CLOSE UP by Brian Rudnick

Philly Compost Trusts in Soil

It’s a company called Philly Compost. What they do is organic trash. So anything you can put in your mouth or anything that can compost, they take, they’ll put into a field, mix it with dirt and leaves and then resell it as compost. WHAT ARE YOU PICKING UP TODAY IN CHESTNUT HILL HERE? Today, Tavern on the Hill is a local restaurant. I’ll get two cans off of them, all their restaurant waste, lettuce heads, anything gone sour or leftover from a plate after a customer ate it … So this is the back of Tavern on the Hill. This is our logo, ‘In Soil We Trust’ WHAT DO THEY GOT IN THERE? Hopefully green bags. These green bags are compostable. There’s napkins, banana peels are great, carrots, paper. IT LOOKS LIKE THERE’S SOME CHICKEN BONES TOO. CAN YOU COMPOST THAT? Anything organic, anything that will break down is fine. We can’t take plastic, metal, Styrofoam.  WHO’S PAYING WHO TO TAKE THIS AWAY? There’s two advantages. One if I’m a restaurant and I say to my patrons “Hey, I’m reducing trash that’s going into a landfill by separating it out and composting it, that’s a benefit to the environment. The second thing is, now I’m reducing what I pay in my dumpster so my trash costs go down. DO THEY PAY YOU A FEE TO TAKE IT? They pay us, they do a monthly thing and then per can. AND IT’S LESS THAN PUTTING IN A DUMPSTER? Ideally, yes. And we pay to dump it and that guy’s making money when it’s dumped and when he sells the compost. Jason Hopler, Philly Compost.

Watch video here.

 

 

Iron Hill set to open in Chestnut Hill

PRETTY EXCITING YOU’RE OPENING UP HERE IN CHESTNUT HILL. Absolutely. Very excited about it. It’s really a great area, really excited to be opening soon. I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS. ONE IS FOOD ALLERGIES BECAUSE I HAVE ONE. SO ON YOUR MENU WHAT KIND OF ACCOMMODATIONS DO YOU MAKE? Everything is pretty much from scratch so the chefs have the ability to do that. Our servers are well educated what ingredients are in the menu. Ask and we can make most accommodations. HOW ABOUT AVOIDING GLUTEN?  We have a gluten-free menu as well. BEAUTIFUL. ANOTHER THING I’M CURIOUS ABOUT IS YOU GOT A PRETTY CLASSY LOCATION. I’M HOPING THE PRICES AREN’T TOO CLASSY. The prices are the same at all our other 8 restaurants- mid-price. AND WHAT’S YOUR TARGETED OPENING DATE? We hope to be open the first week of January. LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO. A lot of work to do, miles to go before we sleep.

Mark Edelson, Iron Hill Brewery. Watch video interview here.

Captain Otis will sell you lobsters off his boat

Captain Travis Otis,30, sailing out Searsport Maine has been fishing these waters since he was 13. Otis also particpates in lobster boat races. Late one gray drizzly afternoon, after coming into port from a lobster catch with his Uncle and a helper on board, he sold us five beautiful 1-and-ahalf-pounders which became dinner at our destination - our friends' house in Woolwich, an hour or so down the coast. Here he shows off 2-1/2 to 3 pounders. Watch video here.

Saint Mad's Drummer also taps for the band

Audrey Bookspan of Wyndmoor is a longtime local dance teacher and performer. She once performed with the the Martha Graham Dance Company. She has been the percussionist with Jim Harris and Saint Mad since July 2010. They perform every first Friday at Crossroads Coffee House in Roxborough. Here she taps to "Nice and Easy Does It Every Time." Watch video here

 

Bees make hive in home: Highland Avenue honey

It’s really great. They took the fascia off and the amazing thing to me is as they’re crow barring, and this and that , the bees completely ignored them. So they got everything opened up and there was this cavity with honeycomb in it. I have some great pictures, absolutely incredible. They take the honeycomb out. They put them in frames. The frames went in a bee box very similar to this one. And they actually vacuum the bees Once they get all the combs in the box, then the bees go back into the box and you’re done. The reason this is still here is for all the bees that are coming back from being out foraging. I think they have the queen in this one so when they come back they go into this box and not into the house. THESE ARE HONEYBEES, RIGHT? These are honeybees. And I got some honey out of it. So they take all the honeycomb because the bees need the honey but some of it won’t fit into the frames and there’s little pieces left over so I have some honey. LET’S GO SEE. I’ll show it to you. Here’s one- it’s totally clean. You have to try it. Break off a little piece. This one’s not as clean, do you see the white things there and there? They’re pupa or larvae. Those are the bees that are coming out of the thing and growing. AND THE BEEKEEPER WILL TAKE THE HIVE THAT’S NOW RELOCATED INTO BOX AND WHAT? Now they have another hive. If you’re a beekeeper and you have thirty hives, now you have thirty-one. Todd Breslow. Chestnut Hill. Watch video here.

