Philadelphia Orchard Project

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Philadelphia Orchard Project

Mission. The Philadelphia Orchard Project plants and supports community orchards in the city of Philadelphia.

POP partners with a wide variety of community groups, providing them with an orchard design, plant sourcing, planting supervision, and training in orchard care. Our community partners own, maintain, harvest, and distribute the orchard produce within their neighborhoods, thus expanding community control over their food resources. POP currently supports 67 community orchards and has planted 1,578 fruit trees over the last 15 years!

11/26/2024

As of this fall, POP is now partnered with a total of 70 community orchards across the city!

In November we helped to plant a new orchard with Sanctuary Farm in the Sharswood neighborhood of North Philly on a formerly vacant lot across from their main farm site. POP and Sanctuary planted a series of raised beds with dwarf figs, Nanking cherries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries and a pollinator garden of native flowers from the Xerces Society was planted around the perimeter of the site. We are also grateful to the Backyard Eats team for volunteering their time to prep the site and fill the beds!

1. 5 POP and Sanctuary team members pose with newly planted tree and raised beds.

2. Three Sanctuary team members plant figs and cherries in a raised bed.

3. Sanctuary staff member waters newly planted blueberries with bright red foliage.

4. Nine volunteers from Backyard Eats pose with newly constructed raised beds.

11/22/2024

Recent shots from our high tunnel at ! Last week marked one year since our citrus plants and olive tree went into the ground at the zone 8 food forest in the high tunnel.

We’ve added a couple of new things this planting season and are excited to see how they acclimate to the mysterious climate this winter will bring. Not featured here are kumquat, citrumelo, banana and pomegranate as well as the ground covers which helped amend our soil.
Stay tuned as we share more end of year updates of the year at PLOW!

Photo ID
1 - Arbequina Olive
2-4 Loquats buds to flowers in October and November, these trees are unusual in that they flower after the summer and will (hopefully) be the first to fruit in the spring
5-6 Yuzu fruit
6 - Ginger leaves and strawberry ground cover

11/21/2024

POP envisions Philadelphia as a sprawling and interconnected food forest, where everyone has access to fresh food, clean air, and peaceful green spaces. It is a vision of cooperation and harmony. By investing in POP, you support 70 orchards in 24 zip codes in Philly.

Since POP started in 2007, partnership has been at the core of everything we do. Community orchards are all about relationships across the ecosystem. Like a maturing tree that thrives in its environment, as POP moves through our 17th year, we strive to use our reach to support and uplift our communities.

We learn from every orchard and share the knowledge with all, as we did this year with our new pest and disease action plans. We nurture long term relationships and advocate for our partners, as we did at the City Council hearing on Urban Agriculture in May. We invest in our collective future, as we did with our first major capital project: two new high tunnels at the POP Learning Orchard to extend the nursery’s season and develop climate resilience strategies.

The other piece is you. Together, we can do this. And we have to do it together.

We are a small organization that works hard to raise money to carry out the work. We depend on individual donations, and none of this would be possible without your support.

Your contribution is a vote of confidence for our future. Every donation is greatly appreciated and helps create a greener and more fruitful city that will thrive for generations to come. On behalf of POP’s board, staff, and our partners, thank you!

🔗 Donate link in bio!

11/13/2024

In October, POP helped to expand orchard plantings at the CommUnity Garden at The Creek, in the Mill Creek neighborhood of West Philly. New raised beds around a walking labyrinth were filled with native perennial wildflowers donated by Xerces Society, to accompany future berry plantings.

The planting was completed with students from nearby Alaine Locke School as part of a community celebration including music, food, neighbors, and many community organizations.

1. Photo of labyrinth garden, with a drum circle in the middle and people planting a perimeter raised bed.

2. Photo of youth planting perennial flowers in raised beds.

3. Photo of POP team member assisting youth in planting.

11/06/2024

This Saturday at our partner site Historic Gumblethorp, it’s the 6th annual Ginkgo Roast!
Come celebrate the majestic gingko biloba with us as we roast ginkgo nuts and taste ginkgo bean curd soup. The event will be held under one of the oldest female gingko trees in the country right in Germantown.

Photos from last years beautiful event by
Saturday November 9th 1-3pm
5267 Germantown Ave.

Image description:
flyer with details above
Gingko nuts roasting over the fire
Participants picking up nuts
Close up of Gingko before cleaning
Participants picking up nuts surrounded by yellow leaves
POP staff Caro checking out the soup
Gingko bean curd soup brewing
Closed pan roasting over the fire
Roasted & salted Gingko nuts

11/05/2024

Planting is an Election Day tradition for POP! Today we added to the POP Learning Orchard at The Woodlands with new plantings of cranberries, wild strawberries, gotu kola, purple prairie clover, tickseed, St. John’s wort, purple raspberries, and a beach plum.

