The first Grow With Dr. Dirt
It didn't start as a game. It started with a farmer who wanted to see his land.
A map, then a game
A customer asked me for a way to see his property: a grid of his farm, so we could mark what grew where and follow each spot over time. I started building it.
Then my kids saw it. My son wanted to plant things on it. My daughter wanted it to look alive. They started imagining weather, seasons, critters and a little Dr. Dirt walking around, and I realized a map of a farm could be a game. Their imagination turned a work tool into the first Grow With Dr. Dirt.
At the time I was mostly focused on N-P-K: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The first game reflects that. Since then my work has grown deeper into the living soil (the microscope, the soil food web, redox), and that's what Grow With Dr. Dirt 2.0 is built on.
It matches the real world
The game uses GPS (or the town you pick) to find your place, then grows your garden with the real weather there: your rain, your sunshine, your temperature, hour by hour, and your season and day length. A garden in Hilo grows differently from one in Kona, just like in real life.
Where it's going
My hope is that the game grows into a community: families, classrooms and gardeners sharing what they grow, learning from each other, and connecting their real gardens to their game gardens.
- Custom pieces: plants, decorations and garden pieces made just for you, from your own ideas.
- Your real plants in the game: a plant tested with Pocket Lab can be carried into the game and followed there.
- Real readings, real lessons: soil tests from the market and from home feed into the game's soil.
- Classrooms and shared gardens: rooms where friends and classmates grow side by side.
Play it, then peek in the lab
The original game still works. And if you're the curious type, Dr. Dirt's Lab is waiting.