Gritty & Green: We Are Seeds Glenwood Green Acres

What this episode covers

Gritty and Green presents a four part miniseries, We Are Seeds, featuring community gardens around Philadelphia with stories of the past and present as told by the gardeners that tend the beds. Glenwood Green Acres is one of the largest and oldest urban farms in Philadelphia, with over 75 gardeners growing food on the 4 acres in any given year. The garden was founded in the early 1980s on a lot left empty after the whiskey barrel factory burnt down. Tired of seeing their neighborhood used as a dumping ground, James Taylor and a handful of neighbors worked to clean it up and start the garden. In 1996 the garden was formally protected by the Neighborhoods Garden Trust. Now plots have passed down through generations of new gardeners like president Darlene Marcus, whose grandfather was one of the first gardeners at Glenwood. She’s joined by VP Louis Tillery and Treasurer Viery Ricketts-Thomas to share the garden’s history and gardeners new and old share its present. There’s even a surprise appearance from State Senator Sherif Street and the president of the Philadelphia Horticulture Society, Matt Rader.