Get noticed.

Outdoor advertising that gets noticed for $250/month??

For over three decades I have encouraged clients to be bold and dare to be different. I also happen to believe in outdoor advertising (much harder to ignore). But a single transit-shelter ad would cost close to $900 for one month. It just so happened that I had my old pick-up truck that had not been driven in six years, parked in the weeds in my back alley. It was in pretty good shape for a truck that old and when I came across the trailer for the movie, Truck Farm I was struck by how cool it would be to grow a small-space demonstration garden from my own seeds in the back of my truck. Forty-five minutes later I had applied for a Neighbourhood Green Grant to cover some of the costs to turn it into a TruckFarm. A few weeks later I found out I got the grant and the real work began.

Like I said, the truck had not been driven in six years. This meant a six-year-old battery and six-year-old fluids, including gas and rubber parts that don’t really like to sit around doing nothing. According to a few people, I have horseshoes up my behind when it comes to the truck (they used a more colourful term). We put in a new battery and the old girl started on one turn. I drove it to Aircare and it passed the first time. The rubber parts needed to be replaced, but the automotive students at VCC got it done for a fraction of the going rate. So I got some garden-variety soil and started some plants for the truck. I then came up with decals in the Strathcona 1890 branding and hit the streets.

It was a whirlwind year. I took my TruckFarm to schools, daycares and community centres to engage and educate kids. I created various programs where they can learn about growing, including my favourite: Growing With Lego. (My philosophy is a heathy version of the one that inspired candy cigarettes – start them young.) The TruckFarm is now requested for events and exhibits regularly. It has been in the PNE and Science World, as well as numerous neighbourhood events and markets. It has had fairly major media coverage, not just in Vancouver, but throughout BC and across Canada.