Photo shows 4 POP staff planting cranberries in the berry garden with blue skies above.

11/04/2024

This year at POP, we went absolutely bananas for bananas 🍌🌀✨ Originating in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, this herbaceous perennial now boasts over 1,000 varieties all over the world, with only a handful that cold-hardy in our temperate climate.

While the vibrant Japanese Hardy Banana (Musa basjoo) is a widely planted ornamental in Philadelphia gardens and yards, with the capacity to survive temperatures as frigid as -10°F when properly protected, POP is experimenting with two other resilient cultivars including the Musa ‘Rajapuri’ and Musa ‘Orinoco’ at the POP Learning Orchard.

Whether or not they’ll make it through the winter, flower and fruit in our zone next season is still in question, but POP staff and volunteers are readily anticipating how the new additions will fare in the upcoming months.

Interested in learning more about growing cold hardy bananas in Philadelphia? Want to know which cold hardy cultivars offer edible varieties? Curious to learn about how Sharon has been running into hardy bananas since 2019? Check out the most recent POP Spotlight on the Philly Orchards blog now! Link in bio

[Photo Descriptions]

Image 1: a lush, vibrant green ornamental banana plant pictured in West Philadelphia

Image 2: Communications Director, Indy Shome, planting the Musa ‘Rajapuri’ banana in the POP Learning Orchard at the end of May 2024

Image 3: Orchard Director, Sharon Appiah, pictured with the Musa ‘Rajapuri’ in late July 2024

Image 4: The Musa ‘Rajapuri’ pictured at the end of October 2024

Image 5: The Musa ‘Orinoco’ at the POP zone 8 high tunnel in August 2024

Image 6: The Musa ‘Orinoco’ at the POP zone 8 high tunnel October 2024

Image 7: A video of the POP learning orchard ‘Rajapuri’ banana swaying on a lovely summer day

Image 8: The bright green foliage of the ‘Rajapuri’ banana

Image 9: A cream colored banana flower of a mature Musa ‘Basjoo’ growing in West Philadelpjia

Image 10: Sharon pictured with a golden, shedded ‘Rajapuri’ banana leaf from the POP Learning Orchard

11/01/2024

Today we’re highlighting our Orchard Director Sharon who leads our planning and direction at Learning Orchard at the Woodlands!
🍐
Where’d you grow up? I grew up in Worcester, MA!
🍓
What influenced you to start working with the the land?
To be honest, I can’t recall a specific moment that ignited me. I grew up playing outside, so before stewarding, I had a connection to the land through play, exploration, immersion and curiosity. I have always enjoyed being around plants, trees and different bodies of water and understood them as spaces where I felt the most held, so it makes sense that working in collaboration with the land came quite divinely over time.
🌳
What made you want to get involved with POP?
I found the idea of working with fruit trees incredibly enticing! POP seemed like an organization where I could bridge so many of my interests together: working in community, growing and cultivating food that would be accessible to those that needed it and building my agricultural and horticultural skills in a supportive environment.
☀️
What’s been your favorite part about working in a orchard ?
The work grounds me in ways I can’t even begin to describe. I feel grateful for the opportunity to develop relationships with plants that come back season after season and the kinship that is built between all of us who tend to the land and the land itself. I had a friend visit the orchard when I wasn’t there and they said they could feel me there! So many of our orchards feel like sacred spaces and I’m grateful for the trust and exchange.

10/30/2024

As we approach the end of the season, this month presents a few more opportunities to come together. We are excited to offer two public workshops, a handful of volunteer work days, and open hours at the POP Learning Orchard. See you soon!

🌳🍊 TRIFOLIATE ORANGE WORKSHOP
Saturday, Nov 9, 1 pm - 2pm
Historic Fair Hill, 2901 Germantown Ave

We will be doing a make-and-take of Trifoliate Cheong, a sugar ferment! These are the most cold-hardy citrus easily grown in our region, but the fruit has a bitterness that makes them more challenging to work with.

Jeannie Gerth, a fermenter, gardener, forager, permaculturist, and POP Lead Orchard Volunteer has been tasting and testing trifoliate oranges all season and is ready to share what she’s come up with and what she learned about their medicinal benefits.

🌳🍇 OPEN ORCHARD
Saturday, Nov 16, 10 am - 12 pm
POP Learning Orchard, 4000 Woodland Ave

Explore what’s growing on at the POP Learning Orchard at The Woodlands! Open orchard from 10am to 12pm, with a scheduled guided tour at 11am with POP Orchard Educator Alkebu-Lan Marcus.

