Maybe it’s to grow fresh fruits and veggies that taste better than what you can buy at the grocery store. Maybe it’s for the satisfaction of seeing seeds you plant grow into something magnificent over months or even years of care. Maybe it’s to lay out a verdant and beautiful welcome mat to your neighbors.
MoreThe 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
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
MoreA local teen finds success by growing healthy foodby Dana HenryThe school bell rings and teenagers fill the entrance halls of University City High School. Many are running and some are calling out to their friends, relieved from a long day of classes. A young man apologizes to the woman at the front desk who
MoreTurn waste into black goldby Will DeanIf you’re reading this magazine, you probably have at least have a vague idea of what composting is. The natural way to make nutritious (for plants, that is) fertilizer, composting was once a standard practice for every farmer, gardener and consumer.
MoreWhat brings you to the food issue? Are you trying to find that tiny restaurant for a transcendent dining experience? Is it a recipe you need that will unlock your creativity and wow your friends and family? After all, what is more pleasurable than eating or preparing a delicious meal? (Please don’t say your answers
MoreIsn’t it inspiring to see Michelle Obama and a class of fifth graders digging up the White House lawn, planting the first garden there since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in 1943? It’s clear that nutrition is going to be a priority for our First Lady, and her interest in it is personal; a few years
MoreSaving rainwater for your own usesby Will DeanTo comply with federal regulations governing combined storm water and sewage overflow (where lots of rain can wash sewage into local watersheds), the Philadelphia Water Department is trying something new.
MoreHow to start heirloom veggies from seedby Phil ForsythSo you’ve been enjoying those orange, yellow, purple, green, striped, two-tone, cherry, plum, pear-shaped and downright unusual tomatoes from the farmer’s market. Then you get your hands on a seed catalog and the names call to you: Black From Tula, Golden Sunray, Aunt Ruby’s German Green. So
MoreThe 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
MoreHow Haddington used guerrilla gardening to transform its vacant lots, and why the city should encourage everyone to do the sameby Haley LoramSomeone left a busted couch at the edge of the Conestoga Children’s Garden, directly under the “No Dumping” sign. Skip Wiener, who tends to the network of gardens in the West Philly neighborhood
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