This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Many people think fruits and vegetables come from the bottom drawer of their fridge. But Shawn Peterson hopes his new garden-on-wheels will show kids and adults the joy of growing your own produce.
Peterson's Green Urban Lunch Box is a 35-foot-long school bus converted into a mobile garden. Replacing the seats are rows of soil beds and more than 50 varieties of plants. Multiple sun roofs were cut out of the ceiling for additional sunlight. And the beds themselves are made of wood planks from an old deck.
"It's been really fun to see people's reactions when they get on the bus," said Peterson, 28, founder and director of the mobile garden. "Kids love it. They're like, 'This isn't like the bus we ride!' "
The mobile garden grows everything from carrots to squash, radishes, onions, spinach and cilantro. There are also more exotic plants, such as purple carrots, and Black Hawaiian Pineapple-Tomato, a rare strand of heirloom tomato. The dirt, wood and many of the plants were donated by local companies and friends.
"Our goal was to use as much reclaimed stuff as possible," said Conor Jensen, who did much of the bus renovations.
The recently planted vegetables are still seedlings, but that hasn't stopped the bus from making appearances at local parks and other events. Come late summer, the garden will be full of produce, part of which will go toward supporting the garden's small community-supported agriculture program.
But the goal of the bus isn't to turn a profit. Peterson hopes to inspire people and get them thinking about urban gardening. The idea for the project began in February when Peterson and friend David Trujillo saw several school buses while they were riding TRAX. They found a used bus advertised in Idaho, and took a day to hitch-hike there, then bought the bus for $1,800 of their own money.
"We love hitch-hiking," Trujillo laughed. "And we just wanted to cut down coasts and cut back on carbon emissions.
Peterson, who works as a youth counselor at schools around the valley, had heard of garden-buses operating in other states, so he decided to launch one in Utah. He grew up on a dairy farm in Kamas, so gardening was familiar territory. But a lot of the project has been based on trial and error, he said, as they discover how much natural light, ventilation and water the plants need.
"We want the windows open, for instance, because I came one day and all the radishes were wilting and yellow," said Peterson, who realized the plant doesn't like greenhouse-type heat.
Trujillo, who is from Lehi, was attracted to the project because he wanted to reduce his carbon footprint.
"I've always had an interest in gardening and plants, but recently, I've become really concerned with where our food comes from, how it gets to us and what impact we're having on the environment," he said. "It's gotten to the point that I don't want to buy anything that isn't local."
Originally, the pair launched The Green Urban Lunch Box as a fun project, but Peterson also wanted to make a bigger statement about the importance of gardening.
"I think a lot of times kids see [produce] wrapped in plastic, and they don't think about it growing from the ground," Peterson said. "I want kids to try stuff when they come on the bus. Hopefully, that will encourage them to eat fresh veggies and to be able to taste the difference when you eat veggies that come straight from the garden."
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Mobile garden
For more about the garden bus, "like" The Green Urban Lunch Box on Facebook at on.fb.me/koSM8g. Or call Shawn Peterson at 801-318-1745.