So, Jose Garces might not be doing a Farm-to-Table restaurant this year, but he is getting himself closer to local agriculture. According to Philadelphia Magazine’s Restaurant Club, Garces has purchased a farm in Ottsville, just north of Doylestown: Garces says the farm is a recreational place for him at the moment; a place for he

This week, the state granted $1 million to build a solar-power field over top of the Paoli rail yard, which is now apart of an EPA Superfund site (hazardous waste site). The panels will cover three acres at the west end of the rail yard and the energy they generate will feed into a substation

David La Spina for The New York TimesLast night, I was working my way through Sunday’s New York Times Magazine when I came across this piece—a food feature that is part essay, part reporting, and all kinds of lovely. The story starts with Larry Brown, the beloved Oxford, MS, writer. He died in 2004, and

Earlier this month we told you about Grid cover girl Sarah Van Aken's upcoming fashion show in Love Park. This past Saturday the event was a go, complete with a Grid magazine table chock full of past and present issues. Despite the humid temperature (it was a balmy 83 degrees even at 5 p.m.) the

A Greensaw kitchen in GlensideBrendan Jones of Greensaw Design and Build recently penned a response to this New York Times op-ed on the limitations of LEED certification. As usual, Jones makes a convincing case for reused and reclaimed materials: As it stands now, LEED awards one point – as much as you would get for

Tim Mountz's homebred Black Ruffle betrays its future awesomenessTo avoid overusing—and therefore devaluing—the word "obsessed," I'll just say that I am endlessly fascinated by the the baby tomatoes maturing steadily in my plot at Bouvier Community Garden.
Whenever I go to water, trim or nab some herbs I inevitably spend many minutes just staring at them,

Just this year, the University of Pennsylvania established the Penn Garden, an on-campus community garden. The first workday at the garden was June 15, and now that we’re entering July, herbs and veggies are popping up. According to the garden’s website, arugula, basil, mustard greens, radishes, peppers, tomatoes and eggplants are all growing in the

A perfect popover partnerIn my life, I have had a few food obsessions. Sometimes they are things I was exposed to early in life that imprinted themselves on my subconscious (my dad's cinnamon roasted chicken, Donnelly's tuna salad (RIP), peanut butter swirl ice cream, merguez sausage), and some have come in recent years, as my

It's Friday afternoon and we know what you need: Baby turtles! Lots of em!
I spent yesterday morning at The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, watching juvenile diamondback terrapins be released into the coastal marshes near 7 Mile Island.
When nesting female turtles get crushed on the road, good samaritans bring them in, and the Institute harvests the eggs, incubates

Last week we blogged about a Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW) bike sale. If you missed it, no worries. Yesterday, NBW posted on their blog that they will be having a bike sale every week during the months of June and July. Bikes start at $30. Bike sales will be held every Friday during June and