This article is offered in partnership with Gardyn. They’ve created an easy, innovative way for more of us to grow our own fresh food, and we’re honored to work with them. ~ed.

I’m madly in love with the idea of gardening—but I just can’t get it right.

I picture myself in a wide-brimmed straw hat and cute floral gardening gloves, communing with the earth, growing magnificent flowers, and harvesting glorious vegetables that my smiling children gobble up happily.

The problem: I’m a working mom with gardening expertise that’s about as extensive as my free time.

Most every attempt I’ve made to grow my own food has ended in bolted lettuce and frustration. I’ve probably killed at least seven basil plants. I may be raising two actual human beings, but I can barely keep my two measly houseplants alive.

There is hope for people like me, though—a simple, sustainable way to live out our gardening fantasies, eat healthy produce grown with our own two hands, and reduce the impact of factory farming in the process.

Imagine having a Keurig machine that gives you fresh vegetables instead of coffee. It’s called Gardyn.

Instead of spending a small fortune at Whole Foods on food that’s already lost 20-40% of its nutrients within 24 hours after harvest, Gardyn gives us everything we need to grow our own produce aisle, right in our kitchens, without having to read a single “Gardening for Dummies” blog.

All you need is two square feet of space, a power supply, WiFi, and a cellphone…

Gardyn makes growing healthy food year-round simpler than making a cup of coffee and more Instagrammable than ever.

How it works:

1. Gardyn provides the indoor gardening kit (a vertical hybriponic indoor system combining hydroponics and aeroponics with LED lighting and advanced AI technology).

2. You choose what you want to grow (from herbs and greens to fruits and flowers, Gardyn comes with 30 biodegradable “yCubes” of plant magic to start and 10 more each month with membership).

3. Your personal Gardyn assistant, Kelby, gets to work, monitoring your plants and letting you know exactly what to do and when to do it via the Gardyn mobile app.

4. The Gardyners Facebook community offers constant support, encouragement, and troubleshooting tips.

5. You reap the delicious and nourishing benefits, every day.

The ultimate plug-and-play solution for healthier eating:
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A Living Artwork of Fresh, Nutritious Food that’s Better for Everyone.

If this year has taught us anything it’s that we urgently need to rediscover what food should be about: fresh, tasty, nutritious, easily accessible—and grown in a sustainable manner. For the good of our own health, and the good of the planet we depend on.

French artist, environmentalist, and athlete FX Rouxel created Gardyn with a mission in mind: to help us reconnect with nature by bringing it into our homes.

The whole system is thoughtfully and beautifully conceived to enable even those of us with no time, no space, and no knowledge to build our own living artwork of truly good food—Gardyn reimagines the future of food for the better, for everyone, giving us more control over where our food comes from and reducing the impact of factory farming on the climate.

No wonder it won the 2020 Sustainability Product of the Year Award.

“As a young adult, I lived in Provence, in the south of France. I still vividly remember the incredible taste of fresh produce. It was easy to find in small markets, harvested just a few hours before, and that made it so great. 

This reality of my youth is becoming increasingly rare and mother nature is paying a high price. Each day, pesticides and herbicides are dumped on the crops we’re going to eat. Produce is harvested several weeks before it’s ripe and flown or trucked over long distances, making it nearly impossible to get truly fresh and nutritious foods. The outcome? Our collective health is declining; conditions such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases have become prevalent…But, we recognize people have no time, no space, and no experience when it comes to growing your own food. That is why we invented Gardyn. Anyone can now have fresh, beautiful produce always within arm’s reach.  

Growing at home not only is more convenient, healthier, and tastier, it also reduces our impact on the planet. Local is better. Homegrown is best. ” ~ FX Rouxel

“A Source of Food & a Source of Joy”

When Gardyn asked members of their Gardyning community what most surprised them about their growing experience, these were their top reactions:

1. How Easy it is to Use: “My husband can grow plants but I kill everything! For me, it’s amazing to see things grow and I don’t have to do anything, ever. The app tells me what to do…For someone who cannot grow anything, to see so much growing is amazing.” ~ Shirish

2. How Fast & How Much it Grows:

3. Its Beautiful Design & Small Footprint: “The system is unobtrusive & attractive—it has a great footprint and an easy-to-live-with design. For example, the lights are on only one side, so if you place it against a wall, you’ll get bright indirect light vs. direct, blinding light. I also love that I can dim or turn off the lights and it’s fun to hear it watering.” ~ Kathleen

4. The Quality of the Harvest:

Amanda’s Gardyn Journey from Gardyn on Vimeo.

It’s “a source of food and a source of joy” for the whole family:

Gardyn with the Family from Gardyn on Vimeo.

Everyone Deserves to Grow Healthy

Gardyn is a smart, simple way to turn our food-growing dreams into reality—zero soil, mess, or hassle required. It’s also just the beginning of a food revolution that’s not just for the better-off, but also to support healthy kids and parents in underprivileged communities, areas that have become food deserts, or those where growing fresh produce is beyond reach.

Imagine a world where cities host large distributed farming networks, a world where every place (whether your home, an office, a restaurant, or any other public space) has the potential to efficiently grow top-quality produce.

Gardyn represents an opportunity to reintroduce nature in urban habitats, to make our cities more sustainable and autonomous, to stop damaging the environment, and to rediscover the meaning of fresh, nutritious, and delicious food for all of us every day.

Gardyn is setting a high bar with innovative solutions that will shape the future of food. And they’re doing it because they know the environment and our well-being are what’s at stake here. 

In the meantime, you get to eat the most delicious greens, fruits, and vegetables you’ve ever tasted; experience the joy of growing them yourself, more easily than you ever imagined; and share the whole journey with a fun, supportive community. 

Start your own Pinterest-worthy, earth-friendly, indoor Gardyn:
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