News

Spring 2009 Event Summary Winter Pruning Workshop.  Led by Mason Vollmer, agricultural director of Camphill Soltane, this workshop covered the basics of fruit tree pruning and demonstrated on the trees at Woodford Orchard.  Winter Pruning Trainings.  Orchard Director Phil Forsyth and POP volunteers led pruning training sessions at nine of POP's orchard sites.  Richard Allen Orchard, West Philadelphia.  Planted in collaboration with staff and students from the Growing Minds program of Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School.  With special volunteer assistance from Journey Church.  The orchard part of a larger environmental landscape plan developed OLIN and Growing Minds. Produce will be distributed to students and their families.   Woodford Orchard, Fairmount Park.  East Park Revitalization Alliance , Fairmount Park, and the Naomi Wood Trust collaborated with POP to begin bringing orchards back to the Strawberry Mansion section of the park, which was once dotted with agricultural estates.  This spring volunteers from EPRA, Woodford and POP  added strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb and a wide variety of perennial herbs to last fall's fruit trees and berry bushes.  EPRA's youth programs will maintain and use the orchard for learning and eating.  POP Nursery, East Mount Airy.  A partnership with Weavers Way Farm was initiated to propagate some of the plant materials for POP's orchards.  Volunteers assisted in preparing the storage yard and transplanting propagated materials.  Donors from across the city have donated plants to expand the nursery.

POP Music Festival Over 300 people attended our first fundraiser for the Philadelphia Orchard Project, held on July 19th in Liberty Lands Park. Four bands entertained the crowd with a wide range of music: Lo Power Plane, The Mean, Midlife Krisis, and the Elliot Garland Ensemble. The event raised enough money to cover materials for two orchards POP will plant this fall! Thanks to our many volunteers, as well as our sponsors for making this event a success! Special thanks to Philadelphia Brewing Company and the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (for in-kind donations), Johnny Brenda's (for providing food for our volunteers), Tony Larson (for being a wonderful emcee), Nic Esposito (for telling the POP story), and Addie Métivier (for taking photographs of the event) .

POP Welcomes New Staff Member            Julie Woodard We're delighted to announce the hiring of POP's new Administrative Director, Julie Woodard, who brings great energy and experience from her prior work with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's parks program and her current work coordinating the Philly Fellows program.  Julie is busy working with Orchard Director Phil Forsyth to make POP volunteer experiences even more fun for the fall season!  The growth of POP's staff is supported by a grant from the Claneil Foundation, a major supporter of food systems reform in the Philadelphia region.

Introducing. . . Fruit Tree Tenders! POP is excited to announce a new partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society:  the Philly Green program will be adding a new, first ever Fruit Tree Basics session to its winter Tree Tenders course.  POP is encouraging all its community partners and orchard caretakers to participate in this special training opportunity.  The course will take place over several weekends in January and February.  See the PHS website for more info.

POP in the News! "Free food can be yours for the picking," Illinois Times, 07/09 "Power Plants," GRID Magazine, 04/09 "Victory Garden meets urban permaculture and it works," The Chestnut Hill Local, 03/09 "An Elf in an Orchard," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/08 "Orchards crop up around the city," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/08 "A Fruit Tree that (Could) Grow in Brooklyn," Scienceline, 8/08 "Enthusiastis Find Reward in their Backyard Orchards," Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/08 "POP in the Garden," Phillyist, 5/08 "Making Philadelphia Fruity!" Farm to Philly, 4/08 "Philly Orchard Project: Hartranft Planting," BlogNetNews.com, 4/08 "Instant Orchard," Citypaper, 11/07 "Urban Renewal, the Philly Orchard Project Way," Treehugger, 11/07 "Philly Orchard Project," Ecospace, 10/07 "Replacing Neglect with Peach Trees," New York Times, 9/07 "Vacant Lots Start Bearing Fruit," Daily Pennsylvanian, 9/07 "A Peach of a Plan," City Paper, 5/07 "One Planet: Ours," US Botanical Garden, overview of the project: POP is #4