In January of 2008 Yards brewing company and Philadelphia brewing company became 2 separate entities. Tom Kehoe and Bill and Nancy Barton were all working under the same roof and business name for about 10 years. They joined forces when they saw that Yards was struggling, to help out an old friend, the Bartons bought a share in the company and became salespeople for the beer. Tom was still in charge of making the beer, and after a while wanted to expand the capacity of the brewery, while the Bartons argued for pulling ahead in the Philadelphia market. The focus of the arguement, the building, was left to the Bartons in the ugly split of the 3 partners. Tom moved Yards and the name down to Delaware ave while the Bartons kept the building and opened the Philadelphia Brewing Co.

Working seven days a week and up to 12 hours a day, the Bartons renovated the 123 year old brewery and turned it into what it is today. Providing beer to the greater Philadelphia area, and maintaining a business in the heart of Kensington is no easy task, and no one says it better than Greensgrow’s Mary Seton Corboy. “You have to go through a certain level of shit here. There are people who want Kensington to stay what it was.” She is talking of the outstanding commitment to drugs and crime that a good number of the Kensington residents maintain. The Bartons are trying to change that however, they have done more for the community than anyone else could have imagined. From hosting weekly barbeques open to the entire neighborhood, providing free beer and hot dogs to dying beer pink for a breast cancer awareness rally, the Bartons are at the root of most of the community event.

Since the split, the Bartons have nurtured the partnership between Greensgrow and the brewery. When Greensgrow began producing their “Honey from the Hood”, Nancy Barton wanted to help cultivate it for some of her brews. Sometimes you can see Nancy donning the protective netting in order to harvest the honey. Mary Corboy has begun making specialty cheeses at Greensgrow, with limited space, Nancy offered to let her age the cheese in Philadephia Brewing Co’s building. Small alcoves formerly used to keep beer cold now hold a number of cheese wheels. In order to return the favor, Greensgrow prepares the herbs and honey for the brewery.

While the days of knowing where every piece of food you eat comes from are long gone, you can at least get a little bit a sense of community in kensington. Fresh veggies from an industrial brownfield, and quality beer from a 123 year old brewery right at your fingertips.

Designing for Greensgrow has been like pulling together the model recipe of urban farms. But if urban farming is the main course, how is it seasoned to become Greensgrow? Textures, colors, smells and overall appearance have to be examined to understand its flavor. While side courses depend on features that compliment your palate. Observing its context in the neighborhood tells us where the food is being served.

The materials used at Greensgrow determine the textures in this recipe. The main greenhouse architecture consists of hoop structures with clear PVC film. The larger greenhouses are reinforced with corrugated plastic and wood. Small wooden sheds are used for refrigeration throughout the farm. Supplies are shipped in on wooden pallets, and then reused for displaying plants. These displays are held up by cinder blocks, often utilized for displaying more merchandise. Plants vary from small herbs and colorful flowers to large citrus trees. To save space, many plants are hung inside the greenhouse. Identity is displayed in their trademark blue and green color scheme. Signs are hand painted, yet consistent. Smells are earthy, with subtle hints of urban environment. Dirt, plants, and tools are just enough visual information to convey, “farm.”

Once a galvanized steel plant, they have adopted to the brown field by implementing raised beds and hydroponics. This is necessary due to the toxicity of the ground. Instead they use raised beds with heirloom vegetables and hydroponics for growing lettuce. Hydroponics supplies nutrients to plants without planting them in soil. Other side courses at the site include making honey, composting, bio diesel, green roofs and workshops. These elements are what make Greensgrow exciting.

Greensgrow differs from the average farm and is unlike other food resources. Despite the chain-link fence and ground gravel, it’s hard to see how it’s anything like post-industrial Kensington. The once hazardous plant is adorned with plants covering the site in large patches of green. Cats roam freely and cuddle up to catnip. Greensgrow offers a wide variety of retail plants, but they also provide Community Supported Agriculture. CSA involves buying a share of food supplied by the farm. Food often includes fresh produce, eggs, yogurt, butter, cheese and hormone free meats. There are two CSA refrigerators, one reserved for vegetarians only. Food is always local, GMO-free, diverse and more importantly, flavorful. Those who invest their time in the CSA system help support the community.

The flavor of Greengrow is unlike any experience in the city. At Greensgrow, customers are not only consumers, but also participating in the urban farm experience. Attending workshops and lectures teaches the community about topics such as organic gardening and fringe topics like how to make bio diesel. Fresh and local food provided in the middle of an urban environment. By observing Greensgrow’s comprehensive model for urban farming we are enabled to design for their needs. While the recipe can vary from farm to farm, Greensgrow is the signature flavor of Kensington and Philadelphia.

