Final Report- Grow Your Own

This whole project is about making human life here on earth more sustainable.  Since there are so many different ways to make life on earth here sustainable, I feel that the first thing we should all do (and probably did) is to ask ourselves what is important to us, and then see how we can help make our lives more sustainable from there.  So that’s what I did, and I found that the thing that is most important to (sustainability wise) is food; so throughout this semester I have looked at ways to grow food indoors, with both successes and failures.  Aside from the actual growing food, I also wanted to try and figure out what, if any, the impact of growing plants indoors had on a person’s psyche.  I thought this mainly because I feel a planet full of happy people is more sustainable than a planet of angry people.

I had seen different examples of people growing things like pineapples and lemon trees indoors, which is what I really wanted to do, but because they take a large amount of sunlight and a very long time to bear fruit, I abandoned that idea, but it is possible (Everton).  So I decided to try and figure out what kind of things are plausible for people with limited time and space to grow, and found out that sprouts, lettuce, and other micro greens are the perfect thing to grown indoors.

Sprouts have to be the easiest thing a person can grow indoors, my guess is that you could teach a Bonobo to do it.  It incorporates all things that I wanted to show in my project: it’s cheap; it’s simple, and healthy.  Since this is the 21^st century and all, instead of explaining how to grow sprouts indoors, here’s a step-by-step video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg.  One thing that I personally want to do is to swap out traditional snacks for things like sprouts, because after a little bit of research it’s almost foolish not to.  There are many different kind of sprouts you can grow, and studies have shown that sprouts can help prevent cancer, heart disease, and menopausal symptoms (Hullum).

The next thing I gave a shot at growing was lettuce.  I always seem to be running out if it, so I figured why not.  This is where I encountered my biggest problem, sunlight.  In the house where I currently live, I have no south-facing windows, or at least not one large enough to put a plant in front of.  Luckily, my dad does, and he was willing to be my assistant.  Regular lettuce takes two to three months until it is ready to harvest, but you can grow baby lettuce indoors and it’ll be ready to go in about 4-6 weeks.

The main thing with lettuce is keeping it moist.  When you first plant the seeds is when it is most important to keep the soil moist, but don’t drown them.  From then on, depending on the temperatures in your house, water them every couple days, to make sure that the soil stays moist.  The quality of your soil isn’t all that important, but fertilize that soil when the first leaves appear.  When your lettuce looks like something you would want to eat, go ahead, rinse it off and eat it!

Although this is a fun project to do, I began to wonder what good one guy growing his own lettuce really does, and as it turns out, isn’t much.  However, I did look into a group called Growing Power, based in Milwaukee. .  Growing Power is a community-based program designed to, “provide high-quality, safe, healthy, affordable food for all residents in the community.”  It is headquartered in Milwaukee, but has other urban gardens in Chicago and training sites in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Massachusetts (“Growing Power”).  Growing Power does an amazing job of building a sense of community based around hard work and a love for food, but that isn’t all they do, they also have training programs that help others to continue the idea of sustainable food (“Growing Power”).

Another question I began to ask myself as I was doing this project was, “what, if any, psychological effects do plants growing indoors have on humans?”  In a chapter written by Marjolein Elings, the author describes that in a recreational setting (which is what this type of gardening would be) there hasn’t been enough research to determine a direct connection between gardening and therapeutic benefits (Elings 3).  However, she does go on to say that there are mental benefits such as, “an increased sense of self-esteem, awareness, responsibility, and self-confidence.”  Do to the great variety plants give in smell, appearance, and what they produce, plants can create a calm and relaxing environment for the people who tend to them (Elings 3).  There was also a study done by Kid and Brascramp (2004) that studied 361 gardeners from New Zealand.  What they found was that there were no casual relationships between gardening and psychological effects, but “high correlations between gardening and feelings of autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relationships with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance.”  My point being here is that there are many different ways that working with plants can positively affect our lives.  Not only do we benefit from eating food that is better for us, but that the cultivation of these plants will give us a sense of accomplishment and pride that simply make us feel better about ourselves.

In summary, I feel that there are no really legitimate reasons why we shouldn’t all at least give growing food indoors a shot.  The types of things you grow will have virtually no distance to travel between where it is being grown and where you eat it, since it’s all in your house.  This means that the food you eat will be much fresher than anything you’d buy in a store, and it won’t have to be transported on a refrigerated truck that only gets eight miles to the gallon, which is a whole other issue.  In order to help make our world a more sustainable place, I encourage all who read this to plant their own food.  Whether it’s something presented here, or something that tickles your fancy more than these, it’s at least worth a try, and every little bit helps.

