Farm51

My brother Andrew


and his friend Sarah



have started an urban farm in West Philadelphia.


Not on the trying-hard-to-be-hip-and-edgy-Bobby-Flay-burger-joint side of West Philly, but on the vacant-houses-corner-stores-micro-or-kinky?-gunshots-in-the-night side of West Philly (51st and Chester, to be exact). What started out as two overgrown and cement-strewn vacant lots next to my brother's apartment building is now lush with growth and bustling with activity. It even has an official name (Farm51), a farmstand (Saturdays from 10 - 2), a blog, and a logo (yay Neal Santos!).

Take lettuce, beets, radishes, collards, broccoli (can we talk about broccoli for a minute? it's a HUGE plant with ONE little broccoli stalk. lame.), raspberries, blueberries, tomatoes, to-mah-toes, potatoes, pot-ah-toes....then throw in 29 (!) chickens and a beehive, and you get the picture. But just in case you don't, here you go:

You should totally stop by. Buy some eggs. Pull some weeds. Pet a chicken. You won't be sorry.