13.1: project 2 updates

I've narrowed down the focus of my project to be a hybrid between an automated grow system and a household lamp. The main components will be:

   ✦ a lamp that contains an automated/timed grow light at the top and a base to hold growing "cartridges"

   ✦ growing cartridges: a shallow box in a unique shape that can be placed inside and removed from the bottom of the lamp; they'll be filled with growing media and wildflower seeds so that the lamp can act as a seed starter

   ✦ a reservoir below the cartridge to contain runoff water so that it can evaporate

   ✦ a water tank below the lamp, but connected to it with a tube, to provide water supply.

Most of these aspects can be pulled off with simple objects/electronics I have on hand. The most complicated will be a water pump. Since such a small amount of water is needed for the seeds, a low-power/low-tech pump will work. I've ordered this one from adafruit:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/4547

I have leftover wood from my first project, quite a bit of it, so I am going to use that for the structure of my lamp: I really enjoyed using the shop tools and designing for both aesthetics and practicality last time. 

The overall concept behind this work is that something that is used anyway, a lamp in the home, might also have some small environmental payoff just by being used regularly. I am imagining the lamp as a kind of wildflower factory, where I perpetually produce new wildflower sprouts that I can take into the world and plant.