Grid Magazine October 2013[#054] by Red Flag Media

Susta i n abl e Ph i l a d elp hi a

oct 2 013 / i ssu e 54 grid ph il ly.co m

also inside

Johnny Della Polla Managing Partner, Kennett Restaurant

cloth diapers, cleaned and delivered â&#x20AC;˘ Eating bugs â&#x20AC;˘ green burials

The energy to save…

At Philadelphia Gas Works we’re developing new ways for residential customers to save more money and use less energy, without sacrificing comfort. That’s why PGW rebates of up to $2,000 are available for homeowners, landlords and even renters who replace their old furnace or boiler. Find out how to save green by being green at: www.PGWEnergySense.com

Setting the Table I

What are the next steps for local restaurants who source food locally?

n this issue we have stories about eating bugs and green burials. I knew things would be different with McGoran in charge, but I didn’t think they would be so… creepy. Yet one day we may feel the need, like two billion other humans, to get over the ick factor in our search for a healthy diet. Since there’s no getting around the fact that we’re all food for worms, perhaps this could be viewed as a preemptive strike. And since, collectively, we might be eating the same worms eating us, maybe it’s best not to pump our bodies full of formaldehyde. The cover story brings us to a more familiar place: local restaurants. But this time we’re covering them from a different angle. Yes, the dinner table is a crossroads for big conversations about public health, environmental stewardship and economics — and we’ve chosen a few of the many restaurants who champion the local organic farmer — but restaurants are businesses and, like any other business, they have to make operational decisions that might not be visible (or of interest) to their customers. Next time you plan a meal out, reward these restaurateurs who are making those decisions with sustainability in mind. You’ll be rewarding yourself as well because they are all great restaurants. Think your favorite restaurant could be more sustainable? Share our restaurant resource guide. We hope it proves to be a valuable tool, or at least a starting point, for as many restaurants as possible. I thought it might be fun to put together a quick list of some of the decisions made here at Red Flag Media, the parent company of Grid. It’s partial, and I’m not listing shameful lapses like when we bought chairs from IKEA. Paper: The most important purchase we make. Grid, and all Red Flag Media publications, is printed on 43.9 lb. Leipa Ultramag. It’s 100% recycled, and 80% post-consumer, which is the most important number, indicating the amount of material derived from consumers’ recycling bins. Hand towels: A couple of years ago we ditched paper towels for the rest room and, with the help of Wash Cycle, replaced them with cloth hand towels. Gone are the billowing but lightweight garbage bags of used paper towels. Compost: Food scraps are picked up by Bennett Compost.

Carpet: Purchased from Revolution Recovery, who had collected excess carpet from a job site. Conference and lunch table: Made by Stable Tables from salvaged wood and iron. Energy: Renewable energy from the Energy Co-op. There are other great options — Clean Currents and Community Energy. Make the switch today if you haven’t already. Transportation: Nobody drives to work, and Red Flag Media pays for 90% of all public transportation costs.

publisher

Alex Mulcahy 215.625.9850 ext. 102 alex@gridphilly.com editor-in-chief

Jon McGoran jon@gridphilly.com art director

Jamie Leary jamie@gridphilly.com designer

Danni Sinisi danni@gridphilly.com distribution / ad sales

Jesse Kerns 215.625.9850 ext. 100 jesse@gridphilly.com community engagement

Morgan Berman morgan@gridphilly.com writers

Shaun Brady Bernard Brown Lena Buford Emily Kovach Julianne Mesaric Peggy Paul Brian Rademaekers Courtney Sexton Emily Teel interns

Jamie and Alex

round of applause and a tip of the cap to Jamie Leary, our creative director, who has been with Red Flag Media for the past decade, and is taking a position with Philadelphia Magazine. It’s impossible to explain how important he’s been to me personally and to our company, especially without getting a lump in my throat, but suffice it to say, there would be no Grid without Jamie Leary. I encourage anyone who has enjoyed this magazine to send him a note at jamie@redflagmedia.com to thank him for his work and to wish him well.

Sarah Adams Whitney DiTaranto Christine Dobisch Suzanna Erlich Rasheed Flowers Corey Jameson Devon Jennings Yarnkai Koryon Cassandra Kyriazis Valerie Lang Andrew Schlesinger Meredith Thomas photographers

Christian Hunold Mark Likosky Bradly Maule Neal Santos Gene Smirnov Albert Yee illustrators

Sarah Ferone controller

Nicole Jarman nicole@gridphilly.com published by

alex j. mulcahy, Publisher alex@gridphilly.com

Red Flag Media 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.625.9850 g r i d p h i l ly . c o m

PRESENTS

Thursday

September 12

YOU’VE READ THE MAGAZINE, NOW SEE THE SHOW!

Trinity Memorial Church 22nd and Spruce Sts. FEATURING DOORS OPEN AT

6:00 p.m.

SHOW STARTS AT 7:00 P.M.

This month is FREE! but reserve tickets in advance at gridalivesept.eventbrite.com — hurry, space is limited! Chad Ludeman MUSICAL GUEST

President of Postgreen Homes

Simon Hauger

Co-founder of The Workshop School

Dan Bruskewicz of TJ Kong

Tykee James & Aaron Henry

Docents of Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center

Limited Edition Tote

made by Fabric Horse from waxed canvas & recycled materials

available online at

store.gridphilly.com

REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED BY

CO-SPONSORED BY

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Community: Firehouse alarm · Pick up your clothes

10 Green Living: Bums rush· Clean getaway· Next nest 14 Media: Punch it up · 100 plates · High society 18 Design: Stoop to conquer · Platinum powerhouse 20 Food: Biting bugs back · Figments of imagination · 1000 plates

38 Urban Naturalist: Creek Odyssey 40 Events: Bikes, birds, books and more!

Sustainable Sustenance A look behind the scenes at Philadelphia’s greenest restaurants by emily teel

46 Dispatch: The beauty in ruins

cov er an d con ten ts P hotoS by a lbert yee

Pumpkin Painting, workshops, & more! Support & Lear

n about Greensgr

ayor! Milkshake for M

ow!

THE FARMER HAS LEFT THE DELL. Visit a farm in the middle of Philly. FREE! Join us Saturday, September 28, 2013, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Greensgrow Farms 2501 E. Cumberland St. Philadelphia, PA 19125 Join us for local food, fun activities, and contests! • Crafts • Organic Snacks • Farm-life Activities • Pet Adoptions

• Organic Gardening Workshops • Milkshake’s Mayoral Campaign • Subaru Canned Food Drive • Chili Competition*

• Learn about Greensgrow’s CSA program** See the CSA table or greensgrow.org/csa for details.

Proud Partners:

*See greensgrow.org/subarufallfestival for contest rules and more information about the event. **See the CSA table or greensgrow.org/csa for details. Follow Subaru events on Twitter, @subaru_usa, and follow the 6th Annual Subaru Fall Festival at Greensgrow Farms, event hashtag #subarugardens.

community

Plain Sights

Last call at Engine 46? Cedar-Riverview LP, owner of the Engine 46 firehouse in South Philadelphia, has postponed their planned demolition of the building to entertain ideas for how to fill its vacancy. The Dutch/Flemish Revival firehouse, built in 1894, last housed the Engine 46 Steakhouse, which closed in 2006. Cedar's vision for the site included leveling the firehouse and replacing it with a Checkers Drive-In

columbus blvd. and reed

restaurant. That deal fell through, but Cedar still posted a demolition notice on the structure in February, stirring significant media coverage and a rally to save it. Councilman Mark Squilla and the Pennsport Civic Association have raised awareness about the building, but by right Cedar may demolish it at any time. For more on this story, visit the Hidden City Daily, hiddencityphila.org.

In partnership with Hidden City, Plain Sights highlights historic buildings with compelling stories hiding in our midst.

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p hoto By B radley Maule

Clothes Encounters

EVERYDAY

HERO

Father and daughter collect and donate clothes discarded by runners by peggy paul

or Michael Resnic and his daughter Madeline, preparing for a marathon doesn’t involve long runs or cross-training sessions. All they need are comfortable shoes, some trash bags and volunteers to help them gather the shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, hats and gloves that runners shed along the race route. After witnessing the mass of clothing discarded at the 2007 Philadelphia Marathon, the Resnics founded Clothes-Pin, a nonprofit that collects runners’ cast-off layers and donates them to local homeless shelters and other organizations. Since then, they have collected and donated more than 100,000 articles of clothing and thousands of pairs of sneakers. Michael has big dreams for Clothes-Pin — including a fleet of electric trucks, corporate partners and a national expansion. He hopes that in the next five years Clothes-Pin will exceed 250,000 articles of clothing distributed, while assisting the Council of Responsible Sport in sustainable approaches to sporting events, partnering with clothing manufacturers and becoming a local presence in disaster relief. “Thanks to my daughter Madeline for asking, ‘Why?’” says Michael, “and thanks to the Philadelphia running community, Tony Medwid at Bethesda Project, and the friends, family, schools and neighbors who made Clothes-Pin a success.” Clothes-Pin is currently seeking volunteers for the Rock n’ Roll Marathon (Sep. 13-15) and the Philadelphia Marathon (Nov. 15-17) this fall. For more information, visit clothes-pin.org .

Garden of Healing Heirloom vegetables, medicinal herbs and a peaceful place in the neighborhood

Latin American medicinal herbs, heirloom vegetables and healing fruits and roots gather in a West Kensington plot, acting as a catalyst for neighbors to restore mental and physical peace. The plants growing in Tertulias Herb Garden are meant to comfort and heal. For garden-goers to reap these benefits, they too must gather, talk and, hopefully, remember their own roots. Iris Brown, founder of the garden, believes that if visitors don’t have a familial, cultural or culinary connection with a plant, its healing properties will be lost.

p ort rai t By N ea l sa ntos

Neighbors in the Puerto Rican community for whom the garden was built may recognize herbs used by their grandmothers, like ruda, a purifying herb used for women’s health and arthritis. Puerto Rico has a strong herbal culture that Brown wants to preserve. Health workers from the Community Health Collaborative will use what’s growing around them to “prescribe” heirloom vegetables that were planted because of their high nutritional property, and medicinal herbs to supplement mainstream recommendations. —Julianne Mesaric With help from a recently awarded $600 grant from Philly STAKE, Tertulias Herb Garden will be completed in September.

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Green living

Double Duty New company offers help with the ins and outs of sustainable parenting by emily kovach

or parents with babies, anything that makes life easier is appealing. Unfortunately, convenience can often mean sacrificing quality or compromising a commitment to a sustainable lifestyle. Bum & Tummy is a company seeking to prove that “easy” isn’t always synonymous with “disposable” or “pre-packaged.” Founded by Mikki McIntyre and Julia McGuckin (moms themselves), Bum & Tummy is a cloth diaper and organic baby food delivery company serving Philadelphia and South Jersey. For a monthly fee, diapers and/or healthy baby food are delivered to customers’ doors each week, taking the guesswork and time commitment out of cloth diapering and preparing homemade baby food. Cloth diapers can be rented from Bum & Tummy (they keep each family’s separate), and they also offer a laundry-only option for families who have their own stash of reusables. The food menu features three meals a day of organic, vegan and wheat-, salt- and sugar-free options for babies and toddlers. Some dishes sound so good (think golden beets and cannellini beans), mom and dad might even sneak a bite! For more info and pricing, see bumandtummy.com .

