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Americans vulnerable to the strange magic of infomercials have no doubt been tempted by Topsy Turvy planters and their promises of bountiful, low-maintenance yields. Well, turns out they’re not the only people turning gardening upside down. Last week, the New York Times ran a story on the rise of upside-down planters, and the gardeners who

With each passing day, BP oil spill stories move further and further down the pages of news sites. And while our eyes wander on to other things, the oil continues to flow. BP said last week that 2,000 barrels (or 84,000 gallons) of oil are flowing into the Gulf every day. Recently, Green Philly Blog

A couple interesting stories with a commerce twist on TheAtlantic.com‘s Food Channel today: The Gates Foundation funds coffee growers in East Africa, a project they hope will alleviate poverty and create some delicious beans. The rooftop farm in Brooklyn has a rough couple of days, but the chickens have landed! How should we define “craft brewery”?

There are few issues in this city that get people as worked up as bike-car relations. (Just ask Joey Sweeney at Philebrity.) On Monday, Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky wrote a column criticizing the increasing number of bike lanes in Philadelphia. He also takes the time to question the Bicycle Coalition’s bike count methodology.  Then,

It has been one year since Greenworks Philadelphia, Mayor Nutter’s sustainability plan, was unveiled, and this Wednesday the city will unveil the program’s First Annual Progress Report. It will be revealing to chart the successes and disappointments of the last year, as the Mayor has set quite an ambitious goal for Philadelphia: to become “the

Michael PollanPollanites, take note: Everyone’s favorite omnivore has a long piece in the upcoming New York Review of Books. He writes about—wait for it—the rise of the sustainable food movement. Yes, I would read this guy’s grocery list, but the piece is still a great overview. I especially liked this part: Farmers’ markets are thriving, more

Thanks for the perspective, Billy!We’re all for helping animals cross the road here at the Griddle, so we fully support efforts to get baby toads safely across  in Roxborough.   Every spring, the toads migrate to and from the reservoir, and sometimes they get smushed. That’s where Toad Detour comes in. Teams of volunteers help the

Frecon Farms, a Boyertown orchard profiled in Grid‘s PASA Insert, has launched the first in a series of online videos chronicling the 2010 growing season. Can’t wait for those cherries! It is exciting to see the trees coming to life as spring arrives. Here is what I had to say after visiting the orchard in January:

On Wednesday evening, I joined Along for the Ride's Julie Lorch at the annual Ride of Silence, an hour-long cruise in memory of cyclists killed or injured on local roadways.
The event provided an interesting—and inspiring—snapshot of the Philly bike community. There were teenagers with tattoo's and homemade rides cruising alongside AARPers on $5,000 folding bikes.

Happy pigs at Country Time Farm in Berks Co.A couple weeks ago, I read a story in The Atlantic featuring the specious argument that free-range, pastured meats might actually be more dangerous for consumers. It annoyed me, but I didn’t really have the time or the energy to engage the story here on the Griddle. Fortunately,