Our Journey & Path Forward
From a single spark of an idea to a clear, milestone-driven plan, this is the complete story of how North Garden came to be—and where we're going next.
Foundational Inspirations
War Stars
H. Bruce Franklin's analysis of America's fascination with technological 'super-solutions' is a core inspiration. North Garden inverts this concept: instead of a superweapon for destruction, it is a 'super-system' for production—a technology designed to create a global abundance that can pre-empt the resource conflicts of the future.
The Singularity is Near
Ray Kurzweil's work affirms our core belief in the power of accelerating technologies. We are applying AI and robotics to solve fundamental human problems of scarcity and transcend our biological limitations.
The Race for What's Left
Michael T. Klare's analysis of global resource competition is a key motivator. North Garden is designed as a direct answer to this challenge, creating local abundance of water, food, energy, and materials.
Forces of Production
David F. Noble's history of automation is a critical guide for how we design. It serves as a reminder that technology is a product of social choices. North Garden is a conscious choice to design a system of production without the historical conflicts of labor, aiming for pure, mission-driven efficiency.
Failure by Design
Josh Bivens' work highlights how economic inequality is a result of deliberate policy choices. North Garden is our attempt at a 'Success by Design' counter-narrative—creating a system where foundational abundance is the default, engineered outcome, not a hoped-for byproduct.
Manufacturing Consent
Chomsky and Herman's propaganda model details how truth is often obfuscated to manufacture consent for policies, including conflicts over resources. North Garden is designed as a technological antidote: by creating transparent, local, and undeniable abundance, we aim to eliminate the pretexts of scarcity that are often used to justify control and conflict.
Project Milestones
"Never Marry a Farmer"
A friend's comment sparked an idea: to completely reinvent farming. The initial concept for coiled fields and optimized energy use was born.
Inspiration from Origami
The discovery of complex origami and NASA's Starshade project provided a breakthrough, inspiring the tower's efficient, deployable structure.
The 3-Month Deep Dive and Project Conceptualization
An isolated three-month journey dedicated to pure design, combining every piece of knowledge to forge the core principles of the North Garden system.
From Theory to 3D Model
Learned 3D CAD with SolidWorks to translate complex designs into reality, making it possible to design, visualize, and 3D print model components.
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence
Utilizing AI to analyze the system revealed the full scope of processes and a clear path to solving remaining unknowns, accelerating development.
Printing Functional Grow Disk
Our primary focus is on 3D printing and refining a fully functional, single grow disk, which serves as the foundational building block of the entire tower.
Irrigation Proof of Concept
The next step is to complete a fully irrigated grow disk, proving the viability of our closed-loop fogponics and nutrient delivery system.
Build Functional Mini-Tower
We will construct a complete, scaled-down tower with tens of grow disks arranged in the predicted coiled pattern to test structural integrity and mechanics.
Secure Seed Funding
With a functional, irrigated mini-tower as a demonstrable prototype, our primary goal will be to acquire seed funding for the next phase of growth.
Full-Scale Up & Hiring
Leveraging the seed funding, we will begin the engineering phase for the full-scale tower and hire key personnel in robotics, AI, and agricultural science.