When Ryan Kuck and his wife moved to the Belmont section of West Philadelphia seven years ago, they immediately went about digging, weeding, planting and watering. As their home garden grew, it piqued the interest of their neighbors.
Little did they know that their love of gardening would be a catalyst for bigger ventures.
“So this was really just, we have a garden, we have connections to people that can get us materials, and if there is someone that wants to garden, then we’re there to help do it,” said Kuck. “We’re just trying to connect people to resources that exist.”
Eventually, Preston’s Paradise was born, a garden oasis on Preston Avenue complete with two chickens and benches for lounging. Maintained by neighborhood volunteers, Preston’s Paradise provides healthy food options in an area that doesn’t have many, a chance for neighbors to unify and an aesthetic beyond the boarded up homes in the area.
“People are familiar with fresh food and they’re familiar with gardening, so we’re not doing anything that wasn’t done here before,” said Kuck, a native of Tennessee who came to Philly in 1999 and worked in Philadelphia public schools as a consultant for Urban Nutrition Initiative.