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,

For a while we’ve been hearing grumblings about the next installment of Flying Fish‘s excellent Exit Series—something about local Jersey rye here, Belgian whispers there—and now the announcement has finally come. During Beer Week, Flying Fish will debut Exit 6 Wallonian Rye Belgian-Style Ale, a collaboration between Head Brewer Casey Hughes, Ric Hoffman of Stewart’s Brewing

On August 29, Louisville’s My Morning Jacket will play Philadelphia’s Great Plaza, and donate $1 from every ticket to Greensgrow Farm in Kensington. This is super-crazy-awesome on many levels. First of all, MMJ are one of the best live bands around (frontman Jim James is the Whitney Houston of rock singers). Secondly, this is yet another