Garden of Eden Urban Farming

GOE has developed a unique, proprietary, copyrighted training program that can be offered locally within projects or at our Puget Sound training center. Training emphasizes hydroponic gardening and related food industries. Graduates are prepared to work in hydroponic gardens, and they also emerge with certificates in food handling, sanitation and related skills. Our core training program requires contact 160 hours.

Planning and Budgeting

We work with local project developers to assure their success to the maximum possible level. Funding must be locally developed for each situation. Our budget models provide for a large variety of garden and crop options.

Operational Management for Gardening Projects

Projects can be locally developed and managed, or we can act as all or part of the management team. Assistance may range from concept to harvest. It is normally our practice to establish a project and withdraw, but the time to turnover may vary considerably.

Site Selection and Preparation

We are well connected with realty, architectural and contracting firms to help local project developers make good choices regarding location and facilities.

Crop Selection and Growth Phase Planning

We help the local developer to select crops suitable to the local market. We assist with seed selection and train on propagation, phases of growth, harvesting and delivery planning.

Equipment Selection, installation and Technical Support

We coordinate initial equipment selection, purchase and delivery. Projects may vary from turnkey to self-defined. We provide installation and training as needed, and we interact with project managers and vendor technical support to assure maximum efficiency and minimum downtime.

Management and Process Control Software

We provide a growing, proprietary system of process control and management software that we provide as a service to projects. The software tracks all core aspects of production from propagation to harvest, provides key management reports, records employee activities, and produces reports and exports for management analysis and fiscal control.

Non-profit Certification Assistance

Our team can assist local projects with achieving non-profit status. We arrange legal and accounting services appropriate to each project; however, each project must also consider local requirements and conditions. We work under our own non-profit status or in cooperation with certified non-profit agencies depending on the nature of individual projects.

Project Goals and Objectives

In each project our goal is to foster several key outcomes. Each has a specific set of measurable objectives that define success

Improvement of nutrition in disadvantaged urban communities: We track the presence of better quality foodstuffs in the communities we serve, whether our own or those of competing suppliers.
Establishment of small to medium sized, locally owned businesses: We create projects - whether for-profit or non-profit that bring new activity into neighborhoods and keep money circulating locally.
Increasing local employment that cannot be outsourced: Fresh food, interestingly, needs to be fresh. We believe that local and fresh are closely related and provide the best quality at the best price for any given commodity.
Creating employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for at-risk persons:

Our candidates and trainees are frequently recruited from occupational health agencies, former soldiers, at-risk youth, former offenders, and disengaged workers such as housewives returning to the workforce. We work closely with state and private employment training agencies.

Teamwork Promotes Success

Typical Project Team
Administration General Manager Marketing & Sales Clerical Support Accounting Data Processing	Operations Sales Manager Distribution Manager Operations Supervisor Training Supervisor Staff Gardeners Interns, trainees

Naturally, small operations will typically combine these functions, sometimes into a single person. Our project design emphasizes creation of numerous small projects sharing information and mutually reducing risk and speculative planting through a collaborative marketing system in which individual gardens produce to order.

strawberries growing in a tower garden, leaves, lighting adjusted for growth spectrum

Strawberries in winter are a special treat.

Current Activities

Our current emphasis is the production of microgreens in Washington State. Throughout 2020 we will be assisting local growers in cooperation with local farmers markets in cooperation with non-profit NGOs in the Puget Sound area. We also assist in organization of commercial hydroponic gardens. We can train prospective gardeners across the US. Contact us for more information or to discuss your project goals.

We are cognizant of the special issues created by the novel coronavirus pandemic and want to be part of the solution. We believe that fresh and local foods are part of the solution.

Our scalable customer information center (CIC) is available to all growers wishing to improve delivery. It tracks accounts, locations, previous customer history and much more. It maintains recurrent schedules and routes deliveries through your phone with turn-by-turn instructions, while the driver updates service history en route with immediate visibility in the office. The system is proven in over ten years of use in industry. Call us to learn more and schedule an online demonstration.

Other Recent Projects

These recent projects are listed newest first. We would like to help you start a project in your own community.

Evergarden Farms (2018-present): We participated in Expo Latino 2018 in Lynnwood, WA, and in Mill Creek (WA) Farmers Market.; Evergarden.Farm™ is our brand name for microgreens and other produce from our own and affiliated gardens.
Tacoma Urban League (2015-Present): Tacoma Urban League is hosting a hydroponic gardening training program. A group of students and young entrepreneurs in training is experimenting with growing as part of a future independent commercial project. Training sessions range from DIY home gardening to commercial scale. See the Calendar for more information as classes form. (More Information)
First Place Scholars (2016): First Place Scholars is a kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school located near downtown Seattle. Garden of Eden worked with First Place to develop a new science curriculum based on hydroponic gardening wherein students would perform science-related measurements, write reports, and share the fruits of their labor in the school cafeteria during Winter and Spring 2016. This project has been concluded.
Tacoma Asia Pacific Cultural Center (Recurrent): Organized during December 2014, this project awarded gardener certificates to 11 trainees in 2016. The project also served as a pilot for locally sponsored gardens and was a great learning experience for the GOE team as well as the students.
Central Area Urban Gardeners 2014-2015: Our early garden in Seattle provided fresh fruits and vegetables in Seattle, in cooperation with Northwest Harvest, with a helpful grant from the City of Seattle's Dept. of Neighborhoods. This completed demonstration project can be duplicated locally or in other cities, whether or not the TV weathermen predict sun during the winter.

Process | Components | Teamwork | Currently | Recently

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