Mikki McIntyre, co-founder Bum & Tummy, with her inspiration for the company

Nest Best Thing Since 2010, the Nesting House in Mt. Airy has been a green alternative to big box retail, offering used clothing and other products on consignment for babies and kids, as well as new eco-friendly parenting products. This summermarked the opening of a second location, in Collingswood, NJ, offering a similar mix of products that are high-quality, sustainable and affordable.

Nature & Nurture 10

Catching frogs and exploring the forest might seem like pleasures foreign to most city kids, but the Nature Preschool, opening this fall at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education offers 340 acres of nature in Philadelphia where little ones can play, learn and commune. Registration is now open. schuylkillcenter.org .

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Visit thenestinghouse.net for more information.

to p p hoto by albert yee

YOU KNO W YOU’R

E THE GR

your com EENEST GAL ON THE BLOCK WH EN... p o s t r closely h ecipe is a eld fami ly secre t.

Yeah, you’re that kind of green. But what about your energy company? Clean Currents delivers only Green-e Energy® Certified wind power— because clean energy isn’t something we have to wait for, it’s here now. But we’re not just interested in powering light bulbs. We’re powering a movement of people like you who are committed to a sustainable future. Start green-powering your home today. Visit www.windpowerpa.com or call 215.525.2955 PA #A-2012-23304407

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Green living

Ever Green

Local cemetery provides options for a clean getaway story and photo by brian rademaekers

ucked into a quiet corner of West Laurel Hill Cemetery’s rolling, manicured lawns, the one-acre “Nature’s Sanctuary” might not seem unusual. But this little plot is the only cemetery space in the Philadelphia region listed by the Green Burial Council (GBC) as an approved provider, and even earned the group’s highest rating of three leaves. GBC founder Joe Sehee says that, while it's considered a “hybrid” cemetery because of the surrounding 186 acres of conventional burial plots, West Laurel Hill provides an important starting point and is doing things right by starting out small. “Green burial is an emerging industry,” says Sehee, who was on hand when Nature’s Sanctuary opened in 2008. Clifford David, Jr., chairman of the West Laurel board, says the space was created to accommodate a growing trend among those seeking more earth-friendly burial practices. While death may seem like it should be the final word in going off the grid, modern funerals are often a far cry from joining that big compost bin in the sky. That reality prompted the formation of the nonprofit GBC in 2005, to do for funeral homes and cemeteries what the U.S. Green Building Council (no relation) has done for the construction industry. Rather than skyscrapers with LEED Platinum ratings, the Green Burial Council recognizes final resting places and funeral providers that strive for lowimpact services with a rating system of one, two 12

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or three leaves. Conventional funerals begin with toxic embalming chemicals and lead to vast tracts of ecologically barren land maintained with chemical lawn treatment and gas-guzzling riding mowers. “This industry was created first by the casket and chemical companies, and the vault companies got in later,” says Sehee, who once acted as an adviser for the mainstream funeral industry. While green burials vary in how far they go in the quest for an earth-friendly ceremony, GBC strives to address four main issues: worker health, carbon emissions, reducing waste and conserving natural areas. GBC advocates the use of nontoxic chemicals in embalming, as well as production of items like caskets. Citing links between formaldehyde, a common embalming agent, and cancer, Sehee

says avoiding toxic chemicals is more about protecting people than the environment. “Formaldehyde isn’t an issue once it goes in the ground,” says Sehee. GBC recommends nontoxic options for preservation, like dry ice — or skipping embalming altogether. Another practice that GBC cites as common but unnecessary is the use of burial vaults, concrete slabs that surround caskets in the ground. GBC seeks to reduce the carbon emissions produced by the vaults, which use 1.6 million tons of concrete each year. “Burial vaults are rarely seen outside of North America,” says Sehee, “just as embalming is almost never used outside of about six countries.” Green burials also reduce waste by replacing conventional caskets with ones made from recycled newspaper or eliminating the casket in favor a sustainably-raised cotton burial shroud. Apart from reducing waste, consumption and toxic chemicals, green burials can also make cemeteries a tool for conserving natural areas. “[If] a conventional cemetery … were to convert back into a prairie as it was, it wouldn’t need to be watered and mowed, and you wouldn’t need to put those resources into it,” says Sehee. “We have the opportunity to use burial to accomplish conservation goals, and that’s where we’re going.”

rtmGRID4.5x4.75_Layout 1 8/31/12 3:24 PM Page 1

West Laurel’s green burial packages offers all of these GBC-approved alternatives, as well as others, like hand-dug graves. “The interest in green burials and funeral services is increasing,” says Deborah Cassidy, head of sales at West Laurel. She estimates there has been a 10– to 15–percent increase in plot reservations each year since 2008. Currently, there are 21 people interred in West Laurel’s “Nature’s Sanctuary,” with another 26 burial plots already reserved. But with the steady increase in interest, they’re set to expand to an additional acre — enough space for 1,000 green burials.

“Half of Americans over 50 think that embalming is necessary to have a funeral, and a higher percent think it’s necessary for a funeral with a viewing. And neither is the case.”

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Joe Sehee Founder of Green Burial Council

“The question of whether embalming is required is ‘debatable,’ with groups like the Funeral Consumer Alliance — a nonprofit that bills itself as a Consumer Reports of funerals — arguing that it isn’t required, while others say it is.” Deborah Cassidy Head of Sales at West Laurel Hill Cemetery

State law isn’t specific about requiring embalming, but “the law does say a person must take courses and pass an examination, including embalming, before being granted a funeral director’s license.” Ronald Ruman spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of State

Temple University Libraries’ Beyond the Page public programming series presents…

Gather Around the Table: Conversations on the History, Impact, and Implications of Food in our Society During the 2013-14 academic year, our series will frame critical conversations around the common theme of food. Join us for these programs and more throughout the year. Full schedule available at library.temple.edu/about/programs TEMPLE STUDENTS EXPLORE URBAN FARMS AND COMMUNITY GARDENS Moderated by Glenn Bergman of Weaver’s Way September 24, 5:30PM GOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL BUSINESS: A TALK BY JUDY WICKS Entrepreneur, author and founder of White Dog Café October 16, 12:00PM

All programs take place at Paley Library, located at 1210 Polett Walk on Temple Main Campus Visit us for a full season of listings and to find out more: library.temple.edu/about/programs

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Media

Online Landbanking

Philadelphia’s pending land bank bill inspires a variety of high-tech tools by shaun brady

ith more than 40,000 vacant lots and abandoned properties currently wasting space, fostering crime and bringing down property values across the city, consensus is growing around creating a land bank in Philadelphia. Last October, the state passed a bill allowing each city to create a land bank — a single public authority tasked with acquiring, maintaining and overseeing the sale of publicly-owned vacant properties. In March, a land bank bill was introduced in Philadelphia City Council by Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez. Council failed to act on it before their summer recess, but in the meantime, several local initiatives — Reclaim Philly, Grounded in Philly, Possible City — have emerged that are attempting to draw a cohesive map of vacant and abandoned properties, encourage their use for urban agriculture, and connect communities with ideas and resources for transforming these blighted parcels. “Because we don’t currently have a reliable dynamic database, it hinders community groups’ ability to plan for their neighborhoods, residents’ knowledge of what’s happening in surrounding 14

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blocks and ultimately the city’s ability to plan long-term for property reuse in communities,” says Garrett O’Dwyer, policy and communications associate at the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC). While there is a certain amount of overlap between the three projects, they’ve begun conversations to determine how best to share data and complement one another’s strengths. They’ve convened for a series of round table discussions hosted by Blissbit, a local socially-minded tech start-up that is working with the three groups to devise a collaborative vacant land data application, a shared software interface to aggregate their findings.

Reclaim Philly PACDC is working with volunteer programming and design professionals to create Reclaim Philly, a mobile app for compiling a crowd-sourced database of vacant properties. The hope is to eventually allow community groups to register, define their boundaries and fact-check data aggregated from individual citizens to identify vacant parcels. Grounded in Philly Grounded in Philly is a collaboration between the Garden Justice Legal Initiative at the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP) and Brooklyn-based 596 Acres. Its mission is to support the use of vacant lots for community gardens, market farms and other community-driven land-based projects. “It’s a solution to blight, it’s a solution to creating food access, it’s a way of building leadership development, and it’s a way of insuring continuity of cultural traditions,” says Amy Laura Cahn of PILCOP. Possible City Douglas Meehan created Possible City as a grad student in urban planning and landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. The site, which he’s developing in close collaboration with Blissbit, has more of a networking agenda: mapping vacant spaces, cataloguing reuse ideas, creating profiles for people interested in individual properties or ideas and connecting them. “The site would allow people doing similar work in different communities to network, share resources, and potentially share goods and services,” says Meehan.

p hoto by mark likosky

Whole Kids Foundation's mission is to improve children's nutrition and wellness with the goal of ending the childhood obesity epidemic. Through partnerships with innovative organizations, schools and educators we work to provide children access to healthier choices. We aim to help children reach their full potential through the strength of a healthy body. Visit http://www.wholekidsfoundation.org and find out more – Apply for a School Garden Grant or Salad Bar.

Hand Trowel: $3 Organic Soil: $50 Watering Can: $14

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Help bring a school garden to life.

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Visit PhilaU.edu/Graduate to learn more about all of Philadelphia University’s 18 graduate programs, or contact Graduate Admissions by calling 215-951-2943 or emailing gradadm@philau.edu.

