The Edible Belmont project continues to progress with now 9 sites in the neighborhood featuring some type of edible landscape.  Our flagship orchard at the ALAW Home for Autistic Adults is entering it’s third year and has reached peak performance.  The entire neighborhood came out to enjoy the strawberry season that just ended, and now the raspberries, mulberries, and blackberries are getting their turn in the sun.  We have strengthened our partnership with the Belmont Charter School to increase the size and utilization of their school garden and orchard projects, and their trees should be ready to produce next year.
Ogden stewards
Orchard stewards from ALAW and Preston’s Paradise in an edible landscape!

Meanwhile at the Preston’s Paradise homefront, we just counted 17 fruit trees in the ground in our small urban jungle.  Many of our trees bore fruit for the first time this year, and the wet spring has added over a foot of new growth to many of the branches.  We’ve got some hard pruning to do this winter to keep things from getting way out of control.

In the understory, the gooseberries and currants are almost ripe, and are always a crowd pleaser with the kids who love a good sour snack.  The perennial herbs are also flourishing, and if you’re around 37th and Lancaster you can find many of them for sale at the West Philly Fresh Food Hub mobile market for a little taste of summer in your next salad or pizza.
So if you’re in the neighborhood, come by and check out all the things we’ve got going on in Belmont, and grab a bite of the season’s bounty.
Edible Belmont
A West Philly neighborhood now called ‘Edible Belmont’!
Orchard Report contributed by Ryan Kuck of Preston’s Paradise, Greensgrow Farm, and POP’s Orchard Committee.  
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