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EarthBox Education:
Community Garden Produce in Wyoming County, PA
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Outside the Department of Agriculture building along Route 92 in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, a community garden is taking root. About 60 EarthBoxes have been set up, with a variety of different vegetables planted in each one.
This community project evolved by accident. Project Manager Sue Shaffer had been working with the Tunkhannock Area Middle School's After School Program, and had obtained the EarthBoxes for that group. At the conclusion of the program grant, the school could no longer use the boxes. Both the school and the Department of Agriculture approved Ms. Shaffer's request to start a community garden with the EarthBoxes, and the designated site is, appropriately enough, right outside the department's office.
Several area businesses have helped springboard this project into action, including Stony Mountain Garden Center, Ebb's Landscaping, and Mayflower Florist.
Individuals and families alike have the option of adopting a box, so that after tending to it, they may take home the harvest. The rest of the bounty will be used for Penn State Cooperative Extension Service demos, donated to local senior centers, and delivered to low-income housing residents. |
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Grab Some Free Goodies!
Want to win an EarthBox gift certificate? Just send us your best EarthBox-related recipe, article, or photo, and you might find yourself a winner.
Here are the categories we'd like you to shoot for:
- A helpful story that provides EarthBox owners with information
- A story on your most successful crop
- A photo illustrating a successful EarthBox crop
- Your greatest number of EarthBoxes in use at once
- Your best disaster story, so everyone can learn from your mistakes
- Your quickest recipe using an EarthBox harvest
- Your spiciest recipe using an EarthBox harvest
- Articles on non-traditional uses of the EarthBox
Your entry should be brief and to the point. We'll pick a new winner every month, and we'll post each winner in an upcoming issue.
Send your contest entries to photos@Earthbox.com, with the word "contest" in the subject line, and we'll take a look! |
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We Have a Winner!
We've chosen the latest winner in our ongoing "Grab Some Goodies" contest! Tim Greene of Charlotte, NC will receive a $25 EarthBox gift certificate for his wonderful photo. We'll be posting more winners as we choose them. We're still waiting to hear from you!
Here's Tim's winning entry:
"My tomatoes are doing great!"
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Greetings!
People often ask us how the EarthBox came to be. In this issue, we're pleased to tell you a bit about the father of the EarthBox growing system, Blake Whisenant.
Blake is the owner and operator of the EarthBox Research Center at Whisenant Farms in Ellenton, Florida.The holder of a business degree from the University of Florida, he's a member of a Florida family whose agricultural legacy stretches back to the turn of the last century. The Whisenants have been raising tomatoes since 1901, and Blake's late father, Robert (Bob), is honored in the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame.
Blake originally invented the EarthBox concept while daydreaming in church years ago. Its development really took off in 1992, when weather associated with Hurricane Andrew dumped 19 inches of rain on Whisenant Farms and wiped out his entire tomato crop. Blake used this experience, his knowledge of farming, and his determination to develop the EarthBox growing system.
He soon teamed up with Mickey Lynch, a plastics developer, and together they manufactured the original EarthBox system. Although Blake's family farmed tomatoes, his work with the EarthBox included experiments with many crop varieties. He's especially proud of the high yields produced in EarthBoxes grown out with organic products.
These days, the 79-year-old rancher-inventor and his wife Virginia operate the EarthBox Research Center, while their children run the family's 2,000-acre tomato, citrus and cattle ranch. Blake teaches several free classes demonstrating the usage of the EarthBox system every week, and notes that many of his customers are from countries where vegetable farming is difficult. Blake is also involved with The Growing Connection, which uses the EarthBox system and the Internet to teach people around the world more efficient ways of growing the nutritious food they need. In addition to all that, he's also working on several research projects.
We may be a little biased, but we happen to think that Blake Whisenant is the perfect example of what you get when you combine hard work with an entrepreneurial spirit!
Happy gardening,
 Frank DiPaolo EarthBox |
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Fresh from the Forum
Late Season Starts
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 Looking for some late-season starts? So
is fellow gardener Ander, who recently left this message on the forum:"Due to some work and family
issues, I am late getting my plants into the EarthBox this year. This will be
my second year using the EarthBox, so it will be my first replant. I live in
central North Carolina, and it is already quite hot here (pretty much high 80s
to low 90s, with high 90s coming nearly every day pretty soon). Any advice on what
plants to go with in a sun-rich (blast furnace heat it seems at times)
environment when planting in late June? Last year, we grew tomatoes and
green peppers, but are quite willing to mix it up this year.
"Any suggestions appreciated."
Take a look at the suggestions
folks have already left -- and keep an eye out for more!
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Retailer of the Month
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At EarthBox, we value our partnerships with our authorized retailers. There are nurseries and garden centers throughout the country that carry our systems. This month, we salute the Bergantino Agway chain in Connecticut. Six Agways serve the Constitution State; they're located in North Branford, North Haven, Middlefield, Manchester, Bethel, and Southington.
Family-owned and operated since 1990, Agways are unique in that they're garden centers, pet food and supplies providers, livestock feed retailers, and wild bird stores all in one. From exotic plants to bird seed, they provide top-quality brands for your lawn, garden, pets, and farm. A visit to Agway's website will demonstrate their unmatched level of expertise, as well as the abundance of wonderful items for enhancing both indoor and outdoor living available at these very progressive garden centers.
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From Our Customers
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 "I finished all of the trellis
mounts and fastened netting, and here is the complete setup for summer 2009: my
first EarthBoxes, six of them. Here is the long view.
"For the beans, instead of netting, I added a PVC crossbar at the base of
the stakes and strung twine vertically between it and the top crossbar.
"My first two EBs (planted from store-bought plants) are doing great. My Tomatoes
have lots of blooms, but no fruit yet. Interestingly, the Roma tomato plant, which
was bigger than the cherry tomato plant for several weeks, is now dwarfed by the
cherry. "The other four boxes were started from seeds indoors."
Anita
Zone 10b
Torrance, CA
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Join Our Community
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EarthBox is on Facebook! Now you can become a fan of EarthBox, joining a community of fellow EarthBox users for conversations, advice and photo sharing -- or just to check out whatever new information EarthBox has to enhance your gardening experience! |
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Ordering
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To place an order, call us at 866-727-5532 (24/7) or visit our online store. |
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About EarthBox
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The patented EarthBox was developed by commercial farmers, and proven in the lab and on the farm. Our maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork, and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden -- with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort. It's used successfully on a daily basis by commercial farmers, educators, and consumers. Distributors are also finding it to be a popular growing system.
EarthBox is a remarkably easy-to-set-up system that can be used to grow produce virtually anywhere. EarthBox systems have been incorporated into community gardens all over the world, enabling families and neighbors to share fresh produce, while minimizing work and expenses. EarthBoxes can even be found in classrooms. Our EarthBox Pre-K through 12th grade standards-based curriculum support packages can bring science to life, with hands-on cross-curricula lessons that teach principles of growing and nutrition utilizing the scientific method in student-driven experiments.
To find out more, visit www.earthbox.com. | |
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