🌳🍎 ORCHARD DESIGN WORKSHOP
Saturday, Nov 23, 1 pm - 3 pm
POP Learning Orchard, 4000 Woodland Ave

We will meet in the warmth of the hoophouse to discuss different design approaches and considerations using POP community orchards and food forests as case studies.

We’ll go over plant selection, highlighting climate adaptive plants we love to work with. And then we’ll go out into the orchard to get some hands-on practice in doing soil sampling and creating base maps, a scaled drawing of an existing space, the first step to creating a design.

Visit the EVENTS link in our bio to sign up 🔗
Don't forget to subscribe to our Volunteer mailing list to get email notifications.

Image: A POP volunteer and two young visitors pressing apple cider at POP's Annual Orchard Celebration.

10/28/2024

October 30, 2024 Land Bank Hearing - Outreach Toolkit

Calling all urban agriculture supporters: Philadelphia City Council is holding a public hearing on the Philadelphia Land Bank in a joint session of the Committees on Public Property and Housing on Wednesday, October 30th at 10am in Room 400, City Hall.

What can I do? Show up, spread the word, and provide public comment! We need substantial turnout to tell City Council how the Land Bank can better support and engage with Philadelphia's vital community gardens, farms, and green spaces. If you can’t be there in person, you should submit written comments in advance via email (instructions below).

Why does it matter? The hearing will be attended by a majority of city council, along with several city officials, and will serve as a 10-year retrospective on the Land Bank’s performance. The issues raised in this hearing may become formal legislation or other outcomes that could improve the Land Bank and benefit our communities.

What are we asking for? According to PHDC, over the past four years, only 12 community gardens have received land from the Land Bank, while 59 garden/open space applications awaited settlement as of March 2024. This is unacceptable! We need the Land Bank to clear the backlog of pending garden applications and bring back garden licenses and leases so more growers can secure their land. These applications should be streamlined for gardeners and accessible via an improved website. We also need City Council to find solutions that will improve the Land Bank’s operations, like allocating funds for garden acquisitions and garden-specific staff and updating the Acquisition and Disposition Policies and the Land Bank Strategic Plan with community engagement.

How can I testify? Use the points above as a template! To submit written comments, send your testimony to [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected], by no later than 5pm on 10/29. If you want to sign up to testify in person, you can email the same people or add your name during the hearing.

🔗 For more info, visit the following link (also in our bio): bit.ly/hearing-toolkit

10/16/2024

Join in the fun this Sunday at Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden for their annual HarvestFest event from noon to 3pm. Come celebrate, bring in the season’s harvest and uplift Sankofa Community Farm! This will be a day of community joy with arts and crafts, group fitness, educational workshops, and more. Stop by POP’s table for cider-pressing throughout the event or join us for a workshop on jam-making.

10/15/2024

Did you know hops, the flavoring agent found in beer, comes in vine form? And that it can grow in this climate? This vigorous vine has an interesting history with humans, is easy to grow and has medicinal and culinary use, so it is a good candidate to add to the orchard (with the note that it can spread).

The POP Learning Orchard has been experimenting with this plant on a small-scale and currently has a fence wall around the nursery dedicated to growing American Hops.

American Hops (Humulus lupulus) is native to Eurasia but has become naturalized as a global crop. Today, the Pacific Northwest is the top hops producing region in the USA and second to Germany worldwide.
Though we most often associate hops with beer, where it's used to add a flavor and prevent spoilage, hops can be used in many other ways.

Hops can be used in marinades, infused into oil for salad dressing, and steeped into a tea as a sleep aid. The young shoots in the Spring can be added to meals, typically salads.

Medicinally, it can aid digestive issues, skin irritations, and mental health, and is available in many forms.

Hops can also be used for different crafts and textile arts. The stalks can be used for wicker-making and the fibers can be used for making fabrics and ropes. The cones can be used for garlands and wreaths.

This multi-use plant has so much to offer.
Learn more by checking out the POP blog!
🔗 Link in bio

10/11/2024

Back in late May, we tested two different fruit bagging methods at the POP Learning Orchard —nylon maggot bag “sox” and organza bags—on a variety of fruits including apples, pears (European & Asian) and plums. Our goal? To see how these physical barriers held up against pests, diseases, and the elements. Here’s what we discovered over the summer!

