Correction: The Saturday meeting is 10 a.m. to Noon.

The Mariposa Food Co-op is hosting two community meetings this week to allow residents in West Philly to get a look at its new location on Baltimore Avenue and hear more about the progress of its expansion plans.

The first meeting is Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the soon-to-be Mariposa location at 4824 Baltimore Ave. Residents will have the chance to tour the new building, which is a five-fold increase in size over the old space, and talk to Mariposa staff and members about expansion plans. The new building is scheduled to open in October and rennovations will begin in earnest this summer.

Another open house will be held on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.10 a.m. to Noon and follow a similar format. State Rep. James R. Roebuck Jr. is scheduled to attend this open house as well to talk about the expansion.

Mariposa continues to seek support for the expansion and there are a couple of ways you can help out. A membership drive is currently under way for the new store. A loan campaign is also ongoing and donations are always accepted.

Penn’s Institute of Urban Research has released a report that confirms what everyone who has been house shopping in West Philadelphia already knows –  home prices in the Penn Alexander School catchment area have quadrupled since 1998.

The average home sale price in the catchment, which roughly runs from 40th Street to 47th and Sansom Street to Chester Avenue and parts of Woodland Avenue, has risen to about $430,000, a 211 percent increase since 1998. Home prices in the PAS catchment far outpace prices in the rest of the city. Home prices during the same period elsewhere in West Philadelphia and in University City have roughly doubled. Prices in Center City have risen 87 percent.

Average home prices in the Penn Alexander catchment are now roughly on par with properties in Center City.

Home prices have outpaced rent increases as well, which “suggests that the households in University City has shifted in composition from renters to owners,” according to the report.

The report credits the creation of the University City District, Penn’s mortgage program for employees and the Penn Alexander School with the rise in home prices.

Don’t forget about the Parent Infant Center plant sale today from… well, now until 3 p.m. If you ordered ahead of time, you can pick up your plants. If you didn’t order ahead, browsing possibilities still exist.

The sale is at the church at 42nd and Spruce.

Making rugs in Afghanistan is almost like a form of journalism. Many rug weavers recreate the devastation their country has seen for decades in textiles that include scenes of war and destruction. An exhibit that includes a large selection of these rugs opens today at the Penn Museum (3260 South St.).

Battleground: War Rugs of Afghanistan runs through July 31. Today’s opening includes a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m., a special lecture by Brian Spooner, the curator of the museum’s Near East Section and a “make your own rug” craft activity from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The museum will also screen the film Painted Trucks, a 1972 documentary that shows the Afghan tradition of painting trucks. The film, made by two Fulbright scholars, shows the country in a more peaceful time and has become a favorite of the Afghani community. The filmmakers will be present for a discussion after the screening.

Below is a short video narrated by Brian Rose, an archaeology professor at Penn, that shows the rugs in detail.

Notes from Afghanistan: War Rugs from Penn Museum on Vimeo.

West Philly resident Kim Woodbridge let us borrow this photo she took along Baltimore Avenue after the storms on Thursday. Thanks Kim.

A reminder that the West Philadelphia Cooperative School (4625 Baltimore Ave.) is hosting an open house this Saturday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tours will be from 11-12 and an information session will follow.

The school offers a Kindergarten Class (ages 4-6), a Preschool Class (ages 3-4) and a Toddler Class (age 2).