Last June thousands of Chicagoans descended on Navy Pier for NextFest, Wired magazine’s second annual showcase of cutting-edge technology. Exhibits of hydrogen fuel-cell engines, desalinization processes, and cloned kittens claimed the glamour spots in the pavilion. But to a handful of attendees, the neatest thing wasn’t the robot lobster or the flying car. It was a squat plastic box wearing a shower cap, the EarthBox.
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A decade ago Whisenant teamed up with Mickey Lynch, a plastics developer, to manufacture and market the EarthBox, which now retails for $37.95 through the company’s Web site, earthbox.com. (A complete starter kit including potting mix and fertilizer is $59.95.) Made from recycled plastic, it’s compact and portable, a boon for urban gardeners with limited open space. The self-contained design also prevents plants from pulling lead and other contaminants out of city soil. The reservoir doesn’t need to be filled every day, and the box can be set at table height by anyone whose back or knees balk at ground-level horticulture. The Web site is stuffed with testimonials from happy gardeners ecstatic about record-breaking cucumber crops, four-foot-tall artichoke plants, and monster tomatoes. Whisenant says one season he harvested 137 pounds of tomatoes from a single box.
Fueled by no small ambition, the Growing Connection aims to help end world hunger, stimulate economic self-sufficiency, and foster cross-cultural understanding by marrying EarthBox horticulture and wireless communications technology. It kicked off in 2003 with a few pilot sites in Ghana. In 2004 it added sites in Guadalajara and the U.S., including Chicago–the flagship city for the project in the States. Schools and community gardens were given a supply of EarthBoxes and vegetable and sunflower seeds. Most U.S. participants also use the EarthBox potting mix and fertilizer, but some experiment with local or organic options. In other parts of the world they use whatever’s cheap and readily available–ground-up coconut husks in Ghana, for instance.
Whisenant and Lynch, now CEO of the EarthBox company, have become enthusiastic foot soldiers for the Growing Connection cause, hitting the road with Patterson to train new users and demonstrate the product at venues ranging from NextFest to the Future Farmers of America convention. “It’s a nice way that the UN and the private sector can collaborate,” says Patterson. “They have a tool, we show how the tool works, and they get exposed to new markets.”
“You just want to make a hole with your hand and push the seeds down in the soil,” said Kreith. “Here–who wants to do corn?” Peas, mustard, spinach, Swiss chard, Italian long-leaf basil, Intimidator and Wellington cucumbers, and three kinds of lettuce all went into the boxes.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Jon Randolph.
