(upbeat music) - Coming up next on "You Oughta Know," interactive fun at Diggerland in New Jersey keeps visitors coming back for more.

Plus, we learn what it takes to raise chickens in the city.

And what's in season?

A local artist takes the guesswork out of choosing the best seasonal produce.

(upbeat music) Hi there.

Welcome to "You Oughta Know."

I'm Shirley Min.

Summer, we hate to see you go, but there is still plenty to do before it's officially over.

Grabbing some summer produce is one way to savor the season.

A Philly artist hopes a perennial calendar she created will challenge and encourage people to eat seasonally and support their local farmers at the same time.

(country music) Jessica Gath is an oil painter who at times has worked at food co-ops to help pay the bills.

And it always surprised her how shoppers' grocery lists weren't grounded in what's growing right now.

- It just struck me as a disconnect that I would love to connect.

- [Shirley] So in 2020 when the South Philly Food Co-op asked the artist to create something that would build on the market's motto using food as a force for good, the idea for "Phully Rooted" sprouted.

- [Jessica] What would be a better force for good than connecting people to the food that grows where we live.

- [Shirley] It took about two full years to finish her perennial calendar.

Jessica needed that time to apply for grants, find illustrators, and local printers.

- [Jessica] It starts with a land acknowledgement, then it goes into the months, and then on the back is a map.

And on that map you can find a general listing of where all of the farmer's markets are, where all the farms are, food co-ops, and the sort of quintessential produce markets.

So on one side, it is just a beautiful art poster of a selection of what's in season at any given time.

On the other side is an actual list of what's in season.

When you get to December, you can flip it straight back over to January.

- [Shirley] The calendar offers recipes and space to jot down reminders of, say, that tasty stuffed cabbage you made last march.

- My hope is that if people have "Phully Rooted" and it's hanging on their wall, and they glance at it when they're making their shopping list, they might think, "Oh, a thing I like to eat that has cabbage and radishes is...

I'll make that as opposed to thinking from the whole universe of possible foods."

And then also each month has enormously gorgeous poem by Rachel Betesh, who is a local poet and nurse.

If you have tasted a strawberry that you bought at the farm, that is not the same strawberry that you get in a Driscoll's plastic box that flew here from California.

They kind of look the same, but they don't taste the same at all.

Asparagus is going on planes, lettuce is going on planes, tomatoes are going on planes.

Meanwhile, in a basement, you know, a cold storage space 15 miles away, radishes, carrots, onions, potatoes, cabbages are waiting for us.

And so we can do a lot for the climate by eating the foods that are here.

- [Shirley] And in so doing, supporting local farms and farmers.

Outside of online at phullyrooted.com, the South Philly Food Co-op is the only place, for now, where you can buy the "Phully Rooted" calendar.

And 20% of the profit goes directly towards Hunger Relief.

Just another way food is being used as a force for good.

The calendar has a live QR code on it that keeps you up to date with what farms are open, their hours, what CSAs you can sign up for, even where you can compost in this city.

While incorporating seasonal produce into your diet can help put you on the path to a healthier lifestyle, "Eat Right Philly's" free nutritional classes are designed to show you how to do that.

- [Judy] The mission of "Eat Right Philly" is to educate, support, and inspire improved school wellness and culture for students in the school district of Philadelphia.

"Eat Right Philly" is the official school district of Philadelphia Nutrition Education Program, and it is funded 100% through the United States Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP.

We've been doing this work at Drexel since 2002.

We are celebrating our 20th year.

We currently work in 74 schools in the school district.

We also work in community sites, so we have four community sites.

Students that are healthy hopefully will be better able to learn and will hopefully reach their full potential.

Drinking more water and less sugar sweetened beverages, that's something that we've been working on with the district for years.

- How are you guys doing today?

- Good.

- Good.

- Good?

Okay, we're gonna talk about sugar today.

- [Judy] One of the activities that we do is we'll do a demonstration that illustrates the amount of added sugar that are in various popular beverages.

- We're gonna practice measuring out how much sugar is in some of these drinks.

We're gonna practice looking at the nutritional labels.

When we measure it out, we'll be able to see how much we got in there.

(soft upbeat music) - [Judy] We do actual lessons that teach how to garden as well as teach all about the science behind plants.

We provide resources, such as soil, seeds, containers, and we work with students to actually plant them.

Probably one of the most unique things is the fact that we do bring food.