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Media

Thinking Small

Schuylkill Punch

Rebranded Main Line Dine focuses on Small Food

A Story Runs Through It

he Schuylkill’s bad reputation inspired the story,” says author Chari Towne about her book A River Again: The Story of the Schuylkill River Project. “The Schuylkill has come a long way since it was considered the dirtiest river in the country. I’ve long believed that the effort to clean up the Schuylkill deserves greater recognition, but giving that recognition requires that we also look at the factors that allowed the river to become so polluted.” A Schuylkill Watershed Specialist with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Towne tells the story of how, by the middle of the last century, the Schuylkill River had gone from a river of “uncommon purity” to one of this country’s dirtiest, and the effort from 1947 to 1951 to reclaim it and save it. “The Schuylkill’s story is important because its cleanup came before all others, [and] for the lessons its redemption offers for how we interact with our rivers today,” says Delaware Riverkeeper Maya K. van Rossum. Originally published in hardback, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network is also making the book available as a free, downloadable pdf. Go todelawareriverkeeper.org, then Resources/Free Publications for the free download, or The River Shop/Books to purchase the hardback. A River Again was made possible in part by funding from the William Penn Foundation and the Jerlyn Foundation, as well as a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. —Jon McGoran

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Vedge Out In the almost 20 years since he opened his first restaurant, Horizon in Willow Grove, Rich Landau has been exploring and expanding the possibilities of vegetable cooking. Together with Kate Jacoby, his partner for the last 12 of those years, Landau has continuously raised the bar and won increasingly widespread praise. In 2011, they opened Vedge, a vegetable restaurant that has already earned a national profile as perhaps the best vegan restaurant in America, and one of the best restaurants, period. In their new cookbook, Vedge: 100 Plates Large and Small That Redefine Vegetable Cooking, Landau and Jacoby share 100 of the recipes that have won them such acclaim. —Jon McGoran

After covering the Main Line food and drink scene since 2003, the blog formerly known as Main Line Dine (mainlinedine.com) has rebranded itself as Small Food (smallfood.us), with a new focus on Philadelphia-area farmers markets, food artisans, growers and other small-scale, local food purveyors. “There are a few other ‘directory’ sites that cover these types of businesses, but they tend to be national and thus don’t really have a local perspective,” says founder Mike Madaio. “By focusing on a specific region, we can add local coverage to the local food.” Along with feature articles about local businesses, food news and other related topics, Small Food’s “Editor’s Picks” will highlight artisans, farmers and markets. A rating and reviews system will close the communication gap between consumers and providers/growers, fostering a stronger local food community. Since he is currently an operation of one, Madaio welcomes additional contributors (contact him through the website) and urges readers to click on the “Submit a Listing” link at the bottom of the site’s homepage to help him add additional producers, growers andartisans to his ever-expanding list. —Peggy Paul

THE SOCIETY Of ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISTS The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) was founded in Philadelphia in 1990 to help news reporters share resources and strengthen coverage of environmental issues. SEJ’s first president was Jim Detjen, a science writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Now based in Jenkintown, SEJ has more than 1300 members in 28 countries. Membership in SEJ is open to working journalists, students and faculty, and offers benefits that include quarterly newsletters, daily news digest, freedom of information and right-to-know resources, discounts and more. sej.org .

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design

Stoopified

PostGreen designs a cutting edge development in Francisville by courtney sexton

hen many people think of Philadelphia, they picture the quaint neighborhoods of Center City, filled with Revolutionary-era architecture and period details. But it could be argued that an entirely different history is told in the slouching rows of aged brick homes and vacant lots that line the streets of North Philadelphia. And it is in these very neighborhoods that the beginnings of a new phase in the city’s aesthetic and cultural history can be seen. When the City won a bid to develop a chunk of land in Francisville owned by the Redevelopment Authority, veteran Philadelphia real estate developer Equinox Property Management and Construction teamed up with green urban design mavericks PostGreen Homes for a project that they knew could mark a major turning point in the city’s

green urban infrastructure. “This neighborhood and specific location reminded us a lot of our beginnings in East Kensington,” says PostGreen President Chad Ludeman, refering to the 100K House. With support from the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Francisville project, known as the Folsom Powerhouse, will break ground on the 1700 block of Folsom Street this fall, and will include 31 mixed-use condo units and single family homes ranging from around $200,000 to $450,000. A central feature of the development is the “super stoop,” which is designed to make the sidewalks an ideal space for socializing and connecting the community. “Folsom is utilizing the best strategies that we’ve developed over the past five years and should yield some of the most energy–efficient

homes in the city and the country,” says Ludeman. “We have greatly improved a lot of interior finishing options and are implementing some of the best facade materials used to date with a mixture of recycled brick, wood and metal.” In addition to using cutting-edge sustainable urban planning principles, the developers enlisted community members and stakeholders to participate in conceiving the planned community’s cultural aspects. “We are very excited to see how the ‘super stoop’ and artist-designed street furniture contribute to the social environment on this now mostly vacant block,” says Ludeman. “It’s our hope that this project and others like it give something concrete to inspire continued improvement in smaller-scale development, both in Philadelphia and beyond.”

Teens Go Platinum High schoolers turn a rundown property into a LEED Platinum showpiece, with help from some friends A newly rehabbed house is nothing noteworthy in Philadelphia. But when the bulk of the work is performed by teens and when the house is slated for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification — as in the case with the three-story house at Greene and West Sylvania streets in Germantown — that’s news. Saint-Gobain, the world's largest building materials company, and its locally-based subsidiary CertainTeed partnered with North Philadelphia’s YouthBuild Charter School to transform a once run-down property into a sustainable multi-family home with a Hybrid Insulation System, reflective roof and many other green features. LEED certifications — especially Platinum —

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are rare for rehabbed residential spaces, both because of financial constraints and because so many resources go into a gutted renovation. The materials and time donated by SaintGobain helped make this LEED certification possible. “Going in, we hoped to achieve Gold,” says Pinkney. “But once we really got into this project, we wanted to go that extra mile to achieve Platinum.” The house is more than a feather in Philadelphia’s eco-friendly cap. According to Pinkney, the 40 students who worked on the partnership learned valuable skills and professional training that they can take back into their communities — an investment that will benefit Philadelphia’s future developments.—Emily Kovach

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Bug Bites

Healthy, sustainable and economical: For two billion people, insects are what’s for dinner by julianne mesaric

nna mraz dunked a dainty, Vietnamese summer roll in a ginger-tamari glaze, a glass of Neiderburg Chenin Blanc at the ready to complement the roll’s hint of cucumber. As she opened her mouth to take her first bite, the squat, spongy butt of a silkworm pupae poked out the top. With a wary glance, she bit down anyway, chewing a little quicker than usual. ¶ The U.N. reports that 2 billion people in 80 percent of the world’s nations practice entomophagy (eating insects) as part of subsistence diets — or fried or dried as treats — mostly in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia. Edible insects are plentiful (1,900 insect species have been documented as such), healthy, environmentally friendly and economical. But are they pleasurable?

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On a sweltering evening in July, close to 50 of Philadelphia’s bravest eaters, including Mraz, came to Morris Arboretum to determine just that, tasting foods made with crickets, silkworm pupae, mealworms, bamboo worms and — the shining stars — hissing cockroaches. "Bug Crawl: Food and Drink Pairings for the 21st Century" was curated by the Arboretum to intrigue, certainly, but also to educate, to challenge the “ick factor” and ultimately to reach beyond the novelty of entomophagy and present the case for making insects part of the American diet. “The greatest biodiversity here isn’t you and me. It’s not the carrots and the clover,” says Robert Gutowski, Director of Public Programs at the Morris Arboretum, motioning toward the lush landscape around him. “It’s what is in those trees.” Insects are all around us, but we usually see them as a nuisance, a disgusting threat to our food supply instead of a part of it. Ideas about food are largely learned. If we are never taught the merits of eating insects and never see it done, why would we eat them? “I’m always attracted to foods that are healthy and high in nutrients,” says Mraz. Many insects

are rich in protein and good fats and high in calcium, iron and zinc. Fried grasshoppers have triple the protein of beef. Flour made from insects — like the ground meal worm dusted on french-fries at the Bug Crawl — has more complex protein than wheat, barley or corn flour. Insects also have a comparatively low environmental impact, emitting relatively few greenhouse gases and little ammonia, and requiring significantly less water than cattle. Additionally, insects consume organic waste and do it very efficiently; 100 pounds of feed yields 45 pounds of crickets (compared to just 10 pounds of beef ). Neither of these cases for eating insects was on the mind of one teenage Bug Crawl-er. Trucking along with his mom between tasting stations, he was eager to eat something totally gross. The insect fries were fine, he said, but this adventurer wanted to sink his teeth into three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and two antennae. “The weirdest thing I ever ate before this was a hot dog,” he quipped. The second was ostrich. Looking at insects as anything more than a novelty food may require the evocation of something undeniably important when it comes to food: pleasure. This was the aim of the culinary

mastermind behind the event, Chef Josh Hunter of Company’s Coming Catering. He wanted the night’s dishes — like the tomato-basil-andbamboo worm bruschetta — to contain “flavors people would be familiar with and receptive to, flavors that would complement the insects they would feature.” (The bamboo worms were nutty, like a pine nut in a pesto.) Another strategy to make eating insects palatable is to hide them the way a parent might try to hide broccoli in brownies. In two of the five dishes at the Bug Crawl, the insects were curiously out of sight; you would never know there were crickets in the fritters with coconut curry dipping sauce unless someone told you. Mraz’s boyfriend, Matt Wicks, said it best: “It tastes like regular food.” One could argue that ingredient-shrouding is a poor strategy to evoke pleasure. Like the recent resurgence of interest in knowing where our food comes from, who grew it and how, acknowledging that you’re eating an insect — and being okay with it — could make the gastronomic experience fuller. The true test of this theory came at the Hissing Cockroach station. There was no attempt to hide the flat, oval-shaped body perched on top of a wooden skewer like a lollipop. The only accompaniment was a small piece of red pepper supporting the underbelly and a spoonful of teriyaki sauce. One by one, hesitant hands grabbed the end of the skewers. Determined expressions were followed by ones of slight panic as mouths opened, shut and chewed. Though most eaters seemed rather pleased with their feat, it’s safe to say that few experienced pleasure. Perhaps it was due to the cockroach’s foul aroma. Most eaters disliked its texture, and spit the incredibly crunchy protective shell into cocktail napkins. There was talk that perhaps we were eating them wrong, that the cockroach should be peeled like a shrimp. Amidst the uncertainty, Bug Crawl participants chatted about how to bring insect-eating to the mainstream. Some wondered if it was even legal to have an insect farm. The Arboretum purchased the insects for the event from Fluker’s Cricket Farm in Port Allen, Louisiana — the closest insect farm to Pennsylvania — but the insects were primarily raised for reptile feed. In fact, regulations on producing insects for food aren’t very clear, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is calling for more research to untangle such questions (while fiercely promoting global adoption of eating insects). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) doesn’t even have regulations in place for intentionally raising insects for human consumption. But there are guidelines for acceptable levels of insect fragments in processed products like canned apricots and peanut butter. So, if the notion of eating bugs in the future makes you uncomfortable, perhaps you can take comfort knowing that you probably eat them already. o cto bER 20 13

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food

Art Attack on a Plate

Mural Arts celebrates 30 years with an off-the-wall feast for a thousand by shaun brady

n October 5, Mural Arts will gather nearly 1,000 people in Independence National Historical Park for “70X7,” a communal meal and discussion of heirloom foods and their role in creating a healthier food system. The meal is one component of “What We Sow,” Mural Arts’ summer-long 30th anniversary celebration, and expands the organization’s mission beyond the walls of city buildings. “The meal itself is like taking a mural off the wall and putting it on the table,” says Netanel Portier, project manager for Mural Arts. “Our broader mission is to bring people together around important issues through the creation of public artwork.” The meal will be the 34th in a series hosted in various locations across the globe by artists Lucy and Jorge Orta, who will also create a table runner printed with Philadelphia-inspired images and a limited-edition fine porcelain plate manufactured by Royal Limoges in France for each participant. The menu will be overseen by chef Marc Vetri and catered by Cescaphe Event Group. “It is an artwork because there are subtleties that are coming through in the way that we set the table, the site that we’ve chosen, all of the symbolic things,” explains Lucy, in response to the notion that creating a thousandperson feast may not immediately seem like a work of art. “We’ve got to dress the table with these beautiful plates and the tablecloth so you can start to see signs, signifiers, pictograms, images and texts appearing as if you are looking at a painting.” 22

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The Ortas determined the ingredients for the meal during a series of visits to Philadelphia farmers markets and food organizations. “We began looking at all the issues that we want to address,” Lucy says, “and [we came up with] this idea of cultural diversity through the heirloom species and preserving biodiversity.” The feast will be the culmination of a months-long season of programming that kicked off in June, all revolving around educating Philadelphia communities about heirloom foods. Unlike modern hybrid plants, heirloom plants are grown from seeds that have been handed down from one generation to the next, are not owned by any one

entity and have acquired resistance to disease, weather and pests through generations of adaptation. “With the season, we wanted to create an opportunity for people to begin to learn what heirloom means and have an entry point into this project before the meal itself,” Porter says. The series of workshops, familyfriendly activities, tours, tastings and cooking demos will also provide an opportunity for residents to sign up for a lottery that will award free tickets to the meal. Seats will also be distributed by invitation through partner organizations throughout the city to ensure participants’ diversity — geographically, socioeconomically and culturally.