Works Cited

Everton, Rick. “How To Grow a Pineapple.” Rick’s Woodshop Creations. N.p., 03 05 2009. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <www.rickswoodshopcreations.com/Pineapple/pineapple.htm>.

Hullum, Robert. “Nutrition and Information.” Good Sprout News. International Sprout Growers Association, 10/10/2010. Web. 13 Nov 2011. <http://www.isga-sprouts.org/nutritio.htm&gt;.

. “About Us.” Growing Power. Growing Power Inc, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2011. <http://www.growingpower.org/about_us.htm&gt;.

Elings, Marjolein. People-Plant Interactions. Wageningen: 2006. Print.

Introduction

For my final project, I want to figure out how we can make our own personal lives more sustainable, specifically through growing your own food.  When one thinks about growing your own food, you usually think about starting an outdoor garden, either in your backyard or some kind of a co-op.  However, we all live in Wisconsin, where it is usually more cold outside than it is warm outside, so an outdoor garden is really only beneficial less than half of the year.  Starting your own outdoor garden is still a good idea, but how can we grow our food all year round?

What I want to research in my final project is how we can grow our own food indoors.  Just because it gets cold outside doesn’t mean we cannot keep plants inside warm and living, in order to bear us food.  I also want to try and change people’s thinking that it isn’t possible to do this, simply and cheaply.  There are many different kinds of foods you can grow indoors- from lemons to pineapples to lettuce to herbs to sprouts- all these things can be grown indoors.  The problem I know I am going to encounter is finding enough space in my own house to implement these practices, and having enough time to actually grow these things long enough to have them bear fruit or whatever it is I end up growing.

By being able to grow a portion of our own food, we will be able to save money, help curb pollution that comes from the transportation of food, and also for the simple joy of trying to do something I haven’t done before.  Not only is this project possible, but it is also the smart thing to do, and I will also be trying to encourage others to do the same as me.

The first step in growing plants indoors is to set up an environment that will allow the plant to grow.  There are six key factors to successfully growing plants indoors, and they are: light, temperature, humidity, water quality, containerization, and air circulation (Rice, 266).  As mentioned, light is the first factor in growing plants successfully indoors, and was also probably the biggest problem I had.  The only lights where I live are simple light bulbs, and there are no windows that let in enough sunlight sufficient to give a plant life.  To solve this problem, you can go out and purchase a grow light, or you can do what I did and set up a small growing area at your parents’ house (pictures to come).  Growing the plants next to windows not only helps the plants receive more light, but also to cool them down during the night time, so that they do not use all their stored carbohydrates during the night (Rice 266).  Since we all use central air to heat our homes, moisture levels indoors can be very low, which causes the plants to dry out, so it is important to keep the plants hydrated (Rice 266).  So far I haven’t had a problem with the container/soil relationship, but it needs to be said that simply taking dirt from outside will not be sufficient for plant growth, you need to make sure you buy soil with fertilizers.  What I found to be the easiest thing to grow indoors for a project like this were simple things like sprouts and micro greens.  Both of these things are very easy and simple to grow, so much so that you can watch a YouTube video to see how easy it really easy, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg.  For sprouts, all you really need is something simple like a jar, water, and the seeds of your choice.  Make sure the seeds are dry when you begin, then let them soak in water overnight.  Over the next few days, rinse them and give them a little sun, even just putting them next to  a window will work fine, and then you’ll have sprouts that are inexpensive to produce, and will give you a healthy snack (Growing microgreens and sprouts at home).

Now, one of the reasons I chose to do a project like this is because I feel that individually, we can all make changes to help address the problem of feeding a world with 7 billion people in it.  However, the impact that each of us have on a problem like this is very minimal, which is why I looked into a place called Growing Power.  Growing Power is a community-based program designed to, “provide high-quality, safe, healthy, affordable food for all residents in the community.”  It is headquartered in Milwaukee, but has other urban gardens in Chicago and training sites in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Massachusetts (“Growing Power”).  Growing Power does an amazing job of building a sense of community based around hard work and a love for food, but that isn’t all they do, they also have training programs that help others to continue the idea of sustainable food (“Growing Power”).

