In order to even begin planning what we might do about this issue, we first need to get an idea of the scope of the problem. To do this we want to continue to get an inventory all the boarded up/vacant houses in the neighborhood. This is where you come in!

Some weeks ago we sent around a survey to allow neighbors to report suspected abandoned properties. (Unfortunately, there are some inhabited buildings that only look like they’re vacant.)

If you see a house that is boarded up/vacant  click here to fill out this short form and send us the address and cross streets. This will feed into the inventory we have been keeping.

Thank you for helping to make our neighborhood a better place.

Meet at the rec center building at Capitolo Playground on the 9th Street side of the park at 9th and Federal.

It’s time to plant some more trees. There are 42 trees coming next Saturday and we’ll need lots of hands to help get them in the ground. We’ll have tools but feel free to bring your own shovel and gloves – we can always use extras.

If you’ve done this before you’ll know that it’s a really fun day. Please join us and bring a friend!

Sarah and Andrew from our Beautification Committee promise that anyone who gets to 9th and Federal by 9am will get coffee and Federal Donuts. Like Andrew says: “Volunteering is the new being a lazy slob!”

UPDATE:

After all your hard work join us at 1pm at the Devil’s Den so we can all “plant” ourselves on some bar stools, “dig” into some cheap appetizers. They’ll be offering 20% off all food orders, $1 off select draft beers, and free coffee.

Email Sarah and Andrew with questions, ideas, comments at beautification@passyunk.org.

Meet at the rec center building at Capitolo Playground on the 9th Street side of the park.

It’s time to plant some more trees. There are 42 trees coming next Saturday and we’ll need lots of hands to help get them in the ground. We’ll have tools and hot beverages, though feel free to bring your own shovel and gloves – we can always use extras.

If you’ve done this before you’ll know that it’s a really fun day. Please join us and bring a friend! To sweeten the pot, we’re trying to organize a little post-planting gathering at a local “watering” hole so we can all “plant: ourselves on some bar stools, “dig” into some cheap appetizers and use quotations marks a lot.

Email Sarah and Andrew with questions, ideas, comments at beautification@passyunk.org.

Many of you have been helping all fall to take care of the garden that the Rachael Ray show built at Wharton and Passyunk. With the help of Camden Children’s Garden, the neighborhood will be overseeing the garden for two more years.

This Saturday we’ll be putting the garden to bed. We’ll be cleaning out beds with spring and fall plants and planting hardier kale and cabbage in some of the empty spaces in the garden. We’ll also be cleaning up the lot a bit, gathering up leaves and trash.

There’s also a little bit of harvesting left to do. Our Beautification Committee Chair Andrew Emma wanted to call this event Broc-N-Roll – because there’s quite a bit of broccoli. Come check it out!

We’ll notifying the PSCA beautification list about events in the garden from time to time, if you want to get more involved with garden activities and planning for next year, we have a South Philly-wide mailing list just for the garden. Sign up, email us or like us on Facebook to let us know you’re interested.

At the General Meeting on October 6, Andrew explained how some of the goals of the new space include continuing the regular “harvest” events that have attracted nearly 200 people in the last two weeks alone; making the garden available for events (including one couple who is interested in having their wedding there on New Year’s Day); and generally opening the space up to more community involvement.

If you are interested in helping out with this garden and other beautification projects, contact Andrew at beautification (at) passyunk.org.

At the General Meeting on October 6, Andrew explained how some of the goals of the new space include continuing the regular “harvest” events that have attracted nearly 200 people in the last two weeks alone; making the garden available for events (including one couple who is interested in having their wedding there on New Year’s Day); and generally opening the space up to more community involvement.

If you are interested in helping out with this garden and other beautification projects, contact Andrew at beautification (at) passyunk.org.

At the General Meeting on October 6, Andrew explained how some of the goals of the new space include continuing the regular “harvest” events that have attracted nearly 200 people in the last two weeks alone; making the garden available for events (including one couple who is interested in having their wedding there on New Year’s Day); and generally opening the space up to more community involvement.

If you are interested in helping out with this garden and other beautification projects, contact Andrew at beautification (at) passyunk.org.

At the General Meeting on October 6, Andrew explained how some of the goals of the new space include continuing the regular “harvest” events that have attracted nearly 200 people in the last two weeks alone; making the garden available for events (including one couple who is interested in having their wedding there on New Year’s Day); and generally opening the space up to more community involvement.

If you are interested in helping out with this garden and other beautification projects, contact Andrew at beautification (at) passyunk.org.

And despite harvesting a few greens and herbs last Friday during the monsoon, we still have plenty of crops to pull.  We’ll harvest as much of the food as we can, and have a few folks come and prepare the most delicious thing we can conjure up from it all. A big salad seems like a definite, but some of the basil and mint would be amazing in some virgin cocktails. In addition we’re working on enlisting some local restaurants to donate some main courses to go with our big salads.

We could still use some volunteers to help out. Specifically, we’re looking for:

People who have a special talent for preparing food, and food ideas! The garden has tons of different leafy greens and spices, and someone who could prepare and explain the preparation of a nice sized salad, as well as some peppers, sage, basil, parsley, oregano, etc etc etc is greatly needed.

Sign creators! We need one large sign for the front of the garden, describing the story of how it got here, and how people can get involved. This will be a process with a few design meetings and such, but anyone who wants to help head this and get involved in this way is very much needed. We could also use some signs underneath the various plants, letting folks know what they are; I guess laminating them would help. Any ideas?

Anything to further spruce up the space; some holiday lights, tiki torches, or anything you can think of. We need buckets for water, and baskets for harvesting food as well!

Bowls, utensils, napkins, etc. Non-paper products would be nice to limit the amount of waste we have on site. At the very least, it would great if everyone brought their own utensils and plates but we’ll make sure to have some on hand so everyone can enjoy the feast. Do you have service for 20 that you can lend? We’ll wash it up nice and get it back to you!

See you on Friday. Now bring on some nice weather!

Caught up? Great. So what’s happening today from 5 to 8?

The issue we have to deal with now is the fact that the food growing in the garden needs to be harvested…asap! (I know… tough problem, right?) That’s why this TODAY we’re going to open up the garden from 5-8 for anyone who wants to come in, and have a little kickoff introductory event. We’ll harvest as much of the food as we can, and have a few folks come and prepare the most delicious thing we can conjure up from it all. A big salad seems like a definite, but some of the basil and mint would be amazing in some virgin cocktails (we can’t have alcohol in the space, sorry folks). In addition Slice pizza will be providing some free pies for everyone who turns out.

So… we could still use some volunteers to help out. Specifically, we’re looking for:

People who have a special talent for preparing food, and food ideas! The garden has tons of different leafy greens and spices, and someone who could prepare and explain the preparation of a nice sized salad, as well as some peppers, sage, basil, parsley, oregano, etc etc etc is greatly needed.

Sign creators! We need one large sign for the front of the garden, describing the story of how it got here, and how people can get involved. This will be a process with a few design meetings and such, but anyone who wants to help head this and get involved in this way is very much needed. We could also use some signs underneath the various plants, letting folks know what they are; I guess laminating them would help. Any ideas?

Anything to further spruce up the space; some holiday lights, tiki torches, or anything you can think of. We need buckets for water, and baskets for harvesting food as well!

Bowls, utensils, napkins, etc. Non-paper products would be nice to limit the amount of waste we have on site. At the very least, it would great if everyone brought their own utensils and plates but we’ll make sure to have some on hand so everyone can enjoy the feast.