The politics of seed saving in the age of GMOs Thurs., Sept. 26 - 6 p.m. - Reading Terminal Market, 12th and Filbert Streets Part of Mural Arts' What We Sow series, this panel discussion moderated by Jon McGoran, editor in chief of Grid, will explore the politics of saving seeds and GMOs. Panelists are Tom Laskawy, founder of the Food & Environment Reporting Network; Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch Assistant Director; William Woys Weaver, renowned heirloom seed expert; and Bill Freese, science policy analyst with the Center for Food Safety.

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food

The W h ol e Foo d

Figs

Se ed s of Co nt en t story and photos by

em ily te el

he late-summer slide into autumn is a particularly bountiful time in the Mid-Atlantic. During this brief period of plenty, you might be tempted to overload your shopping basket at the market, but no matter how full it gets, you should make room when you come across fresh figs. Figs — unlike apples, pears or the variety of stone fruits that keep us busy in July and August—don’t arrive in bulk at your local farmers market. They’re fragile, and since they’re sweetest when at their softest and most ripe, they require a bit of babying. Fig trees are also sensitive to cold, and they don’t survive if the temperature drops too low. This results in a unique scenario: Figs can’t yet be grown on a production scale in our region, but they can grow quite happily in the city itself, shielded from cold and protected from wind by buildings. The microclimate created by close-spaced urban dwellings actually allows for fig trees to thrive as long as they have plenty of sun and their roots can spread out a bit in urban soil. An alumna of Fair Food, Philabundance and Greener Partners, emily teel is a food freelancer dedicated to sustainable, delicious food in Philadelphia. See more of her work at emilyteel.com . 24

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for The grower

A member of the ficus family and a relative of the mulberry, what we think of as a fig is actually a “false fruit,” a modified stem containing an amalgamation of flowers. Technically, a single fig is made up of dozens of tiny fruits called drupes, each containing a seed. They grow on smooth-skinned shrubby trees with distinctively lobed leaves whose rough, prickly texture can leave you scratching should you brush against them. Giovanni Gagliardi, an octogenarian Philadelphian originally from Abruzzo in Central Italy, has learned to avoid itchiness by suiting up before harvesting the enormous fig tree that has taken over his South Philadelphia backyard. “When I pick them … I put [on] long sleeves, long pants, shoes … [it] looks like I go to the war.” But pick them he does, and so many remain that he and his family could never hope to eat them all. He sells the overflow, packaged by the dozen in reused egg cartons, to the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market, where he is something of a celebrity, referred to only by his first name. Gagliardi’s figs are the product of a very well-established tree, a green variety that he calls “paradiso,” which he planted from a cutting in 1975 when he first came to the United States. He wrapped it in plastic the first winter, afraid that it would be too cold, and the little tree rotted. So Gagliardi bargained with it, “I said, ‘Come up again and I take care of you.’” Fortunately, it sent up shoots the following spring. Beyond a little hay for insulation in the first few years, he’s never again Nutrition 101 wrapped or shielded it from cold weather, though it is High in dietary fiber due to their seeds, figs are also sheltered on the north side. high in potassium, iron, Now, it appears that the tree is actually taking care magnesium, B vitamins of Gagliardi. It towers over the house. “They grow that and vitamin K. They boast way,” he shrugs. “I don’t do nothing, I don’t bother them the highest concentration at all … that’s the beauty of the figs — they don’t need of calcium of any fruit, making them a great you to pay attention like a baby … you put them in the alternative to dairy. ground and they grow.” Though fig trees will take a few years to get established, they’re fairly low-maintenance, and in addition to their fruit, the tree’s big leaves offer lovely shade. What to look for Select fresh figs that feel Farmer Tom Culton, of Culton Organics in Lancaster heavy for their size, and County, is fanatical about figs, and he has dozens of vadon’t be put off if they’re rieties that he grows with an Amish friend. “We call starting to wrinkle a bit. it our clandestine fig lab… [We’re] slowly trying to acThey don’t keep well, so climate them to our climate.” Most of their dozens of make sure to use them within a few days. varieties must be shielded in a hoop house through the winter, but in the warm weather “we hoist them onto a tobacco wagon and drag them outside.”

Unfortunately, animals also know how tasty figs are. Gagliardi estimates that birds and squirrels get at least half of the fruit. But Culton says that, aside from the animal pests, “there’s not too much that goes after them." In fact, they can be grown in our climate far more easily than other tree fruits. Culton and his partner see potential in this. “Figs are something that we can farm organically, and with the climate changing, we think it’ll be a lowermaintenance crop for us.” In the city, figs can grow beautifully as long as they have enough soil. Though they will grow in a container, Culton cautions to make sure they a) don’t become root-bound (where the roots of the plant outgrow its container), and b) are upright and secured, as the trees can get top-heavy. Gagliardi jokes that when he planted his tree, his goal was to lean out of the kitchen window on the second story of his house and “without [touching] with the hands, I want to eat the fig.” Thirty-eight years later, his wish has come true.

for The cook

Fresh figs hardly need to be cooked, and Philly figs are rare delights, best eaten fresh—skins and all. They have a pulpy texture with delicate crunch from their small, round, edible seeds, and a faintly vegetal sweetness. Their Mediterranean origins mean that, like melon, they’re a classic paired with cured meat like prosciutto or speck. In addition to being elegant on a cheese plate, they’re perfect with a creamy, bloomy rind cheese like Silver Lining by Cranberry Creek Farm, or the subtle tang of a mild chevre. One advantage to cooking figs is that it concentrates their flavor, yielding a jammy sweetness and delicate crunch that fits perfectly between the juicy stone fruits and berries of summertime and the crisp and caramelesque apple and pear flavors of autumn. Sara May, Little Nonna’s Pastry Chef, who was most recently at the helm of the Franklin Fountain, developed this delicate clafoutis recipe, a French dessert somewhere between a pudding and a cake, exclusively for Grid. Sliced fresh figs, scattered on top the moment before it goes into a hot oven, dry slightly, their interiors going from noncommittal pink to sophisticated plum. Lemon zest lends brightness, and vanilla bean decadence, both tempered by the scholarly seriousness of fresh thyme. Despite its dressy appearance, this recipe is suitable for even a novice cook. The batter, mixed in a blender, needs to sit for a while before baking, and the finished dish is a delight when served next to loosely whipped local cream. Whether you eat them whole out of their carton, or save them for a recipe like this one, you won’t be sorry that you added them to your market basket in the waning warmth of a late summer day.

from the kitchen of che f May

Fr es h Fi g Cl af ou ti s (Serves 6)

thwise Split the vanilla bean in half leng pe out the scra e, knif your of back and, using the vanilla and zest seeds. Place 1/2 cup sugar, lemon lla vani and zest in a bowl. With clean hands, rub and rant frag is ture mix beans into sugar until thoroughly combined. In a stand Assemble the clafoutis batter: zest/vanilla on blender, combine the sugar/lem m, eggs, crea y heav , bean mixture, whole milk times to few a e Puls es. leav e sea salt and thym combine ingredients. between melted Add the flour gradually, pulsing room at d cream y stan heav to ½ cup additions. Allow batter for 30 minutes. 2 Tbsp confectioner’s temperature in the stand blender sugar renheit. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fah ½ pound fresh figs, with melted tin pie Brush a 9” cast iron skillet or sliced lengthwise r. Give suga poon teas 1 butter and sprinkle with into ½” slices (about then and e puls e mor one er the clafoutis batt one pint) ter fig slices the zest of one large pour into prepared pan. Gently scat utes, then min 15 e lemon, finely minced over the top of the batter. Bak eit renh Fah ees degr (about 1 Tbsp) reduce oven heat to 375 utis clafo l unti whipped cream, or e, mor utes min and bake 15-25 dle of to serve mid the and , ned brow and y puff sides are oven and the custard is just set. Remove from top with nkle Spri . utes allow to cool for 10 min r. suga s confectioner’ slices and serve Cut the cooled clafoutis into 6 cream. pped each slice with a dollop of whi

cup plus 1 tsp organic cane sugar, divided vanilla bean 1 ½ cup whole milk ½ cup heavy cream large eggs 2 tsp sea salt ¼ 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves cup plus 2 Tbsp all¼ purpose flour tsp unsalted butter, 2

for The pantry

by Marisa McClellan

Fresh figs are one of late summer's most fleeting treats. Here's how to make them last just a little bit longer. »» Don’t wash your figs until just before eating. Line a container with paper towels, place the figs in a single layer on the towels, and refrigerate. »» Cut fresh figs into quarters, toss with granulated sugar (use half as much sugar as figs), and simmer over low heat until the liquid thickens. Scrape figs and syrup into a container and refrigerate. »» Figs also freeze well. Place on a cookie sheet, freeze, and then double wrap them in plastic. They’ll keep at least six months. Learn more about food preservation at foodinjars.com

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Eating Green philly's favorite restaurants go the extra mile to be local and sustainable story by emily teel ♦ photos by albert yee

It seems that

in recent years, no other setting is as apt for a discussion on sustainability than the dinner table. A conversation about the steak on a plate becomes one about industrial cattle production and greenhouse gas emissions. The roasted potatoes spawn a debate on pesticide use or the implications of monoculture. Sautéed spinach seems suspicious in light of food safety concerns, and the iced tea might remind us of the rights of workers on sugar plantations. The plate has become political, and many have adjusted their habits to reflect that. Eaters everywhere are growing their own in community gardens, subscribing to CSAs, supporting farmers markets, and eating less meat or different meat — or no meat altogether. But even the sustainably–minded consumer can sometimes forget (or forgo) these principles when dining out. The foodservice industry is less agile than the individual consumer, and greening a restaurant is an investment, a process, and a moving target requiring evaluation and updates as technologies and sources improve. Nonetheless, eco-conscious entrepreneurs are incorporating sustainable business practices into the work of serving food, be it a cup of coffee, a brick-oven pizza or some of the most elegant meals in Philadelphia.

