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Guest Name
Colin Cudmore
Guest Occupation
Inventor and founder of Garden Tower Project
Guest Biography

We are Garden Tower Project, a small company with big ideas right here in Bloomington, Indiana.

We're committed to socially-responsible practices at every level, and our mission is no less than to help transform the face of gardening and food sustainability in our world.  To us, food security is more than just growing your own food, it is about growing healthy food. In an era of rapidly rising food prices and industrial farming practices that strip our food of nutrients essential for good health, we believe the Garden Tower is one small step in empowering people towards their own food security. To this end, we plan to launch GrowingCircles as support becomes available.  Moreover, support from customers and partners alike brings us closer to full-scale production of our future tower, the next generation of the ultimate patio farm -- The Garden Tower!    

Our Team: Garden Tower Project is the brainchild of a few social entrepreneurs from Bloomington, Indiana AND our partners: Colin Cudmore: inventor and founder of Garden Tower Project Tom Tlusty: project partner and health professional Joel Grant: project co-founder, environmental scientist and applied expert in natural systems Benedict Jones: creative consultant and networking guru David Huber: business and creative development consultant And several contributing local craftsmen & craftswomen! - See more at:

The Garden Tower Story, by Colin Cudmore

I've been concerned for years about environmental and sustainability issues.  But it was not until my green-thumbed mom dragged me to a lecture at Indiana University by Will Allen that I really woke up to the nature of the food crisis in our world and the ways people are trying to address it.  Will Allen and his internationally-known organization, Growing Power, are at the forefront of the fight, and his presentation so inspired me that I knew I had to be a part of the solution. Soon afterwards in July of 2010, I was volunteering at my local farmers’ market in Bloomington, Indiana. During a break I sat down and watched hundreds of people milling about. One of the vendors closest to me was selling starter plants for gardens. All the time I sat there, not a single person bought a starter plant from him, yet the vendors all around him had a steady supply of customers buying fully-grown, ready-to-eat vegetables. As someone passionate about sustainability and food security, I was surprised and dismayed that people in my community did not seem to be interested in buying plants to start their own gardens.  I approached the vendor and asked why he thought people weren’t buying his starter plants. He said, “It’s because people think they don’t know how to do it, or think they don’t have the time.”