I never knew that processed foods had less nutrition and that their preservatives, flavorings, or colorings would probably come back to haunt me one day. I didn’t know that bananas and oranges were dyed to give them a more appealing color, or that Oreos had synthetic ingredients. My parents couldn’t have known that the plastic in drink bottles, Tupperware containers, and even my baby bottle would be releasing toxic dioxins into their and their child’s food. I did know that it takes like 6 years to digest bubble gum, however, and that you should never ever swallow watermelon seeds.

After learning about these food issues that were going on in the world I decided that I would try to eat healthier. I wanted to know what was going into my body, or at least have the knowledge that nothing bad was. I started purchasing some organic products here and there. Fruit, vegetables, eggs, granola and cereal were about as far as I have ventured during my adventure into “organic”. There are three main reasons why I have not been buying all organic foods. One, it is expensive, and I’m in college, enough said. Two, many organic products are shipped over seas from other countries, and I thought oranges from Florida came a long way. Lastly, it is just way too hard to pick and choose out organic products, especially when I live in an area that has many convenience stores and grocery markets that have non-organic foods. Needless to say, you have to pick and choose your organic foods wisely, and it can be hard.

After figuring these things out about organic foods, I was introduced to local foods. Local foods are exactly that, food grown or raised fairly closely to your area. They may not all be organic, but local farmers usually have a conscience concerning what type of food they are producing. Local food can be found at farmers stands and through CSAs or Community Service Agriculture. They are places where local growers send their goods to be sold in a central location, and the customer usually purchases a “share” where they are given certain foods depending on when they are in season and what is available. CSAs are good because you know where your food is coming from and that it didn’t take huge amounts of energy to get it to you. They are, however, expensive as well and it is not possible to eat on a CSA diet alone because they can only produce so much of your diet and nutritional needs.

So organic and local foods have their drawbacks, but there is a good reason behind their operation. It’s about eating responsibly and eating well. Why? Food has a direct impact on health, so eating well equals living well. Even though it is hard, it is great to practice for you and your families, both in the short and long terms.

Harmful Food Additive: Side Effect of Food Additives

It’s spring and I live in Center City. Not only do I live in Center City, but I’m a college student. I spend the vast majority of my time indoors, either at school, at home, or in bars. As I walk from one of these places to the other, I take note of the few flower boxes I pass. During the winter, I observed, people used pine needles left over from the holidays, and even, gag, plastic plants to keep their boxes from looking bare. Now that it’s April, these stand-ins are being replaced by real. Live. Plants! Most boxes contain the same few species capable of venturing out this early in the season, but those yellow daffodils and purple pansies make all the difference between barren and beautiful. Then I think of my house and the studio at school and how dismal they both are without the little leafy buggers and I resolve to head to the nursery and pick up a few of my very own.

Unfortunately, I have the same attitude about plants that kindergartners have about puppies: namely, that my only responsibility to them is to enjoy their presence. Sure I have vague notions of watering them, but how hard can it be to take care of something capable of making its own food? Well, it turns out plants have a whole variety of needs which require my attention, including not being desiccated by the drafts flowing through our studio’s windows.

When I look at my shriveled violets, I find it funny and regrettable that I spent so much time picking out the “best” flowers from the nursery. All the trays that held the flowers were made of paper pulp. I suppose they were recycled, which means they may have been more ecologically sound, but they are for sure a total pain to seperate. The trays were all connected by little tabs where a few pieces of pulp refused to loosen their grip. I, of course, decided the tray I wanted was in the exact middle, connected on all four sides to its neighbors.

I pulled the trays apart, carefully at first, but later I found they responded much more quickly to rage than to delicacy. By the end of it I was juggling three trays and I had no idea which was the one had spent all this time and effort trying to obtain. Eventually, I just picked one of the ones I was holding, paid for it and took it home to neglect.

My roommate has given up on the poor things and I was very close to throwing in the trowel myself. I can’t help but feel jealous walking by those thriving window boxes. I had nasty inclinations to trade my wilted plants for their water-filled ones, or to just toss mine and buy more from the nursery. Once I got my sinister side to shut-up, I realized that I was thinking about replacing a living thing. I held toward a plant the same commitment I would have to a pencil.

A pansy isn’t a pencil. Though it may be packaged and presented as such, from the towering shelves of Home Depot, a plant should not be thought of the same way as other consumer products are in our culture. A flower won’t run out, get used up, or become out-dated. In fact, it does just the opposite. A plant has the potential to become bigger, stronger, and multiply, if you, unlike me, know how to treat it.

Money that is spent at larger chain stores often ends up outside of the area in which it was spent, usually the money is sent out to a corporate office. Money that is spent with in the community generates an equal amount of economic activity in its relative place. When looking at the larger picture local economy helps to support sustainability. When purchasing products produced by a remote manufacturer other costs such as shipping, packaging, and facilities are figured in when determining the final cost for the consumer.

