Come visit the Grow Team at the Bainbridge 4th of July street fair and take home your very own Grow basil plants!

/in , , , , /by

If you’re looking to connect with the Grow Team, why not come visit with us at our 4th of July booth at the street fair in downtown Bainbridge? The Grow Team will be at booth #64 and we’re giving away a basil plant to everyone who stops by! These little guys are starting to sprout and we hope you stop by and claim yours!

Where to find us: Bjune Dr. below the Town & Country.

When: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Go here to see a map of all the booth’s during the fair—we’re at #64!

If you’re coming from Seattle, go here for the ferry schedule. Leaving the ferry: Walk up Olympic Drive, take a left on Winslow Way E. and then another left on Bjune Drive. Take your first right to stay on Bjune Drive, and we’ll be right on your left.

Let us know in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter if we can expect to see you! We’ll hold a basil plant for you.

Grow Team

Keeping you in the loop: 5 things taking place on Grow Avenue this week

/in , , , , , , , /by

Wondering what’s happening at the construction site on Grow Avenue this week?

A lot has been happening at the Grow Community construction site this week. You may have noticed how quickly the model homes are going up and been wondering what exactly is going on along Grow Avenue. Read on for your weekly digest of Grow Community construction news and let us know in the comments if you have any questions. Read more

Rio+20: BioRegional endorses the Grow Community as a One Planet Community.

/in , , , , /by

We’re excited to announce that Pooran Desai, founder of BioRegional and champion of the One Planet Living framework, announced at Rio+20 today the official endorsement of the Grow Community as a One Planet Community. Calling it, ‘the best place to live in the USA’, Pooran introduced the Grow Community, and Asani, to a diverse group of international leaders and business leaders as a turning point in North American sustainable development.

From BioRegional: In July 2005, Money Magazine and CNN named Bainbridge Island the second-best place to live in the United States. Even Brad and Jennifer (when they were married) were spotted looking at potential real estate on the island.  Well, there is a community now being constructed on Bainbridge Island which might push Bainbridge Island into that top spot.   

[Related: Rio+20, and the future we want (Video)]

Interested in learning more about One Planet Living, and what it means for our future? Check out this video with Grow Architect, Jonathan Davis, of DavisStudioAD:


Read more

Rio+20, and the future we want [Video].

/in , , , , /by

Rio+2o is happening right now and everyone on the Grow Community staff is really excited and will be following the action in every way possible. Not sure what Rio+20 is all about, or why the Grow Community might be in a tizzy about it?

Rio+20 is the name being given this year to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) which is being held this year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), popularly called Earth Summit. Rio+20 is a key follow-up conference and milestone in a series of UN conferences based on the 1992 UNCED conference in Rio. The main goals of Rio+20 are securing renewed commitments from world leaders on sustainable development, assessing the progress of earlier commitments and addressing new and emerging challenges.

In addition to the stated goals of the conference, two major themes are being addressed and will be a key focus by the many speakers, workshops and side events taking place at Rio+20:

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

This video explains Rio+20 in just over a minute.*


Read more

This week at the Grow site: Building energy efficiency (and savings) right into the walls.

/in , , , , , , , /by

A lot has been happening at the Grow Community construction site this week and we want to make sure you’re kept in the loop! Last week we talked about the air barrier being put up on the Aria which left some residents wondering if we were painting all of the homes at Grow black. We know that with a project this size there will be lots of questions
and general curiosity from the community, so read on for your weekly digest of construction updates at the Grow Community and please let us know in the comments if you have any feedback or if there’s anything specific you would like us to address in a future blog post.

Energy Efficiency is the Name of the Game at Grow this Week 

Energy efficiency is about more than turning down the heat.  And we have always said that living at Grow isn’t all about warm beers and cold showers.  While residents will need to be mindful of their energy use in order to achieve net-zero energy in their homes, we have put an incredible amount of thought into how we can design homes that will be inherently energy efficient, and even more than that, homes that will be comfortable. You won’t be chilly in these homes. We promise.

In order to achieve this, it’s necessary to build the savings right into the walls. Creating enough solar energy to power an entire home with the amount of space available on most roofs’ is very difficult, so the goal  Read more

Grow Drinks Was a Huge Success! Thank You all For Participating!

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Our second Grow Drinks was a huge success! We really enjoyed meeting with everybody and being able to share our vision and ideas for the Grow Community and to hear all of your feedback and listen to your thoughts.

We had expected to give a simple presentation and then mingle with the crowd, but instead, an amazing thing happened: 

Our simple presentation turned into a lively round-table style discussion that felt truly unique and collaborative. We felt very connected to the community and everyone who’s interested in the project in that moment. It’s extremely important for us to be able to enter into conversations about the Grow Community and One Planet Living so we can design a better community for all.

We were honored to have Geof Syphers, an early proponent of the One Planet Living framework in North America, and lead on the Sonoma Mountain Village project, join our discussion and to be able to provide his insight and experience with One Planet Living and sustainable development.

So, in the spirit of last night’s event, we invite you to keep the conversation moving forward with us and to please send us your thoughts here on the blog, on Facebook and Twitter or to join our mailing list for news and updates.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our next Grow Drinks, on July 12th! But don’t worry, we’ll post an update to remind you.

Thank you!

The Grow Team

Is Johnny Cash moving to Grow Avenue?

/in , , , , , , , /by

We’ve been getting a lot of questions at the GROW site regarding the new homes being built along Grow Avenue. Mostly, people seem interested in the progress on the site, when the homes are going to be ready for touring, and why they appear to be being painted black and if we plan on leaving them like that. Our Project Manager, Greg Lotakis, laughed and said he thought it looked like Johnny Cash – the infamous ‘Man in Black’ – was moving to the Grow Community.

You might be a little disappointed to learn that the late, great Johnny Cash is not moving to Bainbridge Island. You will, however, be happy to learn that we aren’t planning on building black homes along Grow Avenue, but are instead, in the process of building some of the most energy efficient homes in North America.

What you’re seeing going up on the first model home at the Grow Community is a weather resistant barrier system called Enviro-Dri, created by Tremco. We chose Enviro-Dri, as opposed to more familiar home sheaths like Tyvec, because the product is top in its class for weather resistant barriers and works for the life of your home to remove moisture and fight molds and mildew, an important aspect to home building in the Pacific Northwest.

Each of the three model homes will be constructed using slightly different wall systems and materials.  We will be testing and monitoring each combination for effectiveness and cost efficiency.  The next home will be coated with a similar product called StoGuard Gold Coat.

As we learn more through the application of each of these different products, we will be posting our thoughts and inviting your feedback.  Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news and information on the Grow Community project.

The Grow Team.