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When we first got our order from Green Meadow I had no idea I was getting a whole, raw turkey … I was like, ‘What do I do with this?!” — Angie Vendetti

Environmental Entrées

Judy Wicks may be the founding mother of Philadelphia’s sustainable restaurant community, but she and the kitchen of the White Dog Café have inspired countless other entrepreneurs who build upon her legacy. There was a time in Philadelphia where a restaurant was considered sustainable — and remarkably so — just by avoiding food from conventional distributors. Instead it may have bought from Glenn Brendle’s Green Meadow Farm, Paul Tzakos’ Overbrook Herb Farm, Mark and Judy Dornstreich’s legendary Branch Creek tomatoes or Chester County pastureraised Angus beef from Bill Elkins. Angie Vendetti, owner of Mugshots Coffeehouse in Fairmount, recalls a decade ago “When we first got our order from Green Meadow I had no idea I was getting a whole, raw turkey … I was like, ‘What do I do with this?!” She figured out how to cook the turkey, occasionally wheeling it down the street to another restaurant when the bird was too big for Mugshots’ oven. Since then, local food sourcing has become simpler, even compulsory. Ellen Yin, who owns Fork in Old City, asserts, “You can’t be in this level of restaurant and not … At one point I just took all the farms off the menu … it should be assumed that you’re using local ingredients.” But Yin is clear that finding local food has become easier. Sheri and Kip Waide, owners of Southwark in Bella Vista, agree. “We had to use many more different purveyors to get the core for everything on menus, especially for produce," says Sheri, referring to 2004, when Southwark opened. "Now … it’s a lot easier for restaurants to find farms … Common Market, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, Zone 7 … you can almost do away with other suppliers.” Nick Macri, head chef at Southwark now that Sheri is spending more time growing food on their Cape May homestead, is able to source almost everything locally, except for specialty vinegars, olives and 28

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some dry goods. In addition to sourcing from local producers and purveyors, some restaurants, including Southwark, Supper and the Jose Garces empire, are actually growing some of their own food as well. Be it herbs on a patio, beehives on a rooftop or vegetables on a farm off-site, growing some portion of a restaurant’s food shortens supply chains and creates opportunities for collaboration. Southwark’s neighboring restaurants, Bistrot La Minette and Little Fish, are the first ones they call when they have too much of something from their field. While local sourcing has become deeply ingrained in the Philadelphia food community, some restaurateurs approach sustainable eating from a different angle. The plant-based menus of vegan restaurants Vedge, HipCityVeg and Blackbird Pizzeria commit to sustainability by feeding guests lower on the food chain, aware that the carbon footprint of a cow looms far larger than that of a cabbage.

Beyond the Plate

Though food sourcing is perhaps the sexiest side of sustainability, it’s by no means the end of the story. What goes on behind the scenes has a major impact on a restaurant’s overall footprint. Restaurants use a tremendous amount of water, and reducing that usage is an important part of a sustainable operation. Fork recently converted 60 tabletops to wood, doing away with tablecloths in a move that not only looks modern, but also conserves water (and saves the restaurant money) by eliminating a huge amount of laundry. Vedge saves water with dual-flushing toilets in the customer bathrooms and Kennett boasts 1.1 gallon pressure-assist toilets, which owner Johnny Della Polla is convinced are the “most efficient” available. Other utilities are also important parts of the equation, and many restaurants are purchasing clean energy. Mugshots, however, has taken it one step further, running its furnace,

water heater and even its EnergyStar–approved electric convection oven all on wind power from Clean Currents. Reducing unnecessary production of new items reduces resource consumption and also diverts waste from the landfill. Instead of the polyester or poly cotton blend restaurant linens, Wash Cycle Laundry helped Kennett invest in cloth napkins made from recycled bottles. Earth Bread + Brewery in Mt. Airy and Kennett in Pennsport invoke that same ideal in the green design and construction of their buildings. At Earth Bread, each bathroom stall is fashioned from old doors, and when Kennett refurbished their chairs, they stuffed cushions with shredded blue jeans. Everything else in both restaurants, seating in church pews, tables, walls, flooring of repurposed wood, paints, polishes and finishes — is as green as possible. Even the bricks that built Kennett’s pizza oven came from taking down a wall in the space. Della Polla, who named Kennett after the owner of the property in 1924, likes to joke: “We reused everything, even the name.” The effort to reduce consumption, waste and pollution can manifest itself in almost every facet of restaurant operations. Washing glasses for cocktails, water, wine and beer is necessary for every bar and restaurant in our craft-beer-crazy city, but Fork opts out of the harsh chemicals used in most commercial dishwashers. Instead, they use a machine that sanitizes glasses, plates and other dishes using 180-degree

water. Facing the same issues, Peggy Zwerver of Earth Bread + Brewery collaborated with Norristown-based Sun & Earth soap company to develop a non-toxic alternative to industry-standard bar soap. Casual restaurants HipCityVeg and Breezy’s Café skip fossil fuel in favor of human-powered bike delivery. Kennett reduced their use of solvents with a steam floor cleaner, and though pest control services are required by law for restaurants, Kennett works with Westin Pest to make sure that it is chemical-free. That means traps instead of sprays and bait instead of poison. According to Della Polla, “the guy will actually come in with a jar of peanut butter.” While the delicious food at all of these restaurants induces most diners to clean their plates, food waste remains another unavoidable fact of restaurant life. Bennett Compost picks up food scraps from the vast majority of green-leaning restaurants in Philadelphia (Philly Compost services Earth Bread + Brewery), and with good reason: diverting food waste from prep and from diners’ unfinished plates makes for less trash and fewer trash pick-ups, which can save any restaurant money. But a few restaurants have thought through wastereduction even further. Breezy’s Café doesn’t hand out straws or condiments until a customer requests them. Kennett sends out to-go orders of pizza in compostable boxes (sourced through a local company called Save Some Green) and encourages customers to bring the boxes back to be composted. Kennett doesn’t sell bottled water, but gives away filtered water for free. And even fancy dining establishments are replacing paper towels with efficient hand dryers in bathrooms. Restaurants and bars also go through a huge number of glass bottles, which even when recycled still amount to a huge

MUGSHOTS reduces waste, green house gas emissions and resource consumption by composting (top right), using a high efficiency electric convection oven and wind power (lower right) and working with their supplier to find a second life for their recyclable cups (lower left).

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FORK has instituted a host of sustainable innovations, like trading tablecloths for elegant wood table tops drastically reducing the energy and water used on laundry.

volume of single-use waste. Earth Bread + Brewery is reducing that waste by purchasing wine in kegs from Karamoor, a local winery, and serving it on draft. As a bonus, the pressurized keg also keeps the wine better than an open bottle would. While all of these restaurants are working to find ways to make their operations more sustainable, not all are coming to the same conclusions. After considerable research, Mugshots is no longer using compostable cups. Recognizing that most customers would be unable to actually compost the cups (home compost bins won't accumulate enough heat to break them down), they’re switching back to recyclable plastic for their cold beverages and coated paper cups for their hot ones. They are however, working with the supplier of their cups, Lansdowne-based Union Packaging, to develop a way to recycle used cups into materials like floor or ceiling tiles. Mugshots also offers a discount to anyone who orders a beverage in a travel mug.

THE GRAY AREA IN EATING GREEN

It is tempting to label restaurants as green or not in a black and white way, but restaurateurs aiming to operate green eateries end up in a gray area. They must consider myriad factors while striving to balance the expense of implementing sustainable practices with profitability in an industry in which it is famously challenging to succeed. Ellen Yin has 16 successful years behind her as the owner of Fork. Even so, she acknowledges, “this business is so hard. The margin is so small, and the risk so high.” Countless restaurants come and go, struggling to be successful at all, much less profitable on three seemingly disparate bottom lines. Vendetti illustrates the balancing act of the green entre-

preneur with the example of take-out spoons. “A box of [biodegradable] spoons is 36 dollars, [whereas] a box of plastic spoons is seven dollars,” and no matter which you choose, customers are likely to use the same quantity. This extra expense of sustainability coupled with its increasing popularity as an issue means that in the restaurant industry greenwashing is rampant. Della Polla is proud of his thorough approach to sustainability at Kennett, where it informs “everything we [do] … from the first nail we hammered to the soap in our dishwasher.” But it’s frustrating to see competing businesses claiming greenness without doing the research and the time-consuming and sometimes costly work of implementation. “I have to charge a little more for a burger or a pizza … because I buy organic flour and local beef,” he says. And customers, comparing his prices to a similar restaurant that sources ingredients differently, don’t always understand or trust the reasons behind those extra few dollars. Beyond the price, the expectation that the customer is always right still rules, and sometimes green restaurateurs bump up against the expectations of eaters who might not share their priorities. When Mugshots first started making sandwiches, Vendetti adhered to a seasonal menu that included no tomatoes unless it was tomato season. Customers balked — demanding tomato on their sandwiches — and she conceded. Now, the tomatoes are local when in season, but the rest of the year they’re coming from elsewhere. Additionally, restaurateurs face structural obstacles to greening. In the city, where they are more likely to rent commercial property than buy, they’re often stuck with existing fixtures and equipment, and landlords who may not share their sustainable ambitions are often unwilling to share the

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October 3 & 5, 2013

50+ Brewers â&#x20AC;˘ 100+ Beers Live Music on Two Stages! Outdoors at the King of Prussia Mall

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KENNETT aims to reuse everything, with napkins made from recycled bottles, cushions stuffed with blue jeans, and saving bricks from a renovation to construct a pizza oven.

cost of building improvements. The city's infrastructure can also limit what an individual entrepreneur can do. “We’ve been here 16 years and we’ve had an electrical outage at least once a year,” says Yin. “… It’s possible that it’s because [the wiring] is old [and] overloaded.” She would love to install three-phase electricity at Fork. Each chandelier that lights the dining room glows from more than a dozen bulbs, and the update would conserve electricity and save the restaurant money, but “unless PECO comes in and says, ‘We want to conserve electric and we’re gonna partner with you,’” she will likely never be able to invest the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the shift would require.

