Photo from One Art Community Center’s Facebook page.

A great community effort is underway on North 52nd Street. An Earthship, a 100 percent sustainable, “green” home, is being built on a vacant lot at 5128-5146 Warren St., from both natural and recycled materials.

The project is spearheaded by the One Art Community Center (formerly Wall Street International), which is planning to create an urban sustainability center and expand its artistic and educational programs for the community. One Art has already been running an educational farm in the area, which includes an orchard and organic learning garden.

This is the second Earthship being built in West Philadelphia. The first project, led by non-profit organization LoveLovingLove Inc., began last year at 675 N. 41st Street.

One Art’s plan is to build a two-story, four-room solar-powered building complete with bathrooms by the end of the year, if they get enough funding and materials, according to CBS Philly.

By the way, this Saturday, One Art is hosting a big community festival, titled A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at their location at 5128-46 Warren Street. The festival, which will feature 15+ musical acts, workshops, a fashion show, art installations, live painting and glassblowing, vending and much more, will be held from 1 p.m. Aug. 22 to 4 a.m. Aug. 23. For more information and tickets ($30), visit the event’s Facebook page.

Warrington Community Garden (photo from ngtrust.org).

June 20th is the second annual Community Gardens Day in Philadelphia. The celebration is sponsored by the Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), an organization that helps preserve community gardens. Thanks to NGT’s work, Community Gardens Day was recently officially recognized by the city.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, 45 community gardens throughout the city will host free activities, such as tours, demos, work days, family activities, and other special programs. This is a great chance to visit your neighborhood garden, show your support and participate in activities (click here to find a community garden near you).

A celebration will also be happening tomorrow at Warrington Garden at 4731 Warrington Ave. Guests are welcome to explore this green oasis and take part in the following activities: tours of the garden, scavenger hunt for children, photo display from the garden’s archives, herb identification, medicinal plant walkthrough (at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.), and an art project organized by the University City Arts League (from 1 to 3 p.m.). Light refreshments will be served.

The “bamboo lot” at 5123-29 Baltimore Avenue (Google Street View).

Greensgrow Farms recently signed a lease for a new garden center on Baltimore Avenue, and now they would like to present their plans to the community and get some feedback. A community meeting will take place on Thursday, June 4 at People’s Baptist Church (5039 Baltimore Ave), from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting is a great opportunity for neighbors to share ideas about what they want to see at this location.

The new garden center is planned for the overgrown vacant lot (aka “the bamboo lot”) at 5123-29 Baltimore Ave. Some likely features of the new location will be a small farm, nursery, an outdoor classroom space and possibly a farmers’ market. However, Greensgrow is willing to work with the community to figure out what the new space should include.

Greensgrow, which is based in Kensington, is also inviting neighbors to check out their temporary West Philly location at 4912 Baltimore Ave. to meet the staff and learn more about their mission and impact.

5123-29 Baltimore Avenue (image from Google Street View).

The urban farming hub Greensgrow Farms will likely open a bigger West Philly location next spring after agreeing to lease a large, overgrown vacant lot on the 5100 block of Baltimore Avenue.

Greensgrow came to terms with the city, namely Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, on a long-term lease for 5123-29 Baltimore Ave., known by some in the neighborhood as the “bamboo lot.” Greensgrow had originally expressed interest in a plot of land across Baltimore Avenue. That plan fell through, but the bamboo lot became available.

With a new location in place, Greensgrow now wants to figure out what neighbors want to see in the space. The organization, which is headquartered in the Kensington neighborhood and currently operates a location in the old Elena’s Soul location at 4912 Baltimore, will hold a public meeting on June 4 at 6 p.m. at the People’s Baptist Church (5039 Baltimore Ave.) to talk with neighbors.  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy Triskeles Programs.

Triskeles Programs, a non-profit organization teaching youth the skills needed to live a healthy life, as well as teamwork and leadership skills, is offering a few great free afterschool programs and a paid summer internship for local teens. The afterschool programs start on April 6, and summer internships in the Green Economy kick off on June 22. All programs are offered at the Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, 3509 Spring Garden Street. Here are more details:

      Free After school Classes in Cooking, Gardening, &  Environment Studies

What: Three programs are offered: The Cooking and Nutrition Program integrates activities such as recipe reading; study of food groups and nutritional guidelines; and menu planning and budgeting. The Urban Sustainability Program provides youth a hands-on introduction to the key environmental issues facing urban communities. The Urban Agriculture Program gives youth practical experiences in the basic concepts related to growing healthy organic food in urban settings.  Continue Reading

Vacant lots in some parts of Philly are suddenly a hot commodity, meaning that the makeshift community gardens that residents have tended, sometimes for years, are disappearing. One that is in a fight for its life right now is the garden adjacent to the Ahimsa House on the 5000 block of Cedar Avenue.

Photo from the Ahimsa House’s Facebook page.

The property at 5005 Cedar was vacant until earlier this year, when a developer snatched it up just before it was to go up for sheriff’s sale. The likely buyer in that sale would have been Meg Ferrigno, who runs the Ahimsa House next door at 5007 Cedar, a community space focused on environmental sustainability and community mindfulness. A couple of years back the Ahimsa House began cultivating vegetables on the vacant lot and started a program to help students at nearby Samuel B. Huey School learn how to grow food.

“My neighbors helped shovel over a ton of compost mix onto the lot so we can grow organic veggies and fruits and have the space be 100 percent lead-free,” said Ferrigno in an e-mail. “The garden provides food for anyone who wants it and it provides a point of human-nature connection for our neighborhood. Everyone can plant, compost and harvest and we simply keep track of what is where on the chalkboard on the side of the house.”

As the owner of an adjacent property, Ferrigno had been advised to request that the property be put up for sheriff’s sale. The last owner died in the 80s, she said. But just before the sale a developer bought the property, brought the taxes up to date and then sold it to another developer for $62,000. That developer is willing to sell it to Ferrigno, but for no a dime under $80,000.

So now the fundraising has begun. Ahimsa House raised nearly $5,000 in a recent Indiegogo campaign. Now they have a GoFundMe campaign, which you can find here.

Once the garden is purchased back, Ferrigno plans to place it into a land trust. You can talk to Ferrigno about the garden by e-mailing ahimsahousephilly@gmail.com or calling 215-488-7772.

– Mike Lyons