Experiment Guide for the Red Hat Co.Lab Farm Kit

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Contributors: D___Run___, Gina Likins
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Introduction

In this kit you’ll find everything needed to start your own open source farm.

The Red Hat Co.Lab Farm kit packs three activities into one small box:

First, learn about the way breadboards work and experiment with creating simple circuits using a breadboard, jumper wires, batteries and an LED. Breadboards are an easy way to experiment with electrical circuits, as you can test different configurations without making the connection permanent (like solder would).

Then, using the same components you used in your breadboard experiments, plus one more, you’ll create a “Water-Me Signal,” which will light up when there’s not enough moisture. The neat thing is that by reversing just one piece of the circuit, the same set of components can be used to make a “wetness” sensor that lights up when there’s too much moisture -- and we’ll figure out why.

Finally, with your addition of some microgreen seeds and a recycled container, and using the hydroponic felt that came in the kit, you can plant your own microgreen garden. Add some sun, and a few days later you will have your own crop.

Once you've planted your microgreens you can watch Red Hat’s Open Source Stories film Farming for the Future to see how farmers today are using open source tools and principles to grow food in ways that are more efficient and more ecologically friendly.