Setting a Table for Sustainability

In an attempt to quantitatively define and standardize green restaurant practices, the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association (GRA) has established a set of comprehensive standards that includes many of these categories. They also offer, for a fee, the opportunity for a food business to become green restaurant–certified in order to inspire consumer trust. Instead of attempting the black or white divide where a restaurant is either sustainable or not, they operate on a point system. “It’s much better to do something rather than nothing,” says Michael Oshman, who founded the Green Restaurant Association in 1990. “When I started it, we were doing everything … [now] we’re not going in there looking for organic chicken packaging … we’re reviewing purchasing invoices.” Instead of digging through dumpsters, the six-person team analyzes data. They aim to look past what a restaurant says it does — that line on the menu about “sourcing from local,

sustainable farms whenever possible” — to actually examine its practices. “We know [that] they’re not recycling if they’re not paying a bill for recycling pick-up,” he adds. By actually purchasing things like sustainable linens, fixtures, equipment or food, a restaurant gains sustainability points, resulting in a system that recognizes progress while encouraging perfection. Though the certification has gained traction in restaurants elsewhere, including those belonging to the likes of Mario Batali and Rick Bayless, it hasn’t yet become the gold standard in Philadelphia. This may be because local businesses are perhaps more likely to have invested in becoming members of our own sustainability-focused organizations and certifying organizations: Fair Food, the Sustainable Business Network and the Wayne-based B Corp. One support system a little closer to home is the Philagreen Hospitality Association, created by Francine Cohen in 2008 to support food entrepreneurs through implementation of sustainable practices. Cohen hosts speaker seminars for hospitality professionals, both in the local hotel and restaurant industries, to educate and inform about ways to increase sustainable restaurant practices. “My two loves are the environment and food,” says Cohen. “… I knew there was a lot of waste in the hospitality industry, and I felt there was a need to educate.” She takes care to stress that there’s often a dual benefit in establishing sustainable restaurant practices in terms of both cost-savings and environmental benefit. Della Polla supports that idea: “You can do it right, [and] it’s almost just as easy to do it the right way as to do it the wrong way … in another five years, it’ll probably be easier … that old concept of ‘this is how we’ve always done this’ has got to go away.” In a town that loves to eat as much as Phiadelphia, the work of these sustainably-minded restauranteurs indicates that we're already on our way. 

It’s almost just as easy to do it the right way as to do it the wrong way … in another five years, it’ll probably be easier.” — Johnny Della Polla 32

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O C TO be r 2013

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s u sta i n a b l e r es o u r c e g u i d e

Restaurant Resources

this is a brief list of some of the businesses and suppliers that help our most sustainable restaurants do what they do. While far from exhaustive, we hope it will be helpful to any restaurants or other businesses, or even individuals, who want to make their day-to-day operations a little bit greener. As always, if you think we left out something that should have been included, let us know at getinvolved@gridphilly.com.

Food Procacci Brothers procaccibrothers.com 215-463-8000 Wholesale produce and flower distributor for restaurants and small grocers, offering bulk packaged USDA certified organics.

Ippolito’s Seafood ippolitoseafood.biz 215-389-8906 Provides sustainably raised seafood options along with conventionally raised or farmed products. Based in Philadelphia.

J&L Poultry 856-692-4984 Partners with Blue Moon Farm (NJ), Rosenberger’s Dairies (PA), and Sommer Maid Creamery (PA) to provide free-range organic and rBST-free and non-GMO dairy products.

La Colombe lacolombe.com 215-203-8013 Fair trade coffee roaster offering an extensive selection of blends and singleorigin roasts from all over the world. Headquartered in Philadelphia.

Common Market commonmarketphila.org 215-275-3435 x 9 This wholesale distributor partners with about 75 farms in PA, NJ and DE to provide 34

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over 150 public and private institutions with locally grown food.

Beechwood Orchards beechwoodorchards.net 717-677-6536 This fifth-generation fruit orchard and vegetable farm is a PA Association of Sustainable Agriculture member, using Integrated pest management (IPM) practices.

Trickling Springs Creamery tricklingspringscreamery.com 717-709-0711 PA Certified Organic creamery in Chambersburg producing milk, yogurt, butter, ice cream and single-source and rawmilk cheeses.

Greensgrow greensgrow.org 215-427-2780 This Kensington farm operates a farm stand on a Thursdays and Saturdays, CSA and wholesale options for restaurants.

La Finquita southkensingtoncommunity.org

215-427-3463 “The Little Farm” grows organic produce in South Kensington, supplying a farmstand and several local restaurants.

David Siller forager yosoybean.com 267-319-2733

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Foraging for that which can’t be found in your typical farm stand, Siller provides mushrooms, roots, wild greens and other delectible treats to local restaurants.

organic one-acre farm and CSA in Coopersburg selling a variety of produce items, herbs and flowers.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op

griggstownquailfarm.com 908-359-5218 Princeton, NJ all natural, free-range and hormonefree- quail, chicken, pheasants, duck, with turkey and partridge CSA.

lancasterfarmfresh.com 717-656-3533 Wholesale distributor and CSA providing organic produce and pastured animal products. Based in Leola.

Birchrun Hills Farm birchrunhillsfarm.com 610-827-1603 Artisanal cheeses from Chester County.

Caputo Brothers Creamery caputobrotherscreamery.com 717-739-1091 Artisanal Italian cheeses made with milk from Apple Valley Creamery, a grass-fed, heritage breed dairy farm in East Berlin, PA that makes all-natural dairy products.

Countrytime Farm Heritage Pork countrytimefarm.com 610-562-2090 Pastured pork humanely raised, natural-grain-fed, without animal by-products, antibiotics, growth hormones, preservatives or MSG.

Gottschell Farm gottschellfarm.com 267-496-6303 Family-owned, non-certified

Griggstown Quail Farm

Rineer Family Farms rineerfamilyfarms.com 717-284-6327 Family-owned farm preserved by the Lancaster Farmland Trust to keep it as agricultural land in perpetuity. Specializes in strawberries and varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Sweet Stem Farm

Green Meadow Farm glennbrendle.com 717-442-5222 Uses “minimum impact farming” to grow a variety of herbs and vegetables, using organic and sustainable practices.

Pure Sweets puresweets.com 215-518-9007 Vegan, gluten-free and kosher baked goods and raw juices served at a few Philadelphia coffee shops and available by internet order.

Savoie Organic Farms savoieorganicfarm.com 856-629-9020 A certified organic family farm in Williamstown, NJ specializing in heirloom vegetables.

Farm Fromage

sweetstem.org 717-733-4279 Humanely raised and pasture-fed beef, pork and lamb. Meadow Run Farm, run by the brother of Sweet Stem’s owners, raises pastured poultry. Lancaster County.

farmfromage.com 717-314-1373 Distributor of 41 artisanal cheeses from 25 cow, goat or sheep’s milk dairy farms and eight creameries in PA. Majority of milk is non-certified organic.

Zone 7

Three Springs Fruit Farm

freshfromzone7.com 908-824-7195 Central NJ distributor named after the region’s agricultural growing zone, working exclusively with regional organic and sustainable farmers to offer an extensive variety of food items.

threespringsfruitfarm.com 717-677-7186 Food Alliance Certified seventh-generation familyowned farm offering a variety of apples, peaches, cherries, apricots, pears and vegetables for farmers markets and wholesale. Adams County.

Samuels & Son Seafood

Doe Run Dairy

samuelsandsonseafood.com 215-336-7810 Owned by Ippolito’s grandson, Samuels & Son stock several sustainably and responsibly line-caught or farmed seafood options.

River & Glen facebook.com/RiverandGlenPA

215-442-1627 Equally concerned about the livelihoods and responsible practices of their source farmers and fishermen, River & Glen offers a variety of fish, game and charcuterie.

Valley Shepherd Creamery valleyshepherd.com 908-876-3200 Pasture-raised, hormonefree goat, sheep and cow milks are made into artisanal cheeses in this Hunterdon Co., NJ farm. Also owns Meltkraft, gourmet grilled cheese shop in Reading Terminal Market.

610-384-1900 A grass-based dairy practicing rotational grazing for different groups of animals.

Germantown Kitchen Garden germantownkitchengarden.com

Half-acre farm in Germantown that supports CSA program and restaurant wholesales.

Emerald Street Urban Farm esuf.org 518-225-4762 Five converted abandoned lots in East Kensington that support community garden plots, small market and wholesale operations.

FarmArt Produce farmartproduce.com 215-336-1466 Distributor of local-whenpossible and organic produce supplying

Philadelphia restaurants, businesses and institutions.

Woodland Jewel Mushroom Farm woodlandjewel.com A family-run mushroom farm in Spring City, specializing in gourmet, exotic and medicinal mushrooms. daisyflour.com 717-394-6843 Non-bleached, unbromated, and unenriched organic flours milled in Annville, from grains grown in PA, NY, OH, VA, WV, and sometimes ND.

Cayuga Pure Organics cporganics.com 607-793-0085 Stone ground 100% organic flour and grains grown in upstate NY.

irwinmushrooms.com 610-444-3800 Offers a wide assortment of wild and exotic local mushrooms, as well as locally grown organic herbs and specialty greens.

Goldenberg uses a variety of space-maximizing farming techniques to make the most of urban garden plots. Provides primarily heirloom, organic veggies for wholesale.

Breakaway Farms

freshtofu.com 610-433-4711 Certified organic, preservative-free tofu and soyfoods from Allentown.

breakawayfarms.net 717-653-2470 “Beyond organic,” grass-fed, hormone- and antibioticfree beef, pork, poultry, lamb, goat and charcuterie. Located in Mount Joy.

United Natural Foods

Heritage Farm

unfi.com 401-528-8634 Distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods, with a corporation-wide concern for their carbon footprint. Headquartered in RI, distribution center in York.

heritagefarmphiladelphia.org 215-877-1925 Year-round organic farm operated by the Methodist Home for Children.

Fresh Tofu

Daisy Organic Flour

On A Need-To-Know Basis

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Philahomegrown (Jack Goldenberg) 610-316-6740 Jack.goldenberg@mac.com

Ploch’s Farm plochsfarm.com 973-778-6463 Fifth-generation familyowned farm in Clifton, NJ available from their market or for wholesale.

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s u s ta i n a b l e R ESTAU R ANT r es o u r c e g u i d e

Philadelphia Bee Co. philadelphiabee.com 267-307-8405 Locally produced bee products including honey, wax and pollen, all gathered and made within Phildaelphia’s city limits.

Fair Food fairfoodphilly.org Founded by Judy Wicks, Fair Food has helped spread the sustainable purchasing practices of Wick’s White Dog Cafe across Philadelphia for a decade.

Natural By Nature natural-by-nature.com 610-268-6962 Organic grass-fed dairy products from West Grove.

FreeBird freebirdchicken.com 717-624-2191 Earthwise All-Natural certified free-range and organic poultry. Hormone- and antibioticfree, vegetarian-fed, and humanely raised, from Fredericksburg.

Fifer Orchards fiferorchards.com 302-697-2141 Fourth generation family farm practicing sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship in central Delaware, offering select wholesale organic produce.

Fruitwood Orchards Honey fruitwoodorchardshoney.com 856-881-7748 Local honey from Monroesville, NJ. Also offers u-pick fruit orchard, and distribution of pollinating bees to other farms.