Almost every lesson we have, we do some sort of food tasting.

A lot of lessons will also cook.

We will actually let the students cook recipes using foods that they're growing.

It just makes the whole thing very relevant and real.

One of the big things that we're proud of is the fact that we have a high school curriculum that we created.

It is part of the SNAP-Ed toolkit, which is a national compendium of lessons and curriculum and interventions.

Good health is the foundation for all of us.

That's the hope that they'll take these skills and leave high school and take them into adulthood.

- Thanks, guys.

(students applauding) - The interest in raising backyard chickens is growing.

But before you purchase that chick, first check out what it takes to be successful.

(water splashing) (playful music) - [Jillian] That's Florence.

Florence is our Easter egger, and she lays our blue eggs.

Betsy.

Green Queen, she is the best snuggler, big, fluffy cuddle bug, and just loves to be held and have all the attention.

When people hear backyard chickens, I feel like they think, automatically, the poultry farms.

The smelly mess and the noise.

They love their green leaves.

We're asking for just a couple of hens that can feed a family of four some fresh eggs on a daily basis.

I started out with doing a lot of gardening, wanting to grow a lot of organic fresh foods for me and my family, and figure out more resources that I could do with providing my own food.

So I started looking into chickens.

I found the Philadelphia Backyard Chicken organization.

I researched, first, the type of chickens that I wanted.

They say chickens are a flock animal, so you wanna have at least two to three together at a time.

I wanted chickens that were more quiet and docile for my neighborhood.

I wanted to make sure that they were gonna be healthy.

You can have them sexed to make sure you don't get a rooster.

And I put it for them to have a hatch date of April.

They stayed indoors for the beginning, because they were babies during that time.

Started working on building their chicken coop.

And then once they start to feather out, and they get all their new real chicken feathers and not the cute little chick fluff that they have, that's when you can start bringing them outdoors and introducing them to outside and getting them moved into their outdoor coup.

Most of them are around 20 weeks of age and they're starting to lay eggs.

Spring/summer's their prime egg laying season.

They can lay almost every single day.

But they need 14 hours, at least, of daylight to trigger the hormone in their brain to start that egg production.

They do not need roosters to lay an egg.

In the fall/winter when the daylight is lessened, the egg production will slow down.

Some will even stop.

I do a lot of gardening, and they help me with keeping it as organic as possible.

In the spring, fall, winter, I allow them to go into all the garden beds and dig and turn all the soil.

They eat all the bad bugs out of the garden.

They also eat a lot of our table scraps.

So we're not putting anything back into our trash, into our landfills.

We have about 3,000 members now on our Philadelphia Backyard Chicken group.

Not all of them have chickens yet.

A lot of them are on there still learning, getting their education and understanding the ins and outs.

And now with the high price of eggs, people are wanting to resort back to their own sources.

(country music) - Summer and amusement parks go hand in hand.

So to New Jersey we go to check out two parks.

We're going on safari with our community contributor, Sandra Levine.

But first, we dig, soak, and slide our way to fun at a construction themed amusement and waterpark called Diggerland.

(upbeat music) - [Ilya] Can you dig it?

That's the vibe.

Everybody's digging, everybody's having a great time.

We are America's only construction themed park.

We've actually spent time developing patents, and we actually own some of the technology.

I mean, you are driving real construction machines that have been modified.

And so those that have seen them on TV, seen them at construction sites, seen them being hauled on the road, this is where they can come and experience the real deal and have fun doing it in a safe and really unique environment.

My father started his own construction company, so we grew up in the industry.

And then I became more of like the diesel mechanic.

My brother became the civil engineer.

And we had this vision of trying to figure out how to get families to enjoy construction machinery in a safe environment.

And so we decided to branch off and try our experience in the amusement world.

(upbeat music) Ultimately, our mission is to just get families to have the experience of driving real construction machines in a unique setting.

A lot of our learning elements are really hand and eye coordination, right?

So when you're driving a construction piece of machinery, some of them are propelled by joysticks.

And so we try to get them to understand what a joystick does, and how to coordinate those movements with both your left and right hand, and how to actually make the machine move whether you're in a digging excavator, whether you're in one of our mini dig challenges where you're trying to pick up a shape, or whether you're actually operating one of our service cranes or log loaders or driving one of our farm tractors.

Everything that we do here is really to help the child or the parent to understand operating real construction machine.

