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Inspiration: Plant Therapy

The Horticultural Center at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital eases pain with plantsby Emily Schu
Six stories above 16th and race, an elevator opens to a secluded street complete with a parked car, cobblestone sidewalks, a telephone booth, raised garden beds and potted peppers, tomatoes and pumpkins. At its peak, the rooftop is blooming with life, far from

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2 mins read
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Back Page: Dear Summer in Philly,

In your too-brief months, our city really shines. Even though you came in this year with rainfall of biblically epic proportions, this didn’t stop any of us from filling our senses with your sights, sounds, tastes, smells or amazing activities.

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1 min read
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Back Page: Green Jobs for Philadelphia

The economy should be funby Paul Glover
Philadelphia’s greenest dreams can come true, with enough money. Parks and yards can overflow with fresh healthy food; our neighborhoods can become as beautiful as our kids’ smiles; each of us can be proudly employed rebuilding our city; every home can be secure.

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2 mins read
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Feature: Farmer’s Rap

Weaver's Way helps start high school farmsby Andrew ThompsonOn a May afternoon at Martin Luther King High School in East Germantown, several students tilled compost onto one of the many mounds being readied for sowing. Along with their stewards from nearby Weaver’s Way Co-op and the Philadelphia Orchard Project, they had just finished harvesting some

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4 mins read
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Feature: Farming Differently

Mill Creek Farm sets a standard for sustainable farmingby Will DeanBat Cave #2. That’s the first thing you can easily make out about the main farm building at West Philly’s nonprofit Mill Creek Farm. It’s painted in yellow on a piece of metal that juts out of a low, glimmering building in the middle of

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5 mins read
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Cover Story: A Natural Fit

The ultimate vision of an eco-friendly and educational urban oasisby Natalie Hope McDonaldThe sounds along Lancaster Ave. in West Philadelphia’s Overbrook neighborhood don’t usually include chirping. But on one overcast day in May, across the street from the U-Haul rental center and footsteps from a fruit and vegetable bodega, a small red-breasted bird whistled over

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9 mins read
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Feature: Food Desert

North Philly still lacks fresh food accessby Tenaya DarlingtonKensington, one of Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhoods, has undergone significant revitalization over the last few years, especially along the southern corridor that borders Northern Liberties. You’ll now find a coffee shop, a Spanish imports store and even a sustainable fish merchant amid the tattoo parlors and check cashing

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5 mins read
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A Trip Down Girard Avenue

In a city as old and strange as Philly, there’s some history in every 100-plus-year-old brick rowhome and tiny colonial alley. While it’s fun to make up stories about what happened where (I like to think that my block was where Ben Franklin invented freedom soda), it’s also great to know the actual history and

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1 min read
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Power Plants

The Philadelphia Orchard Project is harvesting edible agriculture one vacant lot at a timeby Natalie Hope McDonaldFrom Kensington’s Cambria Orchard to Chester Avenue’s Squirrel Hill and the Martin Luther King High School Farm on West Oak Lane, fresh fruits and vegetables are being harvested in once-vacant, crime-ridden lots. It’s all part of a massive nutrition

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4 mins read