Another question I began to ask myself as I was doing this project was, “what, if any, psychological effects do plants growing indoors have on humans?”  In a chapter written by Marjolein Elings, the author describes that in a recreational setting (which is what this type of gardening would be) there hasn’t been enough research to determine a direct connection between gardening and therapeutic benefits (Elings 3).  However, she does go on to say that there are mental benefits such as, “an increased sense of self-esteem, awareness, responsibility, and self-confidence.”  Do to the great variety plants give in smell, appearance, and what they produce, plants can create a calm and relaxing environment for the people who tend to them (Elings 3).  There was also a study done by Kid and Brascramp (2004) that studied 361 gardeners from New Zealand.  What they found was that there were no casual relationships between gardening and psychological effects, but “high correlations between gardening and feelings of autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relationships with others, purpose in life and self-acceptance.”  My point being here is that there are many different ways that working with plants can positively affect our lives.  Not only do we benefit from eating food that is better for us, but that the cultivation of these plants will give us a sense of accomplishment and pride that simply make us feel better about ourselves.

 

Works Cited

Growing microgreens and sprouts at home . chicagobotanicgarden, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg&gt;. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1ADMsKQTg&gt;.

. “About Us.” Growing Power. Growing Power Inc, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2011. <http://www.growingpower.org/about_us.htm&gt;.

Williams Rice, Laura, and Robert Rice. Practical Horticulture. Second. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1993. Print.

Elings, Marjolein. People-Plant Interactions. Wageningen: 2006. Print.

 

Project Statement

For my final project, I want to figure out how we can make our own personal lives more sustainable, specifically through growing your own food.  When one thinks about growing your own food, you usually think about starting an outdoor garden, either in your backyard or some kind of a co-op.  However, we all live in Wisconsin, where it is usually more cold outside than it is warm outside, so an outdoor garden is really only beneficial less than half of the year.  Starting your own outdoor garden is still a good idea, but how can we grow our food all year round?

 

What I want to research in my final project is how we can grow our own food indoors.  Just because it gets cold outside doesn’t mean we cannot keep plants inside warm and living, in order to bear us food.  I also want to try and change people’s thinking that it isn’t possible to do this, simply and cheaply.  There are many different kinds of foods you can grow indoors- from lemons to pineapples to lettuce to herbs to sprouts- all these things can be grown indoors.  The problem I know I am going to encounter is finding enough space in my own house to implement these practices, and having enough time to actually grow these things long enough to have them bear fruit or whatever it is I end up growing.

 

By being able to grow a portion of our own food, we will be able to save money, help curb pollution that comes from the transportation of food, and also for the simple joy of trying to do something I haven’t done before.  Not only is this project possible, but it is also the smart thing to do, and I will also be trying to encourage others to do the same as me.

 

Project Update- Grow Your Own

First of all, thanks to all the people who have given me feedback either in lab or somewhere on here, it really helps.

For the next step in my project will be to try and grow some small simple things in my own college house.  Also, I hope to take a tour of Growing Power in Milwaukee, http://www.growingpower.org/index.htm.  Growing Power is a large urban agricultural community, which, if I had the time and resources would turn my project into.  I’m hoping to see how they feel about sustainability, and seeing as they probably know a lot more about sustainability and how to actually put it into practice, I’m banking on this being a great resource for me.

What I have come to find so far in working on my project is that you have to start small, and gradually integrate ways to become more sustainable into your life.  This is in large part to the fact that as college students we have very limited space to grow our own food, and it takes a good amount of time for plants to be able to bear us food.

Grow Your Own

For my final project, I want to figure out how we can make our own personal lives more sustainable, specifically through growing your own food.  When one thinks about growing your own food, you usually think about starting an outdoor garden, either in your backyard or some kind of a co-op.  However, we all live in Wisconsin, where it is usually more cold outside than it is warm outside, so an outdoor garden is really only beneficial less than half of the year.  Starting your own outdoor garden is still a good idea, but how can we grow our food all year round?

 

What I want to research in my final project is how we can grow our own food indoors.  Just because it gets cold outside doesn’t mean we cannot keep plants inside warm and living, in order to bear us food.  I also want to try and change people’s thinking that it isn’t possible to do this, simply and cheaply.  There are many different kinds of foods you can grow indoors- from lemons to pineapples to lettuce to herbs to sprouts- all these things can be grown indoors.  The problem I know I am going to encounter is finding enough space in my own house to implement these practices, and having enough time to actually grow these things long enough to have them bear fruit or whatever it is I end up growing.

 

By being able to grow a portion of our own food, we will be able to save money, help curb pollution that comes from the transportation of food, and also for the simple joy of trying to do something I haven’t done before.  Not only is this project possible, but it is also the smart thing to do, and I will also be trying to encourage others to do the same as me.