Koch’s Family Farm kochsturkey.com 570-668-2089 Grain-fed, free-range organic turkeys from Tamaqua, PA. Hormone-, stimulant- and antibiotic-free.

Herbiary herbiary.com 215-238-9938 Bulk herbs are either certi-

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fied organic, wild crafted, or cultivated without pesticides and chemicals. Many from the East Coast.

Facility LEED/USGBC usgbc.org/leed 800-795-1747 Setting the highest standards for green building and sustainable design. Offers certifications of building materials and overall construction.

Zipco Wine Cellar Services 215-592-4744 Little Baby’s Ice Cream asked Zipco to install a system to capture and recycle heat from the compressors in their ice cream freezers to heat the building’s water, saving gas and cooling their offices in the process.

Haley Trikes haleytrikes.com 215-301-4594 Builds and customizes urban cargo tricycles for commercial use.

i.SpatulaShower taylornewengland.com 800-245-4002 Lölsburg’s i.SpatulaShower reduces the amount of water needed by constantly-running ice cream scoop rinsers by 50 percent or more. Made in Germany, distributed in the U.S. by Taylor Freezer of New England.

Clean Currents cleancurrents.com 215-525-2955 Offering wind energy alternatives from the greater Pennsylvania region.

Green Restaurant Association dinegreen.com 617-737-4422 Certifies restaurants that reach the highest standards of sustainable business practices in Water Efficiency, Waste Reduction and Recycling, Sustainable Furnishings and Building Materials, Sustainable Food, Energy, Disposables and Chemical and Pollution Reduction.

Forest Stewardship Council us.fsc.org 612-353-4511 Certifies building materials and other paper or tree-based products come from responsibly managed forests. Standards for responsible foresting operations include protecting land rights of indigenous groups, preserving biological diversity and minimizing other environmental impacts.

The Stock Group thestockgroup.net 215-510-0647 Located in West Mt. Airy, this contractor specializes in sustainable restoration of old homes and light commercial renovations, with a commitment to responsibly and sustainably sourced materials.

Sander Supply sandersupply.bizland.com 215-739-3228 Supplier of new and used bakery and kitchen equipment.

EnV Interiors envinteriors.com 215-847-4777 A full service interior design firm dedicated to environmentally conscious interior design solutions using reclaimed materials.

o c to be r 2013

Operations Penn Jersey Paper Company pjponline.com 215-671-9800 Offers biodegradable cups, containers and utensils.

Eco-Products ecoproducts.com 303-449-1876 Based in Boulder, CO, but partners with local distributors

across PA to provide a variety of food containers and utensils made from recycled or renewable materials.

Greenline Paper Company greenlinepaper.com 800-641-1117 Based in York, PA, providing a variety of biodegradable, compostable and eco-friendly to-go containers and other paper products for businesses.

Save Some Green savesomegreen.org 215-454-2258 Disposable plates, cutlery and cups from plant-plastic or plant-paper, available for bulk order. Carries leading brands like EcoProducts and Bambu.

Why Not Bob Store whynotbobstore.net 610-299-9190 Supplier of biodegradable and compostable food containers, also offering ecofriendly consulting and food waste pickup services. Located in Collingdale.

Camden Bag & Paper Co. camdenbag.com 800-344-5067 Paper goods supplier offering compostable and biodegradable food containers.

GreenboxNY greenboxny.com 212-359-9574 Creator of the GreenBox pizza box, whose lid can be broken down into four plates, and the bottom of the box repurposed as a storage container for leftover pizza.

Sun & Earth sunandearth.com 610-239-9677 Green cleaning products, based in King of Prussia, PA.

Technobake technobake.com 866-856-2979 Distributor of Panibois Wooden Baking Equipment, makers of 100% biodegradable molds, baskets and trays.

MrTakeOutBags.com mrtakeoutbags.com 888-321-2248 Online distributor of food service packaging that offers a variety of green and sustainable options. Main warehouse is located in Pittsburgh.

Waste Philly Compost phillycompost.com 215-703-7645 Composting and food collection services for Philadelphia. Also sells bagged finished compost.

Peninsula Compost Group peninsula-compost.com 302-777-3664 Peninsula’s Wilmington Compost Center is the most state-of-the-art large-scale commercial food and yard waste composting center in North America.

Valley Proteins valleyproteins.com 540-877-2590 Recycles restaurant grease and animal by-products. Headquarters in Virginia, but processing plant is located in Terre Hill, PA.

Bennett Compost bennettcompost.com 215-520-2406 Philadelphia-based residential and business composting service. Customizable quotes based on restaurant/business waste expectations.

Revolution Recovery revolutionrecovery.com 215-333-6505 Provides a complete range of recycling services to keep reusable materials out of landfills, while providing sustainable services at a cost less than traditional landfill disposal.

Waste Oil Recyclers wasteoilrecyclers.com 888-317-4918 Collection and recycling of waste cooking oil.

Need to get your products from Fishtown to Fairmount? Wash Cycle Laundry is Interested? Get in touch seeking B2B and B2C with Joel at jhommes@ partners for an expanded washcyclelaundry.com pilot test of its local, bikepowered cargo delivery service.

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Wolff’s Apple House

Farm Market & Garden Center

Fresh • Local • Community Seasonal Favorites from

Local Farmers, Artisans, Bakers & Chefs

Open Year-Round www.WolffsAppleHouse.com 81 S. Pennell Rd. - Media, PA - 610-566-1680 o cto b e r 20 13

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urban naturalist

by bernard brown â&#x20AC;˘ photos by christian hunold

Creek Squad T Docent teens take a walk on the wild side

he docent starts our walk with the history of the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center. Before I relate that history, picture the docent. Maybe a gray-haired white person with a nametag and a fanny pack? Someone who loved the park so much that they decided to volunteer there when they retired? Wrong. Jeremy Griffin is a 17-year-old AfricanAmerican student from West Philly. He loves ecology and comic books, and he leads tours of Cobbs Creek twice a week. He knows his trees and birds, not to mention the history of the center. That story started before he was born, in the early 1990s, when community activists led by Carole Williams-Green raised money to convert abandoned horse stables into 38

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SEPT E M BE R 20 13

classrooms, labs and meeting spaces. The center finally opened in 2001, about when Griffin was in kindergarten. While specimens in glass cases or animals in zoo enclosures can amaze and enlighten us, nothing beats the real thing in the wild. But the hard part is understanding what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing. We headed out to the creek itself, pausing on the bridge to watch deer downstream watching

Gathered in front of the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center are: (l to r) docents Jeremy Griffin, Micah Henry, Aaron Henry, environmental educator Tony Croasdale, and docents Zach Brown and Tykee James.

You can visit the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center any time you want, but to arrange a tour, contact cobbscreekinfo@ gmail.com or 215-685-1900, or visit the Center between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday to learn more about the park.

Excited to

explore cobbs creek fo r you rs e l f

us. Griffin and his fellow docents had to point them out, since I was studying the water for the tadpoles of the bullfrogs that often serenade from the banks. They also pointed out the ducks resting in the shallows, heads tucked in. I’ve been going for walks along the creek since I moved to Philadelphia in 2004. Along with the deer, raccoons and other standard woodland critters, I’ve found abundant frogs, garter snakes and salamanders, and plenty of birds. “The creek attracts kingfishers, herons, egrets and wood ducks,” says birder and environmental educator Tony Croasdale. “We’ve seen bald eagles flying over, and white-crowned sparrows. We even had the third state record for Townsend’s Warbler.” The docents are endearingly nerdy at times — at one point picking up a Marvel vs. D.C. argument — but quite serious about their role of introducing Philadelphia to one of its great parks. In a

oct 12

slight lapse of seriousness, Tykee James, 19 (now an intern, having graduated high school and started at Temple), asks me how to tell that a particular tree was a dogwood. “It’s the bark,” he deadpans. We move on to view the created wetlands at Naylor’s Run, a Cobbs Creek tributary. “This is the sponge that absorbs water in rain events,” James explains. The docent program, created in 2011 by Williams-Green and Croasdale, is largely funded by the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), and the kids are as much water quality ambassadors as natural history interpreters. The park has more recently seen a surge in support from the City as well as groups under the umbrella of the Darby Cobbs Watershed Partnership, facilitated by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council. A 5k race in the park is heading into its third year, and Cobbs Creek has gained prominence as one anchor of the new 58th Street Greenway.

Cobbs Creek 5k

Sat., Oct. 12, registration 8 a.m., run 9 a.m.; Adults $20, Youth (ages 13-18) $10, Children 12 and under free, Day of Race entry $25; 63rd & Locust St. See cobbscreek5k.com for more information.

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sep

Fourth Annual Philadelphia Honey Festival

The mission of the Philadelphia Honey Festival is to raise awareness about the importance of bees to our environment, the impact of local honey on our economy, and to promote urban beekeeping and gardening.

→→ Fri., Sept. 6 - Sun., Sept 8th. All events are free.

Various locations including Bartram’s Gardens and Wyck Historic House. Visit phillyhoneyfest.com for more scheduling and locations.

sep

Nature Uncorked! A River Again: A Riverside Discussion

In a lovely outdoor riverside setting, Chari, a Schuylkill watershed specialist with the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, shares the story of the pioneering effort begun in 1948 to change the course of the Schuylkill river’s ecology. Adults only. →→ Sun., Sept. 8, 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $18/person for

non-members; $15/person for members. 3 River Rd, Roxborough. Registration for this event is required.email scee@schuylkillcenter.org .

sep

Greenfest Philly

With over 100 exhibitors and vendors, Greenfest is the place to learn about living sustainably while having fun!

→→ Sun., Sept. 8, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Free. Headhouse Square, Philadelphia. Visit greenfestphilly.org for

more details.

sep 12

First, Do No Harm: Putting Health First in Climate and Energy Issues

Learn why what happens upstream in rural Pennsylvania matters to those of us living downstream at this informative and fun event. Wine, beer, hors d’oeuvres, and dessert will be offered. →→ Thu., Sept. 12, 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $20 suggested

donation. Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center. To register visit psrphila.org .

sep

Organic Gardening Panel

A panel will cover soil preparation, IPM, as well as general questions about the what and why of organic gardening, understanding your garden site and choosing the right plants for the right place.

PHeaSt

oct 18

sep

A one-of-a-kind celebration of farm-to-table dishes, PHeaSt will feature inspired culinary collaborations between the region’s finest chefs and local farmers and growers in support of the PHS City Harvest program. →→ Fri., Oct. 18, 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. $150, VIP tickets for $300. PHS Warehouse at

the Navy Yard: 5201 S. 13th Street. For more information and to buy tickets visit phsonline.org/events/pheast .

Heritage Farm Fare

Guests will enjoy the stunning city views from the Belmont Mansion lawn while sampling delicious bites made from local ingredients, prepared by a host of well known Philadelphia area chefs.

