I visited Farm 51 for their workday today and fell in love with their space, a diverse mix of raised beds of vegetables, chicken coops, nice people and good food.
Hammock lounge area
Thinning the turnips
Round Coop
The side yard
When I arrived this morning at Farm 51, crossing the street from the 13 trolley stop, I was worried I was too late, but coming around the house I saw people working in the side yard, and met the guys behind Farm 51, Andrew Olson, a landscapes manager and Neal Santos, a photographer for the Philadelphia City Paper. Andrew was very generous in offering me coffee, crumb cake and a place to stash my camera and I got to work removing strawberry plants (which I brought to Spring Gardens and donated to the City Harvest plot) and replacing them with lettuce starts (not really sure if they'll make it, it was nice and sunny out today) and putting scallion starts in another bed.
Neal and his friend were building a new raised bed and every time I looked up a new person had walked or ridden up on their bike to volunteer or share a greeting, amazement, encouragement or get gardening advice (what do you do about giant racoons?)
I helped fill the new bed with dirt then took a break to sneak a peek at the hens in various coops around the yard and check out their backyard picnic tables and lounging areas. The house was beautiful and the had coffee and snacks set up on the glass enclosed porch. The crumb cake was delicious and moist and I realized why it is people show up for Farm 51 workdays, early on a Saturday morning and happily get dirty and sweaty in the hot sun.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing this pic and your reflections on the farm. I've only walked past; next time I'll have to dive in.
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