Grumblethorpe Mysteries: Historic Home and Garden in Germantown

 

Historic Grumblethorpe on Germantown Ave. built in 1744 (photo source: www.nj.com)

Herb Garden (in April) off of the kitchen with sundial 

I began my internship with Grumblethorpe in April with the task of bringing some order to the herb garden, designing a pollinator garden for the students who come to learn about caterpillars and butterflies, 

and to add signs and design a brochure for visitors.  

It has evolved into a mystery solving expedition for me: 

What plants were grown here by the Wister family historically? 

and how to exemplify the fantastic exploration and scientific  

curiosity with weather, rare plants, minerals, bees, forests, and astronomy 

that was a part of the Wister homestead?

 A vegetable and formal bed beyond, with the ancient Ginko tree on the left

 Formal bed with boxwood-border bed and pergola gates

 The observatory Charles Wister built

After reading Suzanne Wister Eastwick's compilation of the family garden records, 

the mystery only deepened with descriptions of family ties to Academy of 

Natural Sciences collections, the first person recollections of the wild garden filled 

with collected orchid and fern species from the Wissahickon, 

the "Beemaster" with 25 hives who brought a swarm 9 miles to the house in a wheelbarrow, 

the amateur astronomer who built an observatory to watch eclipses and the transit of Mercury, 

as well as the interest in meteorology, designing of iron rain gauges and clock-making.

Chickens looking for a bite to eat

 Side path around original stone wall

Public Gardens Public Horticulture Year Two

It's been a very busy semester, and I added a new Saturday class to my roster: Public Horticulture 

which has brought me to some of the most beautiful gardens in the Philadelphia area.

We visited Jenkins Arboretum, a quick drive up the road

from Chesterbrook in Berwyn, PA to tour the grounds and

listen to Doug Tallamy discuss insects and their plants:

Woodbury Fall Arts Fest

 

http://fallartsfest.blogspot.com/

 

 

I'm so excited to be participating in the Woodbury, NJ Fall Arts Fest on September 29th from 11-6 pm.  The location looks beautiful and the music and vendors will be amazing.

 

 

I've been busy getting prints made and framing new images taken at Bartram's Farm, the Spring Gardens Community Garden and the Ambler Arboretum.  As a grad student at Ambler, I get to walk the grounds in every season so I began photographing the woodlands and formal gardens with my square format camera during breaks in classes.  It's a beautiful setting to study in.

 

 

 Philadelphia, Bridge

 Spring Gardens Community Garden, Lamb's Ear

 

Dingman's Ferry, Fern Forest Floor

 



 Bordentown, NJ

 

 Smithville, NJ

 

 New Garden, Cucumbers

 

Burlington County Farm Show

 

 One of my new clay pieces                          New terrarium creations

 

Lots of local trips to farms and small towns, as well as camping and hiking will influence my booth, as well as the terrarium making we are engaged in for my Forest Ecology class. I also worked in a clay studio again this summer and some of my newest pieces may make an appearance at my table as well. 

 

And as halloween is getting closer, I'll be selling photo cards I made using pictures I took in Charleston and here in my neighborhood near Girard Ave.

Vegetarian Food Truck at Temple

$5.50 for all of these wonderful veggies (in a large,very hot bowl of noodles and broth), and you can add a drink and dessert for under $10, (the vegan chocolate cupcakes are killer).  I think everything was vegan, but you can check when you go.  Right up the street from Temple's Bell Tower on 13th street, above Polett Walk on the right.  Only open mid-day M-F.

What Makes a Neighborhood

Great local color and history

 My design class has been focusing on one neighborhood in Philadelphia and researching the neighborhood's history, the current uses, the projects planned for the space and the community members and their opinions on what is and could be happening there. We're reading Image of the City by Kevin Lynch at the same time, where three cities, Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles (circa 1960) are examined for their successes and failures of imagability and what people who live there think of the cities, remember and love. It's an interesting thing to think about what makes a neighborhood great and what makes it miss the mark.

 

Historic details and architecture

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education Bird Count and Hiking

Last weekend I attended my first Bird Count at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.  We joined a group in progress, in charge of one quadrant of the nature space, we had to keep our eyes peeled for any flickering in the trees or shrubs and our expert birder helped us identify and keep track of what and how many we found. There was a surprising variety of species for the middle of Winter in Philadelphia, but he said this was the southern migration location for many Northern birds.

Birding guide helps our group spot species in the meadow

My sister in her new owl hat

Delicious New French Cafe

Great Front Stoop Gardens and City Planters

 Reclaimed wood planter,  Girard Ave.

 Raised bed vegetable garden, West Philly

Bikes of Philly Photo Contest

Leave a comment under your favorite bike photo on my flickr site and get entered for a chance to win a free bike photo!  

Food from the Farms

After the great farm dinner I placed my order from Harvest Local Foods, selecting from a list of weekly offerings that has grown very large, including dry goods, fresh fruit and veggies, jams, jellies, chocolate, coffee, meats, prepared foods, cookbooks, milk, yogurt, and much more.

Here's my cooler of food delivered by Carly from Harvest Local Foods for the week:

Boylan's birch beer, Hillacres Pride Horseradish cheddar cheese, potatoes from an African-American growers alliance in North Carolina, scrapple from High View Farm (where the dinner was held), Shady Lane Farm eggs,  yellow squash, turnips, apples, carrots, cucumbers, Kauffman's apple snitz (dried apples snack), garlic scapes.

It's so nice to come home after work and have fresh local farm food food sitting in the

entryway of your house waiting for you!

I made omelets with the scapes, turnips, potatoes, apples this week.

What Are They Thinking?

Leave a comment with your take on what they might be thinking

and win a card with a funny animal picture!

Volunteer at your Local Urban Farm!



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.

Bike Art and Woods and Nature Photography at Fairmout Arts Crawl

The Arts Crawl in Fairmount is Sunday, April 17th, from 2-6 pm and I will be at 2014 and 2015 Fairmount Ave. with two shows: one of Philly Street Bikes at Fairmount Bicycles and the other, Walk into the Woods at Wellpoint Oriental Medicine. The whole exent is amazing with street performances, artist demos, bike rentals, free food and drinks, free Thai massage and Acupuncture demos. The whole hood is filled with art, over 70 artists and all the shops are open. It's a great neighborhood atmosphere.

Take the 33 bus from downtown and get off right at 20th and Fairmount or ride your bike over and get a tune-up while you are there!

Orange Bike and Shadow, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia

Greyhound Station, Chinatown, Philadelphia

Red and Blue Bikes, Chinatown, Philadelphia

Philadelphia Seed Swap

The Seed Swap at Earth Cup Cafe, 45th and Pine Streets

Yummy Squash, Bean and Eggplant Seeds

Sorting the seeds into catagories

Mira and Joel, Co-Coordinators of the Philly Seed Exchange Mira is also involved with the Blue Red Yellow project growing plants in the city to make natural dyes. She was featured in Grid Magazine and had a demo table at Swap O Rama Rama last year.

The Philadelphia Seed Savers are holding seed swaps across the city this spring so be sure to check out this link to see when the next ones will be held!

Philly Bikes, Center City South