Mobile Greenhouse for the Community Using Shipping Containers (Green 4 U)

Hello! My name is Kathure Kiunga, and I am a rising Senior at Penn High School located in South Bend, Indiana. This is a submission for the Make it Modular Challenge and my first instructable.

As we move farther and farther into the age of industrialization and space conserving, agriculture close to the home becomes less and less of a priority. Don't get me wrong, industrialization is great... but we are losing more and more local farms as time goes on. Fresh produce is having to travel farther and farther than ever from the source which decreases the quality of the produce itself. I personally have seen the result of this near my house. We have grocery stores scattered around but not many farms producing food right there, making my family have to drive long distances to get organic and fresh food.

My solution to this problem is by creating a farm that goes to the consumer: a shipping container farm on wheels! Not only does it provide jobs (farmer, driver, maintenance on the shipping container), but it also gives locals easy access to produce. In the future, an app could be implemented that tells consumers where the vehicle is at the moment, and where it will be in the future. The driver could then alter the routes it takes depending on the amount of need for fresh produce in the area. In the end, this will become a fully for-profit venture/entrepreneurship. Also, he food will be sold at a reasonable price. If supply is low and demand is high, the container may partner with other farms to add more to the selection of foods than just the garden foods. If demand is low and supply is high, it can just be driven to an area where demand is higher!

• Tinkercad
• Shipping container
• Dirt
• Fish tank (preferably made out of recycled materials)
• PVC pipes
• Wooden Fence
• 12x12 plastic to cut for the cashier area
• Plastic or wood to make the logo
• A semi truck to carry the shipping container around

Throughout this project, you may ask yourself, what kind of plants will I need? Well, it depends on where you live and what the climate is where you live. For example, in my area, lettuce, spinach, and kale would grow well. Potatoes may also work. In the model, I will be making plants that look like no particular vegetable.

Before I started making anything on Tinkercad, I did some research using the web app Milanote(See my planning here) to make a planning diagram. If I want to make a greenhouse out of something like a shipping container, I need to research on the constraints that need to be made. Greenhouses are structures designed to maximize the amount of sunlight and nutrients going to the plants. This is why most greenhouses are made of glass or a transparent material. But because I am using a shipping container, I cannot do it the traditional way of using a sprinkler system and having all the plants in a row.

I researched how people have traditionally made indoor greenhouses and found many examples: the Green Urban Lunchbox in Salt Lake City modified a bus to be a greenhouse that educates and feeds kids in low-income communities. Something I noticed from their project was the use of aquaponic irrigation. Aquaponic irrigation uses a system of fish and drip watering to fertilize the water. It is a closed system: the fish adds ammonia to the water, then the water goes through the plants making the water clean, and then it goes back to the fish who use it as clean filtered water. Both the plants and fish benefit! The complete ecosystem uses 1/10th of the water of soil-based gardening. The only thing that the human needs to do is feed the fish and monitor the PH and TDS levels of the water in the tank closely, as it could poison the fish or the plants if either are too high.

Next we can make our model in tinker CAD.

First, pull up the model given and scale it to size with the constraints: 20' long x 8' wide x 9'6” high. Next click the "everyday objects" folder in the Tinker cad library and select the water bottle. This will be used for where the fish live in our mobile greenhouse.

Next, take out the basic red block shape from the library and position it on top of the water bottle so that it cuts off the entire top section. We will be using only the bottom part for the . When you are done, select hole next to the color options in the top right.

This process is repeated to make the tank.

For the plants in your greenhouse, use any of the shapes, press CTRL+D to duplicate one of the shapes in the spot it is in, then slightly rotate the shape. Keep pressing CTRL+ D after this and the complete shape of the plant will form. Add decorations + leaves to your choosing

A greenhouse needs a layer of glass for the maximum amount of sunlight to come in. Add this in now with the transparency option.

Ideally , the top layer of glass would need to be several layers thick to promote insulation in the container. The plants should be at the same temperature regardless of where it is located. This will make the plants grow extremely fast.

I chose the logo for the side of the container because I want the business to be completely identifiable on the streets, like a Kona Ice truck. Once you see that Kona Ice logo, you know exactly what it is selling, and I wanted it to feel the same in my food truck- esque idea. I liked greenfood4u because greenfood is easy to say. I also wanted to let people know that this was for the community and not a delivery truck so I added the "4u" on the end.

Lastly, add a space for people to receive food, a sort of cashier spot. This is meant to be detachable, and there is a hole for four solar panels to fit on the top. If I had more time, I would add more details, but this is the best I can do at the moment.

Because you would want to garner a profit from this project, take some time to consider the placement/route of your new creation. The best place to drive around the container would be in high-density urban areas. These are the areas most at risk for poor food quality and less access to fresh farm food.

Thank you for coming on this journey of building with me! Good luck tinkering!