Fresh foods are not only important to us because of their taste; they provide us with proper nutrition. Fruits and vegetables lose their nutrients soon after they are picked and canned produce is not as nutritious as fresh produce. Foods that are grown locally are usually picked within days of purchase. Most of the produce that resides on the shelves of the larger grocery stores has been shipped in from all parts of the country. This can be the difference between fresh picked and fresh from a 1500-mile journey. Small-scale agriculture can be more efficient than corporate because of the use of more labor and less resources and less material.

Buying local greatly reduces the amount of natural resources that is claimed in the process of large-scale manufacturing. The large amounts of fuel, packaging, and storage space that goes into it may not always be the best answer to our consumer needs. Worldwide manufacturing produces much more waste than the consumers.

Being aware of how we choose to obtain our goods is a powerful way to make a difference in our communities. Knowing where our goods come from and how they get to the point of purchase can be a shocking realization as well as a humbling experience. Through education and responsibility we can help reduce waste and the ecological footprint that manufacturing bares worldwide. As consumers we need to move away from our idealized society that places consumption of goods at the top. We have more control over our society that what we are led to believe. More conscious decisions can be a step toward a more sustainable society.

We were given the task of working with a client for our Junior Industrial Design studio. The task seemed simple enough “Create a pavilion-like area for an urban farm up in Kensington.” The entire class seemed to be excited about expanding beyond the cavern that is our department into an environment where our ideas would actually come into fruition.

It was the second week into the spring semester and we were scheduled to meet our client for the first time. Our studio teacher Tony Guido was scrambling around like usual trying to get everything ready while my class and I were trying to make the sterile claustrophobic space we were in, better known as the MID conference room, feel warm and welcoming. The hardest task seemed to be arranging the chairs. The entire class became involved in a game of musical chair. First there were not enough, then there were too many people on one side of the table and then finally we realized that the table wasn’t big enough to handle all of us at once anyways. We finally managed to work ourselves out and set up three of our finest office chair’s at the head of the table at a bit of an angle as to make sure that the projection wasn’t obstructed. Just as we were putting the final touches in place we heard a caught off guard Tony welcoming our guests.

“Oh hi. Welcome, welcome, you guys are a bit early, huh. Well alright, come on in and meet our Junior Industrial Design students,” Tony said.

To be honest I really wasn’t sure what to expect. From the brief bios we were given, we knew that we were meeting three women. The older woman had started the farm ten years ago on what was once a factory and now they had reached out to us to collaborate on this project. “Junior class, this is Theresa and Mary” exclaimed Tony. The two women were very easy to distinguish. Theresa was younger with short red hair and black-rimmed glasses. She was wearing embroidered blue jeans and a Greensgrow t-shirt that read, “hood honey” on the back. Mary on the other hand was slightly older. You could tell by her face that she had spent years working out in the sun and her hands told the story of years of farming.

It was finally time for the ladies to head to the back of the room and take a seat in our overly-prepared seating arrangement. To the entire class’ surprise, both Theresa and Mary walked up to their seats and swung them apart and away from the table. This personally made me laugh because the clients simple action of moving the chairs would dictate the dynamic we would have with them throughout the entire project. No matter how much work we did beforehand, or how much we thought we knew about the proper way to do something Theresa and Mary were going to do things the way they knew how. This meant that our approach would have to be adjusted and revised according to their specifications otherwise whatever we end up doing simple would not work for them.

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Think of your metanarrative as a blip, a snapshot, a slice of the larger story of the Greensgrow process. It should act as a supportive detail, but also be sturdy enough to stand on its own. Choose a simple story that informs the larger story, meanwhile being descriptive and detailed with your language.

Examples of possible metanarratives:

• Reveal the intertwining trajectories of the designers and the client through an anecdotal story of an interaction with a Greensgrow member.
• Uncover a recent history of the neighborhood or site through the discovery of an old newspaper article.
• Put yourself in the position of the site and observe how users interact with the space.
• Relate the participatory design process to a pot-luck dinner.
• Describe an experience of riding your bike around the site.

Requirements:

• Your narrative must be 500-700 words.
• Your writing style should be narrative, descriptive, detailed, even visual.
• Consider the point of view from which you are telling the story.
• You must include a supportive piece of media that can be uploaded to the class weblog (PDF, audio, video, image, link)
• You are REQUIRED to meet with a Writing Tutor to review your writing*

*Writing Tutors (come prepared with a printed or digital draft of your narrative):
David Spolum – Mondays and Thursdays from 4 – 6 p.m. in the Senior computer labs
e: DSpolum@uarts.edu
Matthew Blanchard -
e: ___________@uarts.edu

DUE: APRIL 9th

These narrative will be posted on the class weblog which may act as support for the larger web/interactive project.

This attempt should reveal a linear narrative – a clear trajectory from start to finish
of a single day. You should consider the notion of montage: the splicing together
of distinct and specific portions of a story – essentially, editing as a way of creating
meaning through sequence, time and the juxtaposition of images.

Student Work:

Student Examples: