand the difference between a copyright and a patent. (FWIW: I'm not very clued up either). You could, for example, copyright (and licence under the GPL) the schematics or blueprint for a particular design, but you have no control over someone who would themselves try to patent something similar.
Agree!!
simply amazing
@reinoks
Its definitively not about Cannabis, but you can use the designs to grow weed.
I love it its very nice network of ideas...
Great work i want to do this in my room
This is beautiful and amazing
I think they want it replaced with soil because 'dirt' refers to something dirty or something you get on yourself (like that awful light brown dirt) and something you don't want things as opposed to soil which brings with it the image of gardens and flourishing plants, richness, value. That's just my guess. (ps.I am US American.)
tl dr: dirt is unwanted and soil is wanted in is connotation.
Superb!! Superb!! Superb!! Thanks!!
What happened to rndiy.org ? it is not working anymore?
@TheCreatlach I'll give you the same answer I gave the last guy to try and respond to this.
I was speaking more generally about all videos, referencing things the speakers tell us to go to and potentially even providing a list of further reading.
im down as long as i can grow some seeded grapes!!!
If you're at all interested in this (as I was) I'll save you some time. "Window Farms" went out of business but the community version can be found here: windowgardeners.org/
See also:
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windowfarm#Controversy_and_complaints
- www.windowfarmsfraud.com/
- www.kickstarter.com/projects/windowfarms/learn-to-grow-and-share-with-new-windowfarms/comments
The next TED video should be called :
How much TED should be 720p...