Nylon Sox Results:
This material worked well for apples & pears in June and July, but by August, many were getting chewed through by squirrels. European pears thrived the best with these sox, but stone fruits? Not so much. Smaller insect pests got through, and stone fruits didn’t reach full size and were often found shriveled up in the material especially after rain. We had a better experience with the maggot bags last season when they were soaked in a peppermint oil solution, which may have provided an additional deterrent to pests.

Organza Bags Results:
Loved that we could *see* the fruit growing inside! However, organza bags had no stretch and needed to be resized as the fruit developed. Stone fruits fared better with organza and thanks to the fast-drying material, a few even survived! But again, squirrels found their way through.

No Bags:
Surprisingly, some fruits without any bag protection made it through the season! Asian pears and persimmons, in particular, survived the pest pressure—persimmons likely thanks to their astringency and late season ripening.

Final Thoughts:
While fruit bagging can be a v for protecting fruit from some orchard pests, it can also be a time-intensive process and may be more practical for smaller orchards, as managing large spaces—especially those near trees with active squirrel populations—can become challenging.
Bagging can be implemented as a part of a broader integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. Combining bagging with other measures such as intentional site selection, pruning, thinning, orchard hygiene, and, if needed, holistic sprays, may provide a more comprehensive approach to safeguarding fruit.

Fruit bagging has its place, but success comes from layering techniques for better protection and healthier yields.

Image Descriptions in comments below!

10/09/2024

We are grateful for the bounty of our ‘Catawba’ grape vine, one of the stars of the POP Learning Orchard this year! Since late August, we’ve harvested over 57 pounds of these magnificent grapes from just one vine! That doesn’t even include the grapes enjoyed by our avian friends.

The flavor of the Catawba grapes is incredible, with kids and adults alike remarking that they didn’t even know they liked grapes until they tried them! This heirloom variety is of predominantly native fox grape parentage (Vitis labrusca) and was the most commonly planted grape in the United States from around 1825 to 1850. Catawba wines grown in the Ohio Valley were considered the first great American wines. Catawba is also one of the parents of the ‘Concord’ variety still commonly grown today.

1. Grapes ripening on the arbor at the POP Learning Orchard at The Woodlands.

2. Cluster of reddish purple grapes ready to be harvested.

3. Happy members of SWWAG (Southwest and West Agricultural Collective) gathered under the grape arbor in August.

09/30/2024

POP's Annual Orchard Celebration is this Saturday! Please join us at the POP Learning Orchard at .

Press your own fresh apple cider, make pinch pots using plant materials with , enjoy serene vibraphone music by .river, and of course just hang out and celebrate with us.

We will be offering delicious fruits from our partner orchards including and , produce from , cookies from , and hard cider from .

Each year, we also like to honor our dedicated team of Lead Orchard Volunteers and recognize one of our many amazing partners with the Purple Fig Award. This year, we're highlighting .

There will be a limited number of chairs available, but please feel free to bring your own sheets to sit on.

The event is open to the public and family friendly. It is free, but donations are much appreciated.

Registration is not required, but it is recommended. Visit the link in our bio to sign up 🔗

Please join us!

09/27/2024

October, we're ready for you!

+ Volunteer work days are open for registration.

++ The ANNUAL ORCHARD CELEBRATION is just one week away! Saturday Oct 5, 12-3pm, at the POP Learning Orchard at . Come through! We'll have fresh fruits, music from .river, and activities for the whole family including making pinch pots using plant materials with .

+++ On Sunday Oct 20, our partners are hosting TWO harvest festivals! You've got from 12-3pm and from 11am-4pm. We'll be at Sankofa with the cider press and leading a workshop on jam making.

Visit the EVENTS link in our bio to sign up 🔗
Don't forget to subscribe to our Volunteer mailing list to get email notifications.

Image: cutting lemon balm with the Raíces de Cambio youth at .

09/26/2024

¿Alguna vez comiste una fruta deliciosa y te preguntaste si puedes plantar la semilla para hacer crecer un nuevo árbol?

Les invitamos a leer nuestro blog Cultivo De Árboles De Duraznos a Partir de Semillas
https://www.phillyorchards.org/2024/09/26/cultivo-de-arboles-de-duraznos-a-partir-de-semillas/

Address

4000 Woodland Avenue
Philadelphia, PA
19104

Telephone

+12157241247

Website

https://linktr.ee/PhillyOrchards

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Plant the Future with POP!

POP partners with a wide variety of community groups, providing them with an orchard design, plant sourcing, planting supervision, and training in orchard care. Our community partners own, maintain, harvest, and distribute the orchard produce within their neighborhoods, thus expanding community control of food resources. POP currently supports 62 community orchards in neighborhoods across the city and has planted 1,258 fruit trees over the last 11 years!