→→ Thu., Sept. 19, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. $75. Heritage Farm ,

Belmont Mansion Gardens - 4300 Monument Rd. For more info contact Christine Moore at cmoore@ methodistservices.org

sep 19

How Toxic Air Affects our Children Urban Sustainability Forum

Moderator Molly Rauch of Moms Clean Air Force, and panelists will discuss how toxic chemicals in the air may be harming children and will explore what parents can do to ensure that their children grow up strong and healthy. →→ Thu., Sept. 19, Free reception at 5:30 p.m. Panel

discussion at 6:30 p.m. Free with pre-registration required. Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy. For more info ansp.org/visit . Pre-register tickets at childrenshealthyair.eventbrite.com .

sep

Heirloom Happy Hour & Fruit Tasting Imbibe in the bounty of the season with Philadelphia Brewing Company’s cider and beer, cider from Frecon Farms, and special guest cocktails. In conjunction with The Mural Arts Young Friends Collective.

sep

PHS Fall Garden Festival

Enjoy great shopping, gardening demonstrations, children’s activities, live entertainment, Navy Yard tours, and more!

→→ Sat., Sept. 21, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. The Parade

Grounds of the Navy Yard. More information at phsonline.org .

sep 21

Tomato Jam Workshop with Marisa McClellan

Walk through the process of making tomato jam, and learn about preserving tomatoes and making sure you do it safely. →→ Sat., Sept. 21 & 28, 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. $35. Greensgrow

Community Kitchen at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 2139 E Cumberland St.

SEP 21

Birds in Your Backyard - Marsha Pearson, Philly Wild Birds

Help our feathered friends face the winter and return in the spring by learning about their favorite foods and plants in our landscapes. →→ Sat., Sept. 21, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Primex Garden Center 435 W Glenside Ave. Email jennifer@ primexgardencenter.com for more information.

SEP 21

Master Gardners of Camden County Plant Clinic

Residents are invited to stop by with garden questions, sick plants, bug-eaten leaves and flowers, insects and conversation.

→→ Fri., Sept. 20, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. $10. Greensgrow →→ Sat., Sept. 14, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., registration

at 9:30 a.m. $10 registration fee. Fairmount Park Horticultural Center N. Horticultural and Montgomery Drive. To register call 215-471-2200 ext. 100 40

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O C TO BE R 2013

Farms, 2501 E. Cumberland Street. For more information contact (215) 427-2702 or visit greensgrow.org/events/ .

→→ Sat., Sept. 21, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Free. Camden County

Environmental Center 1301 Park Blvd, Cherry Hill, NJ. For more information visit camdencounty.com/ parks/going-green/master-gardener .

photoS by FARM 5 1

Courtesy of PHS

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sep

Bike Fresh Bike Local

A choice of scenic route options on some of Pennsylvania’s most beautiful rural roads, a delicious local foods lunch, detailed cue sheets, and well-stocked rest stops supporting local food and farmers.

oct

Experience the Estuary Celebration

An annual dinner and auction hosted by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary with over 300 of the region’s leading environmental and business professionals.

→→ Thu., Oct 3, 5 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Independence →→ Sun., Sept. 22, 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. Early bird

registration (before midnight Sept. 8) $40, Regular registration (by Sept. 19) $45. Victory Brewing Co., 420 Acorn Lane, Downingtown, pasafarming.org/events/bike-fresh-bike-local .

sep

Fall Bird Seed & Native Plant Seed Sale

Replenish your garden with berryproducing trees and shrubs and fall-blooming wildflowers—all perfect for migrating birds and insects. →→ Sat., Sept. 28, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Schuylkill Center

for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy’s Mill Rd. Email cmorgan@schuylkillcenter.org for more information.

sep

6th Annual Subaru Fall Festival

Sample harvest dishes, enjoy various crafts, visit the farmer’s market and bring the kids to partake in loads of children’s activities!

Seaport Museum, 211 S Columbus Blvd. Email kforst@delawareestuary.org for more information.

oct

Lucy and Jorge Orta in conversation with Mural Arts

On its 30th anniversary, Mural Arts looks back at its history and forward exploring the social and experimental dimension of art in public space. Paris-based artists Lucy and Jorge Orta and Mural Arts’ Executive Director Jane Golden discuss the October 5th Philadelphia premier of 70 x 7 The Meal. Moderated by Janet Kaplan, Director of Curatorial Studies at Moore. →→ Thu., Oct. 3, 6- 7:30 p.m. Stewart Auditorium,

oct

Wood-Fired Pizza and a Movie

Chris Field will be firing up the farm’s newly constructed hearth oven to bake farm fresh pizzas. The rest of the evening will be spent watching an outdoor screening of a kidfriendly documentary.

donation per adult, free for kids. Eckerton Hill Farm, Lenhartsville. Visit eckertonhillfarm.com/ events for more information.

Guest tasting dinners every third Wednesday

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday Dinner 5 pm - 10 pm Late Night Menu 10 pm - 12 am Bar 5 pm - 2am so u t hwa rkre st a u ra nt .c o m

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O C TO BE R 2013

Six blocks of authors/speakers, booksellers, storytellers, poets, exhibitors, kid-friendly activities and entertainment, including Judy Wicks, who will speak and read from her book “Good Morning, Beautiful Business: The Unexpected Journey of an Activist Entrepreneur and Local Economy Pioneer.”

→→ Sat., Oct 5, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Free. Haddon Ave.,

Collingswood, NJ. For more information visit collingswoodbookfestival.com .

oct 12

Seed Saving Workshop with Philly Seed Exchange

Learn about heirloom plants and how to save seeds from your favorite fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs. Afterwards, share and swap your seeds and plants. →→ Sat., Oct. 12, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. Primex Garden Center, 435 W Glenside Ave, Glenside. Email jennifer@ primexgardencenter.com to register or learn more.

oct 12

Homemade Chevre Workshop with Shady Apple Goat Farm

Learn to make chevre start to finish — a fresh cheese perfect for your appetizer tray or a homemade holiday gift — then take home a roll of seasoned chevre and the recipe. →→ Sat., Oct. 12, 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. $35. Greensgrow

→→ Fri., Oct. 4, 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. $20 suggested

701 S 4 t h St , P hi l a d el phi a , PA 1914 7 P ho ne: (2 15 ) 2 38-1888

Collingswood Book Festival

Moore College of Art & Design, 1916 Race St.

→→ Sat., Sept. 28, 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Free.

Greensgrow Farms, 2501 E Cumberland St. Visit greensgrow.org/subarufallfestival for more information.

oct

Community Kitchen, 2139 East Cumberland St. Visit greensgrow.org/event for more information.

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O CTO B E R 20 13

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Augmented Realty In sustainable home renovation, sometimes good enough is good enough by lena buford

ities, by one simple reckoning, are nothing more than lots of houses in close proximity. So sustaining a city means keeping those houses standing. Standing houses mean whole city streets, without the ragged empty gaps where houses used to be. Whole streets are the arteries of vibrant neighborhoods. And vibrant neighborhoods mean healthy cities, rich in a history that we can touch and see. Because it’s a shared responsibility, sustaining old houses breeds community. But there are powerful forces working against old houses — things like time, water, gravity, lack of money … and entropy. For the last nine years I’ve been sustaining one falling down West Philly house against entropy, more or less unfettered since 1963. Saving an old house from oblivion was always my destiny. I grew up in old buildings — they’re literally in my blood — and I inherited from my father a certain poor man’s snobbery regarding old and new things. Better the beauty in ruins than some brand new plastic palace. One of my favorite car games as a child was mentally rehabbing the crumbling farmhouses that lined the drive to Grandma’s house. In my mind, engulfing weeds would magically retreat, crooked walls would snap straight again, and pert coats of paint would apply themselves with cheerful ease. In 2004, I finally got my chance to play that game for real. It was the height of the precrash real estate boom, and in West Philly, houses were selling in seconds for way over asking price. Watching as everything in my price range rapidly disappeared, I panicked and bought the only house nobody else wanted — the one with no kitchen; with rotting floorboards and inexplicably missing doors; with holes in the foundation stuffed with old nightgowns through which cats

would sometimes sneak. The house that would later prompt people who had seen it to ask incredulously, “You bought that house?” Yes, I bought that house. And in the process of finding the beauty in its ruin, I learned many lessons — about green home-renovation, about entropy and about me. I got a rain barrel, a white roof, a low-flow toilet (brand name: “The Rocket”; nickname: “Smudge”), high efficiency furnace, and Energy Star appliances. I abstained from bingeing at IKEA and became a regular at ReStore, the salvaged home supply place in Port Richmond. I reused everything I possibly could. My husband built raised beds and grows delicious, healthy food right outside our back door. I tried to do everything right. But I also learned that unlike mental rehabbing, there are limits to what you can accomplish with the real thing. And that I’m okay with that. One of my first big projects was a charming Victorian window seat that had so many layers of old — probably lead — paint that through its chips and gouges I could see geological eras: blue over yellow over off-white stripes. I first

tried soy-based eco-friendly paint remover paste, slathering it on and waiting patiently for a century’s worth of layering to melt away before my eyes. It didn’t. I tried other methods, too. The old fashioned scraper-and-elbow grease only works when the old paint is uniformly loose and flaky (which is never). Heat guns are great, if you don’t mind lead paint in the air you breathe. In the end I settled on a mostly-non-toxic, fairly quick method of painting already-painted things. I just fill in the cracks and add another coat. It’s fast, fumefree and looks, well, good enough. My lofty girlhood standards for home renovating have sunk to meet the fact that none of it happens magically, or in three seconds flat, or for free. Somewhere in the middle of lofty and low are my house and me — beautiful and ruinous and as green as we can be, sustaining ourselves, and with us, hopefully, a block, a neighborhood, a city. lena buford is a bureaucrat by day and an oldhouse rescuer by night. She lives happily ever after in West Philly with a very handy husband, two big dogs, and one formerly stray cat.

Each month, Dispatch features personal reflections on adventures in sustainability. Have a story you’d like to share? E-mail getinvolved@gridphilly.com

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O C TO BE R 20 13

illustration by SARA H ferone

a man walked into a bar And reduced its landfill contributions by 90%.

Nathan Sell Master of Environmental Studies candidate, University of Pennsylvania To learn how Nathan helped McGillin’s Olde Ale House become the first zero waste bar in Philadelphia, visit www.upenn.edu/grid

At the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Environmental Studies Program, we empower our students to create change – in their own backyard. Students learn from world-class scientists and practitioners and then put their knowledge to work in the field. Their final projects change the city for the better and send them in exciting new career directions. So you never know what could happen when an MES student walks into a bar. They might just leave it the greenest pub in the city, right in time for St. Patrick’s Day. To learn how to be part of tomorrow’s solutions today, visit us at

Staff from Penn’s MES Program are here to answer your questions face-to-face on the second Wednesday of each month. Walk right in.

www.upenn.edu/grid

www.facebook.com/UPennEES

@PENN_EES