This article appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of the Permaculture Activist magazine. “Right smack dab in the middle of town/ I’ve found a paradise that’s trouble proof/ Up on the roof. . .Up on the roof. . .” -The Drifters Along with the cultivation of vacant lots, rooftops represent the single greatest opportunity for [...]
Archive for the ‘Philadelphia Food Growing’ Category
UP ON THE ROOF: Expanding Urban Food-Growing
Posted in Permaculture Activist articles, Philadelphia Food Growing, Uncategorized, tagged agriculture, bees, farm, food, food growing, garden, landscape, LEED, New York, philadelphia, roof, rooftop, urban on January 5, 2011 | 8 Comments »
MAKING MASON BEE HOMES
Posted in Food Growing Techniques, Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged bee, beekeeping, bees, garden, homemade, mason, nesting blocks, orchard, osmia, paper liner, pollination, pollinator on February 27, 2010 | 2 Comments »
It’s both fun and easy to make nesting blocks for mason bees, a highly useful pollinator for orchards and gardens. Although they don’t produce honey, there are several advantages to keeping mason bees. They are gentle, with stings no stronger than a mosquito bite. They are very efficient pollinators; only a few hundred are needed [...]
TREES OF JOY
Posted in Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged edible, figs, kiwiberry, landscape, landscaping, pawpaw, pennsylvania, persimmon, pomegranate, suburb on November 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This summer I had the pleasure of visiting with Bassem Samaan and seeing one of the finest examples of edible landscaping I’ve ever seen. Amidst the most typical of suburban neighborhoods in Bethlehem PA, Samaan has transformed his yard into a paradise of fruit. He is successfully growing an astoundingly wide variety: figs, pomegranates, guavas, [...]
FRESH FIGS FOR COLD CLIMATES
Posted in Food Growing Techniques, Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged city, cold, container, fig, growing, microclimate, mulching, north, philadelphia, urban, wrapping on October 16, 2009 | 4 Comments »
So I can’t very well have a blog called PHIG without writing about growing figs in Philly. . . One of the wonder’s of Philadelphia’s fine fruit-growing climate is that we can grow certain subtropicals like the fig. South Philly is full of decades old fig trees brought over by immigrants from Italy and other [...]
BREAKING OUT IN HIVES: Urban Beekeeping in Philly
Posted in Food Growing Techniques, GRID articles, Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged beekeeping, bees, CCD, philadelphia, pollination, urban on August 10, 2009 | 4 Comments »
This article was co-written by Micah Woodcock and appeared in the August 2009 issue of GRID, Philadelphia’s new urban sustainability magazine. “Bee, bee, bee. . . bee!” 18 month old Isaac recently learned the word and seemed to have forgotten all others. With his jungle gym located next to his father’s hives in a large [...]
PHILADELPHIA IS FARMING FOR THE FUTURE
Posted in GRID articles, Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged agriculture, farm, food, PASA, philadelphia on February 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This article appeared under the title ‘Urban Jungle, Concrete Farm’ in the March 2009 issue of GRID, Philadelphia’s new magazine about urban sustainability. On February 7, over 80 enthusiastic farmers and eaters packed a workshop called Small Space Community Food Production in State College. Lisa Mosca and Sharat Samashekara of Philly Green- a division of [...]
PAINTING FRUIT TREES
Posted in Food Growing Techniques, Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged biodynamic, fruit, orchard, paint, philadelphia on January 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Put away your easel and palette. . . this is a technique for preserving the health of your fruit trees with a multifunctional biodynamic “paint”. Last Thursday I spent an hour or so assisting a small crew at Camphill Soltane in applying this paint to trees in their apple orchard. Mason Vollmer, Camphill Soltane’s Agricultural [...]
CAMPHILL IN PENNSYLVANIA
Posted in Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged agriculture, camphill, disabilities, philadelphia on January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The international Camphill movement is dedicated to community living that includes and supports people of special needs. The movement is inspired Anthroposophy and the teachings of Rudolph Steiner (who also conceived biodynamic agriculture and Waldorf schools) and the first such community was started in Scotland in 1939 by Dr. Karl Koenig. There are now more [...]
GROWING KIWIBERRIES
Posted in Food Growing Techniques, Philadelphia Food Growing on January 23, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Kiwiberries are the fruit of the hardy kiwi vine (Actinidia aruguta) and super hardy kiwi vine (Actinidia kolomikta), smaller cousins of the familiar fuzzy kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa). Kiwiberries are generally the size of large grapes and can be popped in the mouth whole. I can only describe them as a tropical explosion- both sweeter and [...]
LANCASTER’S BACKYARD FRUIT GROWERS
Posted in Philadelphia Food Growing, tagged agriculture, food, locavore, philadelphia on January 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Long before the recent resurgence of farmers markets, the popularity of Michael Pollan, and the coining of the term “locavore”, passionate folks were meeting in the Lancaster, PA area to discuss backyard fruit growing. In 1990, Eric Habegger and a friend decided they would start meeting to share knowledge and experiences about growing fruit in [...]
