Tree House Books

Philadelphia alone has about 40,000 vacant lots within its borders; 74% of which are privately owned. These private owners are responsible for maintaining their lots; however, that is not always the case. I recently worked with Tree House Books, located on 15^th and Susquehanna, to begin to take over the privately owned lot located next to their store.

Tree House Books is a non-profit children’s bookstore that also runs as an after school educational program and garden. The vacant lot outside of their store was piled high with trash and weeds that the owners come by once a year to “maintain.” We worked diligently for a few hours trying to weed out the invasive species and level off the ground. Once that was finished, we placed kid-friendly flowerbeds filled with fresh, healthy soil for the kids to later plant flower seeds in.