David Fletcher and Danny Phillips
Cone-ucopia, 2009
Concrete, pvc, plywood, paint
Dimensions variable
We became interested in urban school agriculture as a way to introduce concepts of propagation and growth to young children. Our child, Ruemer Lee loves to garden, wear big rubber boots, and play with roly-polys. Though schools often have small teaching gardens, they don't have a way to generate income that can support the programs. These programs are also intermittent, cycling between planting and plant sales. We saw a need for a whimsical vending platform that could offer a constant supply of fruit, herb, and vegetable plants to families for their home gardens.
A result is Cone-ucopia, an urban school agriculture project for pre-k through 12 schools. This project is presently underway in San Francisco at the Potrero Kids Daycare Facility. Children plant seeds in recycled coffee cups and grow them within the classroom on baking racks, near a sunny window or with the assistance of grow lights. These are then transfered to drinking cones that are displayed for sale to parents as they leave the classroom. Proceeds from plant sales are used to support the program.
For Broodwork we are showing a design for the armature that stores and advertises the edible plants for sale to parents after sprouting. Built out of easily obtainable and potentially recycled material including PVC pipe and disposable drinking cones, the system is easily maintained by students and faculty and becomes a beautiful, instructional and lucrative beacon of growth for schools. It is our hope that this model can be used by other schools and we encourage parents and administrators to contact us for the plans.