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A Windowfarm is a hydroponic urban gardening system that was originally developed by Britta Riley using open-source designs. A Windowfarm is an indoor garden that allows for year-round growing in almost any window. It lets plants use natural light, the climate control of your living space, and organic “liquid soil.”

About

Windowfarms is a Brooklyn, NY-based social enterprise that helps city-dwellers around the world grow their own fresh food. Windowfarms makes vertical indoor food gardens that optimize the conditions of windows for year-round indoor growing of greens, herbs, and small vegetables.

Company mission

Windowfarms is on a mission to revive agricultural biodiversity and to connect eaters with sustainable food production for a healthier future for both humans and the environment.

How it works

In the hydroponic system, nutrient-spiked water is pumped up from a reservoir at the base of the system and trickles down from bottle to bottle, bathing the plants’ roots along the way. Water and nutrients that are not absorbed collect in the reservoir and will be pumped through again at the next interval. Plants grown in soil have roots that extend far and wide, but hydroponically grown plants roots are hairy and dense. Because the roots are so compact, a hydroponic system is a much more efficient use of space.

Partners

Grateful Greens (Louisville, KY) was founded by a former chef turned farmer to provide fresher, more delicious produce.

Mid-Hudson Workshop for the Disabled (Poughkeepsie, NY) employs disabled US war veterans and other physically handicapped workers to give them meaningful work and comprehensive health coverage.

Harbec, Inc. (Ontario, NY)makes Windowfarms eco-plastic components and is recognized as an industry eco- innovator, with a wind-turbine powered plant, experience with the newest materials, and a roadmap to be carbon-neutral in 2013.

DIY

In 2009, Founder Britta Riley built the first Windowfarm with friends in her 5th floor Brooklyn apartment window. She collaborated to open & crowdsource the development of a home hydroponic food growing system for apartment windows, building a social media sharing site, our.windowfarms.org, around a set of instructions for making the systems out of repurposed water bottles and plumbing supplies. The site now has nearly 40,000 registered users who have built Windowfarms.

Kickstarter Campaign

Through two record-breaking Kickstarter campaigns, the social startup raised over $285,000 to bootstrap itself into manufacturing designed Windowfarms in the US and with sustainable practices, with an updated focus on the plants the systems grow — all with the goal of reviving agricultural biodiversity in small scale systems.

One year after funding succeeded on their second campaign the WindowFarm team made a final update to the Kickstarter project page,^[1] announcing domestic orders fulfilled. ^[1]

International backers

Britta Riley estimated Windowfarms’ delivery for December 2012. Product and delivery costs for International pledges : from 120$ to more than 300$ per backer. As of April 2014, International backers never received their product nor reimbursement and Windowfarms ignores enquiries, phone calls or emails from International backers. Simultaneously, Britta Riley (Windowfarms) continues promoting and selling her product locally.

Controversy and complaints

Windowfarms’s definition and mission is ambiguous. There is the community where people from everywhere exchange and develop ‘vertical window farms ’ and the commercial WindowFarms priced from 199$ to 399$. One is a social community and the other is a company for which Britta Riley is co-founder.

Exhibition

Windowfarms was commissioned to build two large arrays of Windowfarms at The American Museum of Natural History in conjunction with the globe-traveling special exhibition on food, “Our Global Kitchen: Food, Culture, Nature“. The LED grow light powered hydroponic research garden is on view for 10 months at the Columbus and 79th street entrance November 2012-August 2013.

Press

Windowfarms have been featured by NPR, The New York Times, Grist, Art in America, Good Morning America, Wired Blog, the Martha Stewart Show, Garden Culture, ReadyMade magazine, prominent food blogs, and documentary films. July 2013, CBC News published an article explaining how Canadian and international backers feel ripped-off by Britta Riley, co-founder of the Windowfarms.

Notes

^ ^a ^b The Windowfarms Team 2012.

References

The Windowfarms-Team (2012-12-05). "Final Update". Retrieved 2013-06-25. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Backer comments (2014-03-02). "Final Update". Retrieved 2014-04-05. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

[FOOTNOTEThe_Windowfarms_Team2012-1] The Windowfarms Team 2012.

[1]

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 ===Controversy and complaints===
 Windowfarms’s definition and mission is ambiguous. There is the [http://our.windowfarms.org/ community] where people from everywhere exchange and develop ‘vertical window farms ’  and the [http://store.windowfarms.com/ commercial] WindowFarms priced from 199$ to 399$. One is a social  community and the other is a company for which Britta Riley is co-founder.
-===Disappointed and angry===
-Although she preaches for a change in consumer behavior, simultaneously she ripped-off hundreds of people who were duped by her environmental concept and believed in an honest project. Two years after backing her, International backers feel the company is a fraud as they helped her start her company and were then left with no answer, no product and no concern from the company. In an interview, she declares that she learned how to see contracts and relationships as tools to leverage her vision. And of course, [http://under30ceo.com/interview-britta-riley-and-window-farms-its-all-about-resilience/ “…it helps to find a really good lawyer.”] she says.
 ==Exhibition==