Designers Charlotte Dieckmann and Nils Ferber have tackled a topic dear to our hearts– the problem of providing healthy food to an increasingly urbanized society. Their contribution to the trend of urban gardening is the “Parasite Farm”, a full-cycle indoor garden that raises vegetables and composts their waste into fresh soil. This indoor garden and compost system is designed to fit into your existing furniture, with a series of grow beds with grow lights and a table-mounted compost bin.
To use the Parasite Farm, indoor gardeners can slide the grow beds into a shelf space, attach the grow light above it, lay down a bed of starter soil and sew their seeds of choice. As the herbs and vegetables grow, produce can be removed and used, even sliced up on the attached cutting board that acts as a seal for the compost bin. Waste drops into the compost where it is naturally processed into soil and liquid fertilizer over time.
Indoor composting can be a bit tricky, as the odors associated with the process can, well, soil the mood. The compost bin appears to be well sealed, and the only odors involved are likely to arise when feeding the plants. This system looks excellent for growing herbs and small produce– like peppers, beans and lettuces. Larger produce like tomatoes and cucumbers are likely to require too much soil and space to flourish, so they may not be a good fit for the Parasite Farm. If you bear that in mind, you can still grow a wide range of fresh ingredients to harvest and cook with immediately, a luxury that most urban dwellers don’t get to enjoy… [via designboom]
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Indoor Garden and Compost Gallery
This is amazing! Now I can expand from my windowsill, not to mention the advantage of not carrying a 20lb bag of soil from the garden supply across town!