This weekend (Memorial Day!) will be my first of the season at the Jersey Shore. My mom (who lives down there full-time) is abuzz preparing the house for the descending hordes of kids, cousins and friends. She’s stocking the fridge with beer (even going as far as to put me on the phone with the

OK, now I officially feel like a gardener—last night I ate the first fruits of my community garden plot. (Well, idiomatic fruit; it was actually arugula). Truth be told, the arugula probably should have been harvested sooner. In the short weeks since it went in the ground, it has grown like crazy. The peppery flavor

On Tuesday, The Academy of Natural Sciences (yes, the gracious hosts of so many town square-style informational events) named George W. Gephart Jr. as it’s new president and chief executive officer. Gephart is a highly respected Philadelphia-area business and nonprofit leader with nearly 30 years of business, finance and nonprofit leadership experience. “With his strong

Mayor Nutter chats with Katherine Gajewski before the press conferenceToday, folks from all over the city gathered in North Philadelphia at Asociación de Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) to celebrate the first annual progress report of Greenworks Philadelphia. Mayor Nutter was there, supported by Katherine Gajewski, his Director of Sustainability. There was also great food, a rumba band

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