Our Mission:

To plant orchards in the city of Philadelphia that grow healthy food, green spaces and community food security.

Thank you for being a friend and supporter of the Philadelphia Orchard Project (POP)! As the end of the calendar year approaches, we would like to share with you the exciting progress POP has made in 2011 and to ask you to contribute to POP's continuing growth.

A few highlights from 2011:

• Planted 8 new community orchards and expanded 19 existing orchard sites.
• Organized the first ever Philadelphia Orchard Day, a city-wide celebration of urban orchards including orchard plantings, cleanups, fruit tastings, and harvest festivals.
• Involved hundreds of Philadelphians from across the city in planting and caring for community orchards.
• Formalized relationships with 5 Supported Partner sites that receive training and technical support: Mill Creek Farm, Weavers Way Farm, UCHS Garden, Philly Food Forests, and SPOAC.
• Secured grant support from the Fels and Claneil foundations to continue to build permanent food-growing infrastructure in low income communities.

We need your help to support our continued success! Please consider investing in POP as the end of the tax year approaches. POP is run primarily by volunteers so your donation is stretched further, adding substantially to our ability to continue pursuing our goals of growing healthy food, green spaces and community food security. You can donate online at phillyorchards.org/donate or by check at the address below:

Philadelphia Orchard Project
PO Box 222
Philadelphia, PA 19105

Philadelphia Orchard Day

The first ever Philadelphia Orchard Day was celebrated on Saturday, October 22nd with eight events in locations across the city. POP organized the day in collaboration with its community partners to celebrate the fall harvest and raise awareness of the bounty of fruit being grown in the city. Hundreds of Philadelphians participated in a wide variety of events in neighborhoods across the city. Volunteers helped plant fruit trees, berry bushes, and kiwi vines in orchards at Roxborough High School and at the SHARE Food Program. Participants planted strawberries, learned seed saving, and toured the schoolyard orchard at Greenfield Elementary. Passersby on Germantown Ave sampled different apple varieties from Grumblethorpe's table. Volunteers pitched in to plant bulbs and clean up the orchards and gardens at West Philly's Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School. Neighborhood kids enjoyed fresh fruit, painted pumpkins, and built scarecrows at harvest festivals held at the Village of Arts & Humanities, Fairhill Burial Ground, and at the site of a new proposed orchard in Point Breeze. Fresh, local apples donated by FruitGuys were featured at all events.

Fall 2011 Event Summary

Bartram's Orchard, West Philadelphia. POP's newest and most ambitious orchard is located at the site of America's oldest botanic garden (bartramsgarden.orghttp://bartramsgarden.org). 35 fruit and nut trees were planted in the first phase of a plan that will eventually include over a hundred trees. The orchard is being developed in partnership with Bartram's, UNI, PHS, and Parks & Rec. The fruit will be harvested by a UNI youth-run farm program also under development at the site.
Temple PC Orchard, North Philadelphia. The Eden Project is a new initiative by the Temple Presbyterian Church to create a bountiful paradise in the formerly empty lot across the street. Fruit trees and berry bushes compliment raised beds and the produce will be distributed to needy members of the church's community.
Earth's Keepers Orchard, West Philadelphia. Located at the Kingsessing Rec Center, this exciting new urban farm now features fruit trees, kiwi vines, and berry bushes planted in partnership with POP. Earth's Keepers manages the Youth Agriculture & Entrepreneurship program, which sells fresh produce to the neighborhood at a weekly farmstand.
Orchard Expansions. POP also collaborated with community partners in expanding plantings at 11 existing orchard partner sites this fall, including Grumblethorpe, Woodford, South Philly Teen, Pepper, Roxborough HS, SHARE, Fairhill, Greenfield, Ogden, Calvary, and Teens 4 Good. In all, 72 new fruit & nut trees, 131 berries & vines, and 929 perennials & groundcovers were planted to help build a bountiful future for all Philadelphia.

POP Nursery, East Mount Airy. In a partnership with Weavers Way Farm, volunteers assisted in propagating plant materials for POP's orchards. Additional plants were donated by individuals from across the city.
Orchard Education. More than 400 volunteers participated in orchard plantings and other POP events across the city and received training in orchard care and proper planting techniques. POP and PHS Philly Green will be partnering again on a Fruit Tree Tenders workshop this winter and pruning training sessions will be held at many of our orchards.

POP Supported Partners

As part of its goal to build a city-wide community of orchard caretakers and productive fruit growers, POP has been providing training and technical support for years to existing city orchards not planted by us. We have now recognized and formalized relationships with the following Supported Partner sites:

• Mill Creek Urban Farm, West Philadelphia. This small multi-faceted urban farm (millcreekurbanfarm.org) features a wide variety of productive fruit trees and berry bushes.
• Philly Food Forests, South Philadelphia. PFF (phillyfoodforests.org) is a cooperative permaculture-based urban farm program centered on a food forest at Mercy Edible Park.
• SPOAC Orchard, South Philadelphia. The South Philadelphia Older Adult Center is home to a newly planted orchard and small community garden.
• UCHS Garden, West Philadelphia. The Urban Nutrition Initiative operates this student farm program at University City High School, which features an ever-growing number of fruit trees.
• Weavers Way Farm, Germantown. Weavers Way Co-op (weaversway.coop) operates this expansive urban farm, which includes fruit trees, berry bushes, and a small food forest.