Below is a picture taken by Todd Breslow of his beekeepers vaccuming the hive they removed from his house and below that, the hive between studs of the second floor overhang.

Take Flourtown Bakery QR code to Facebook page

Flourtown Bakery just started a Facebook page announcing its specialties like Flag Day cakes, Father’s day shirt cakes and strawberry shortcakes. On a sign at the checkout counter announcing the Facebook page is a QR code (a unique, small black and white checkered square) Customers  can scan  the pattern with their smartphones to jump  to and follow the Bakery on Facebook. Beth Alio, Flourtown Bakery, Montgomery County, PA. Watch video here.

Young Friends Dine and Street Dance in Chestnut Hill

Young friends from the suburbs came down to Chestnut Hill of an evening to dine at Osaka and afterwards, hang out and practice their dance moves on the Germantown Avenue sidewalk outside Quelque Chose. Cori and Sam of Ambler on the ends, Will of Harleysville and Jenny of Springfield in the middle. Watch video here.

Tasting like a lion

Guests sample six different concoctions to understand how animals taste. Cats don't taste sweet so a sweet substance was tasted followed by a sweet blocker followed by another draft of the same sweet substance- which tasted like not worth eating or drinking! At the Philadelphia Science Festival event at Rembrandt's Restaurant produced by the Philadelphia Zoo and Monell Center where they study the sense of taste. Watch video here.

Big Rob serves up Maryland style barbecue

Rob Lambert takes his food truck around to a couple locations in Germantown and Mount Airy and specializes in barbecue, Maryland style. Rich Sanders is a satisfied customer seen here enjoying chicken and macaroni.

Watch video here.

Eating to Fight Hunger : Northwest's Empty Bowl Dinner

Featuring Mike McGrath, celebrity host, Thomas Uhas, Wharton Freshman interning with NWIHN and Frank Green.

From NWIHN literature "In every state in America, housing costs outpace wages. Approximately 2.3 to 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness at least once a year. 1 in34 children in Pennsylvania do not know where they will get their next meal. It is estimated that on any given night in Philadelphia as many as 1300 children stay in a shelter.... Please take a moment to sign the postcards at your table in support of stronger nutrition legislation."

From NPR site "Mike ..once again hosts [ Northwest Interfaith Hospitality Network's Empty Bowl Dinner at Chestnut Hill College] whose proceeds go to fund one of the best programs for homeless families in our area. For a small donation ($15 for adults; $5 for kids and students), you get to choose a bowl from a room full of wonderful ones (all handmade by local school children and artisans) and then fill it (or a disposable bowl if the 'real one' you picked is too cool to use) with all kinds of wonderful soups donated by area restaurants; as many different soups and as much of each as you want. (All you can eat bread and cookies too.) At the end of the evening you take home the bowl you picked out as a reminder of the empty bowls your donation helped fill"

From NWIHN's website:"Since our founding in 1991, Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (NPIHN) has moved 275 families—745 individuals— from homelessness to stability. We look forward to growing our network further as we expand to Northeast Philadelphia in 2011. The NPIHN program provides assessment and referrals, emergency housing, supportive service and transitional housing. Equipped with new skills and relationships, 92% of our families do not return to shelter programs after their NPIHN experience. We offer a safe and child-friendly alternative to more chaotic public shelter settings, allowing families to remain in tact. Because we are small, we accommodate in-tact couples, single father households, adolescent boys, as well as single women with children. We strongly emphasize taking a holistic approach to rebuilding from homelessness. We are proud that our guests call us "the shelter that's more like a home." Our hospitality network is comprised of 1,200 caring volunteers, 30 congregations, concerned citizens of the community, community businesses, and institutions, and we are growing! There is space in our network for you and your congregation or organization, in this richly rewarding service to your neighbors."