First Workday!

Hi all!  Our first workday at the Garden was the first Friday after spring break, and lucky for us it was a gorgeous day!  We spent the first portion of the workday getting rid of any dead vegetation, and then set to work immediately afterwards pouring mulch onto the beds.  We then mixed the mulch into the soil.  Hopefully, this will help the plants to grow.  We also, to our surprise, found that the garlic is sprouting up green and healthy.  It’s a good omen for the days ahead!

Workday!

Hi all!  Just to recap, last Friday we had a workday in which we planted lettuce and covered some of the crops with fabric so as to keep them warm during the colder months.  We also harvested some of the already-grown lettuce and tomatoes.  Here’s hoping that the weather stays nice, and that squirrels stay away!

Green Fest, Fall Festival, and various workdays

Hi everyone!  We have a lot to share this week about the garden and other fun events happening on campus.  Firstly, we’d like to thank everyone who attended Fall Festival at Penn Garden during Food Week.  We now have a beautiful hand-painted sign, and we planted garlic–which we unfortunately had to re-plant because of a squirrel invasion.  The cider and vegetable soup (which was made with our own kale!) were absolutely delicious.

Last Friday we also had a workday.  The agenda that day was to re-plant the garlic, and harvest lettuce and baby spinach.  As usual, we got to keep what we picked.  But don’t fret if you missed this past workday.  We have another workday coming up this Friday 2-4.  If possible, please bring plastic bags to take food home in:  we’re running low.  Also, a red thermos was left at the Garden a few weeks ago.  If you’re reading this, and you’ve lost it, please come and pick it up.

Lastly, don’t miss Green Fest!  The blurb says it all:

“GreenFest, Penn’s campus-wide environmental festival, aims to raise environmental awareness and help facilitate the collaboration of eco-friendly groups. Our goal is to educate students as to how they can do their part in the green revolution.”

There’ll also be free food and, best of all, we’ll be there too.

So come to Penn Garden, come to Green Fest, and stay green!

Workday tomorrow

Join us for a workday at the garden this Friday at 3 pm! We’ll be doing some garden maintenance, harvesting and planting  lettuce.

Photography by Peter Tobia

Fall Festival at Penn Garden

Hi Everyone!  Hope you’re enjoying food week.  I just wanted to remind you all that Fall Festival at Penn Garden is Friday (tomorrow), noon to 4 at–you guessed it–Penn Garden.  So stop by for a delicious conclusion to food week!

Food Week

As some of you may know, Food Week starts this Monday.  During Food Week there will be a ton of fun events on campus meant to educate us about food and farming.  Interested in nutrition?  Go to “Food and you:  Health and Nutrition.”  Do you want to help feed the hungry?  Then check out “Feed Philadelphia.”  And, of course, make sure to end the week right by stopping at Penn Garden 12-4pm on Friday for “Fall Festival at Penn Garden.”  This event is for anyone who likes free lunch and warm apple cider (I think that’s just about all of us).  Plus everyone who comes to “Fall Festival” gets to help paint a permanent sign and plant garlic as well.

So whatever your interest with regard to food, Penn has you covered.  Check out our calendar for the exact times and locations for all the mentioned and unmentioned events (every day there’s a different even, with two on Thursday).

And remember to drop by the Garden on Friday!

Screening of Food Fight on Wednesday

When: September 29th at 5PM

Where: College Hall 200

Watch the film FOOD FIGHT (http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/), a documentary by Chris Taylor.

Meet the Director, Chris Taylor, who will discuss the film and field questions.

FOOD WILL BE SERVED !

About the film: There is a great lie being sold to the American food consumer about food choices. That lie is that the food being grown for us on the big farms and sold in the big chain supermarkets is tasty and nutritious. The truth is, it is neither. Four out of ten chronic diseases are food-related in their origins. The food we buy today at the supermarket is lower in taste and nutrition and higher in fat and salt since 1960. Our children represent the first generation in our planet’s history that will have a shorter life span than their parents. And it is entrenched government policy that has built, supports, and continues this dysfunctional system. How did this come to be?

FOOD FIGHT is a documentary that takes a look at how American agricultural policy and food culture developed in the 20th century, and how the California food movement rebelled against big agribusiness to launch the local organic food movement. It features Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), Wolfgang Puck, Michael Pollan and other big names involved with food.

About the director: Chris Taylor received a B.A. Cum Laude from Harvard University in Folklore and Mythology.From 1975 through 1986, Chris worked as a touring lighting designer and production manager for musical groups such as the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Earth, Wind and Fire, John Fogarty, ELO, and Simon and Garfunkel.

After attending the American Film Institute in 1988, Chris began his career as a Director of Photography by working as a DP with such talented filmmakers as Gary Oldman, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Michael Lehmann, and others. During this time he photographed six features, six MOW’s, short films, TV pilots, and episodic television.

In 2005, Chris co-founded Positively 25th Street, a production company dedicated to creating original documentary programming with social and cultural significance. The first project, FOOD FIGHT, premiered AFI FEST LA in November of 2008. The film has been awarded the Audience Award for 2008 by the International Documentary Association. In 2009 the film has played in over 30 film festivals all over the world, and has won 7 other festival awards.

We’re in Penn Current!!

Penn Current ran an article about us last Thursday.  We’re really excited about the extra publicity, especially since the Garden is still fairly new.  The article did a good job capturing our views and goals.  Here’s the link to the article in case you want to read it:  http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/features/091610-3.html

For those of you who just want a quick summary, the main points of the article are that we are an organic, student run garden where members get to bring home part of the harvest and the surplus (once we have some) will be donated to the food pantry at St. Mary’s Church.  Another one of our goals is to bring the community together so they can learn about agriculture and what it means.

We have a bunch of exciting events coming up, including a screening of “Food Fight” on September 29th, and we’ll be participating in Penn’s food week from October 18th to the 22nd.

We’ll also be a stop on West Philly Gardens Day on September 19th.  We’re thrilled that the garden is thriving and that it’s garnered so much attention.  Of course, this wouldn’t be possible without the help of our friends.  So thank you to everyone who’s been getting involved, and if you’re not already involved join us!  If you don’t join for the chance to plant crops and get free food, then do so because you want to be at the forefront of an environmental movement on campus.

Tags: publicity

Workday tonight!

We are having a workday at the garden tonight at 6.30 pm. We will be harvesting and readying the garden for West Philly Gardens Day on Sunday.

Feel free to come by the garden between noon and 3 pm on Sunday during West Philly Gardens Day. Gardens all over West Philly will be open to visitors and some will even be offering workshops and presentations. Inspirational garden awards will be given out at the Woodlands at 4 pm.

First Autumnal Harvest!

Today was our first harvest of the Fall, and everything looks great so far!  The crops have flourished underneath the steel cages, so much so that we had to trim back branches and vines that had outgrown the wood boxes.  Fruits and vegetables that we picked today included tomatoes, orange cherry tomatoes, eggplants, tomatillas, bell peppers, potatoes, and jalapeños.  After we picked them, we weighed them and brought them home.  They look delicious!