CubeFarm is an open source, do-it-yourself, modular, transportable agriculture system for reducing waste materials while growing food. FarmCubes can be laid in rows as space permits and stacked up to three cubes high to maximize plant growth over a minimized land area. The CubeFarm system repurposes commonly available waste materials such as shipping pallets, scrap wood and PVC pipe. Through this tutorial series you will be shown how to construct your own farm cubes and adapt them to fit the needs of your local environment, whether it is urban, rural or something in between. In the following tutorials you will learn how to construct the farm cube module, install the semi-hydroponic system, build LED grow lights, assemble a wind turbine and brew a batch of compost tea to fertilize your CubeFarm. Join the growing number of CubeFarmers in reducing waste materials while producing healthy food in addition to improving your local and global environment through this easy step-by-step project.
TOOLS:
Measuring Tape
Hand Saw
Jigsaw Square
Sawtooth Hole Cutter Drill Bit (5cm or 2” diameter)
15mm or 5/8” Flat drill Bit
2x C-Clamps
Caulking Gun
Soldering Iron
Hot Glue Gun
CUT LIST:
1x Shipping Pallet: 100cm x 120cm
4x Vertical Supports: 86cm x 5cm x 10cm
4x Depth Cross Beams: 100cm x 5cm x 10cm
4x Length Cross Beams:110cm x 2cm x 10cm
4x Angled supports: 91.5cm x 2cm x 10cm cut at 22.5°
2x Median Vertical Supports: 62cm x 4cm x 6cm
16x Wooden Discs: 9.5cm Diameter x 2cm thick
8x PVC Pipes: 106cm Long x 10cm Diameter
32x PVC Pipes: 10cm Long x 5cm Diameter
6x PVC Pipes: 20cm Long x 1.5cm Diameter
OTHER MATERIALS:
36 red LEDs
12 blue LEDs
PCB board
Enameled Wire
Red and black wire
HotGlue Sticks
Solder
Silicone caulking
DC motor
Screws, 4X60mm(100pcs)
Screws, 4X20mm (32pcs)
After building your first FarmCube, you should have a pretty good understanding of how it works and how to reproduce 2, 10 or 100 more so that you end up with a CubeFarm that is constructed out of waste materials, producing healthy food and oxygen in the process, while also utilizing minimal land as well as fresh water resources. Your FarmCubes can be stacked, laid in rows or a combination in order to best occupy your available space. They can be left open for greater access to the plants inside or they can be covered to make greenhouse structures so that you have greater control over the climate your plants are growing in. Additionally, because the FarmCubes are built on shipping pallets, they are easily transported by two people or can be moved around by use of a forklift. Due to the size and modularity of the FarmCubes, they can be replicated in both rural and urban locations – providing the potential for access to nutrition in food deserts. The goal of CubeFarm is to be a platform that is adaptable to the user’s environment, location, skills, and resources to create a democratized, open-source, modular agriculture system with aspirations of reducing material waste and greenhouse gasses while increasing food security through collective production. Through all of this, CubeFarm denies singular definitions such as art, design, engineering, activism or agriculture but creates a hybridized form for the purposes of addressing real issues through creative problem solving and aesthetic solutions.