By now you may have noticed the exciting development on the southwest corner of E. Passyunk Ave. and Wharton St. The quick back story (in case you haven’t heard it) is that producers of the Rachel Ray Show got together with the good folks at the Camden Children’s Garden and made an agreement with the owner of the lot to operate it as a community garden for at least the next two years. The show wanted the spot to be the backdrop for an upcoming episode (Monday, September 26 in fact) during which they’d have some kind of cooking contest and show some footage of the process of turning the formerly blighted lot into the great space it is now. Having done that, The Rachel Ray show has turned over the garden to us and the Camden Children’s Garden. CCG and the PSCA Beautification Committee are now partnering up to turn this into a real asset for the neighborhood.

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:
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We need YOUR help.  Many of you told us in our recent PSCA general survey that dealing with boarded up/vacant houses in the neighborhood is important to you.

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

If you see a house that is boarded up/vacant we need you to send us the address or cross streets by clicking here to fill out this short form.

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

The Beautification Committee of the PSCA is responsible for, among other things, all of the great work that has been done to increase the number of street trees in the neighborhood. However, planting the trees isn’t the end of the story. While many homeowners who have welcomed new trees in front of their own houses have done a great job at keeping their trees watered and pruned, there are several new trees in public spaces that require volunteers to care for them.

The Beautification Committee is seeking volunteers to help for an hour or two on Wednesdays and Saturdays from now through October (when the trees go to sleep for the winter). These groups of volunteers will primarily water and prune the trees around Capitolo Playground.

Volunteers will meet at 6pm on Wednesdays and 10am on Saturdays at the main entrance to Capitolo at 9th and Federal. The Beautification Committee welcomes anyone who can attend any of these gatherings so please don’t feel like you are obligating yourself to come to every one. A representative of the Committee will be on hand to instruct people on what to do.

For more information or to RSVP, please email beautification@passyunk.org.