My design for mobile greenhouse planters!

I've been thinking about how exactly to go about growing food on the Manic Organic bus for a couple of years now. Sort of weighing my possibilities and options for the space.

As was was falling asleep one night, a few months back... I had an idea! Cement mixing trays, funnels, tubing and viola!! We'll have planters!


I asked my good man to build me some wooden frames from the scrap lumber and pallets we had laying around. He built them to fit the plastic cement mixing trays and I drilled a single hole into the bottom of each tray.

We purchased plastic funnels and put one in each hole, fixing them in place with some silicone

 These funnels will attach to drain hoses underneath that will divert excess drainage into buckets hidden behind the curtains.

                                             
 The excess water that drains from the trays can be reused as it's collected. I do plan on having a worm bin in the bus as well so it could also be used to moisten the worms habitat when needed. Everything will be fairly self sufficient on board!

 I fastened mesh cages from some old aluminum screening we had salvaged from something , somewhere (re-use and up-cycle whenever possible!) This will keep the soil from falling through the funnels and clogging up the whole system

I've decided to use lava rock for the bottom of the trays. It's fairly inexpensive and lighter than stone or gravel. We need to keep the weight to a minimum so things don't get too top heavy even though the wooden frames will be secured to the walls before we drive anywhere.

The rock will fill the trays up to the level of the tops of the funnels, creating a reservoir space for water to collect. If the water level goes over the top of the funnel then it will drain out so nothing can get flooded or too saturated. This is very similar to how an earth box works. When you have the constant moisture available to your plants they really thrive. Plus the lava rock will also provide some air space for roots.  The soil will go on top of the rocks and fill the trays nearly to the top. I haven't gotten that far but I'm so excited about our progress that I had to share where we're at so far!

Transforming The Manic Organic Mobile

My very first event, all set up and beautiful!

 The Transformation of my bus over the last few years has been on of the most thrilling and fulfilling projects I've ever embarked on. throwing caution to the wind and chasing a dream is something everyone should try at least once. Yeah I lost a ton of money and yeah I've been pretty broke for a while because of it, but I've learned so much from this process and I'm still learning.

I'm evolving and changing my ideas and implementing back up plans all along the way. I've never thrown in the towel or given up on this project.

As much as I enjoyed selling locally sourced, organic produce out of my bus at various events and markets the competition with conventional produce and my insistence on staying local and serving MY community was a losing combination.

There are too many cheap, conventionally grown produce stands in our area. They sell fruits and veggies from Mexico and china and they're a fraction of the price of the quality organic that I was selling. They're also riddled with pesticides, usually weeks old and rather flavorless.

Time and time again, however, people chose to go with what cost less out of their pocket. You just CAN'T make people care about the quality of their food. It's depressing...anyway...

The worse part is that often they lie to their customers and tell them that what they're buying IS local and organic. Even with the original packaging in plain sight. The frustration and profit loss I suffered competing with these guys was too much. So I shut down the operation and moved on to plan B.

I decided the best way to combat these fraudulent produce vendors in my neighborhood would be to help connect existing, local growers who have conscious and sustainable food growing practices and to help others learn how to grow food in our climate.

The result has been plant and seed swaps twice a year, gardening workshops, home garden consultations, facebook pages for local growers and supporting home made food and craft swaps in our south Sarasota County area.

I feel very accomplished with how things have been coming together and working out! I'm helping more, unused space become filled with food growing goodness in my community and I'm helping connect like minded people. Together we're forming quite a nice sub-community of people who care deeply about the food they eat and the soil it's grown in.

As for the bus! Well, I'm turning it into a mobile greenhouse now! the interior will now house growing containers for organic veggies and I'll take my bus to all the same events and markets to help teach people the the most inexpensive food comes from their OWN back yard.

I'll be blogging the progress as I go! It's very exciting and I'm totally stoked and ready to get things done! To see more photos of the bus and how things are evolving please check out the photo gallery on my website by clicking HERE!