OurGarden wins Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Texas’s 30th District

When asked what inspired the creation of OurGarden, the students said, “Being second-generation Americans of South Asian descent, both of us grew up in households dominated by traditional customs, cooking, and religious practices. Growing up, we were surrounded by tons of traditional South Asian plants and spices that flavored our food, healed our wounds, and were offered to gods in religious rituals. Unfortunately, many of these items are tough to find in grocery stores in America, and thus a sort of informal trade network developed among the South Asian community for these products that began with home gardens. 

All throughout our childhood, we can recall our parents bringing home small pots and styrofoam cups with tulsi (holy basil), behl patri (bilva leaves), and fenugreek. Many of these shared seedlings formed the basis for our family backyard gardens and the cycle kept on churning as we passed our seedlings on to new families in our communities. However, as great as this process is for bringing our culture to our new homes, this informal trade network has many issues, which we’ve observed (and experienced) throughout our lives. First, all of these exchanges happen through WhatsApp, and while it is great for hosting large group chats, this communication format also brings a chaotic nature to it.  

Oftentimes, messages for certain plants will be skipped over and the user ‘ghosted’ due to the high message density, other times, the rare availability of a popular plant such as tulsi will lead to a chaotic frenzy for rights to the saplings. Personally, we’ve both been involved in mad rushes for the final available seedling, leading to cars speeding down neighborhood roads and kids carelessly sprinting down sidewalks – all of which is no good to anybody involved and unsafe in certain circumstances. With this in mind, we had the idea to build an app that allows for the more streamlined sharing of seedlings that also allows users to virtually manage their garden and engage with their local gardening community. All of your interactions are nestled within a private ‘community’ much like a WhatsApp group chat, but without the pesky size limit. Trust us, these trade networks are big – really big. While OurGarden may have started to solve a niche issue we saw in the community around us, its potential as a hub for the gardening community can be used to deal with much more widespread problems than not having enough tulsi for a religious ritual.”