I recently came across a really neat video on Facebook featuring something called “Farmbot.” This is a robot, described on their website as “humanity’s first open-source CNC farming machine,” that plants and tends to a vegetable garden in your backyard. You use a smart phone, computer, or tablet to program and control your Farmbot. This robot makes me seriously want to consider getting a 3D printer for Camp Infinity and building one of these!
Apparently this machine, if used all year, can grow enough food to feed one person for a year and can even be taken off the grid with solar panels and a rainwater collection system. Since it’s open source, anyone can build their own or preorder a kit to put together for $3900. The company claims in three to five years your investment will be returned because it’s much cheaper than buying veggies and fruits at the grocery store.
In Genesis we read that God gave Adam the responsibility of tending and keeping the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15). After sin, the job of growing food and tending the earth became much more difficult,
Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread (Genesis 3:17-19).
Inventions such as pesticides to combat insects and weeds, tractors, fertilizers, and the new Farmbot help make the tough job of growing food a little easier. It’s all part of using technology to fight against the immediate effects of the Curse as we live and serve the Lord in this fallen world.