One of the cool highlights is that each ride creates a different experience.

Our service cranes, these are real cranes you see operating on service truck.

So we've built an experience where you're actually operating and picking up an object.

And then we move over to a new experience where we have log loaders.

People can use a giant claw and pick them up.

We have our "Spin Dizzy," which is a nine person gondola sitting in front of a 25 ton excavator.

And as they spin you, that's the name "Spin Dizzy," everybody comes off a little weeby and a little wobbly because of that ride experience.

And then we have something called, like, our "Sky Shuttle."

So that's a telehandler that takes you 54 feet in the air.

You get a beautiful view of the Philadelphia skyline.

And then of course, we've added the water park on hot days 'cause everybody likes to cool off.

So we themed some of our water attractions to represent some of our fun construction experiences, whether it's a giant excavator bucket tipping water or we have our crossing activity pool with giant overhead cranes spraying a deluge of water on you.

But of course the highlight is our wave pool, which we added last year.

It's just a, you know, fan favorite, crowd pleaser.

Everybody loves the waves.

And so what's nice is on hot summer days, you know, they get the cool off up there.

Then, they get the run around here in the dry side of the amusement park and get the best parks, you know, the best world.

- [Grandparent] We have come from Buffalo, New York.

It's about a seven hour drive, but this looked like a fun place to bring the grandkids.

- [Ilya] If you're not a kid at heart, you can't be in the amusement business.

(upbeat music) (safari music) - [Sandra] Entering the 350 acre drive-through Wild Safari at Six Flags Great Adventure transports you away from the roar of the rollercoasters and into another dimension.

It's hard to believe you're in central New Jersey when you're surrounded by gigantic grazing bison, majestic elk cooling off in a pond, and ostriches performing a mating dance.

- [Staci] The Wild Safari has been here in Jackson, New Jersey since 1974.

It's a unique experience, and there's nothing like it around.

We have over 1,200 animals, close to 70 different species from six different continents.

- [Sandra] You can drive your own vehicle at your own pace along the five mile roadway and listen to an audio recording to learn about what you're seeing.

Or hop on one of these huge surplus military vehicles where your very own guide narrates the tour.

- [Guide] So right now, we're looking at our matriarchy, which is all female group of elephants.

These are African elephants.

We can tell by the shape of their ears.

Their ears resemble the continent of Africa, where they're from.

- [Sandra] Both methods of transportation take visitors past Grant's zebra, wading water buffalo, and even scimitar horned oryx that are all, but extinct in the wild.

Raising visitors' awareness and funds for conservation through the sale of these special pins are part of the safari's mission.

- [Staci] One of the most important things that we can do on our safari is educate our guests about the importance of the conservation of each individual species.

There are so many animals here on the safari that are either endangered or perhaps extinct in the wild.

It's really important for us to have our guests make that connection to these animals.

- [Sandra] Midway through the truck tour is the giraffe encounter, one of my favorite parts of the trip.

These gentle giants with their long black tongues just can't get enough of their sweet potatoes.

The second part of the safari features prides of handsome lions, five gorgeous Siberian tigers that have all just turned one year old, and lots of beautiful bears.

These playful brown bear cubs were born right here in the park.

Sometimes, young animals need a helping hand.

That's when the behind the scenes veterinary team steps in.

- [Dr. Keiffer] Taz is our four month old European brown bear cub, and we have him in the clinic because when he was younger, he was a little sick, and Mom wasn't taking care of him.

So we actually had to pull him from Mom and start hand raising him ourselves.

Now, he is doing very well, as you can see.

And eventually at the end of about six months, then we'll start introducing him into our brown bear population.

- [Sandra] After being open nearly 50 years, there's still magic in the air of this mesmerizing wild oasis.

If you've never made the trek, experienced safari goers say, "It's a great way to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life."

- Up close and personal with the animals.

It's a different experience than a zoo.

You can see the animals just walking around freely.

And if they come by, lick the car, that's fun too.

- They're missing out.

Their life is not fulfilled until they come and see other living creatures live.

- [Sandra] On safari in Jackson, New Jersey, for "You Oughta Know," I'm Sandra Levine.

(goats bleating) - Now, to a program that's including the community in the design of green spaces in Philadelphia.

See how "Park in a Truck" is inspiring young landscape architects.

(upbeat music) - [Kimberlee] Good morning, everybody.

We're gonna continue our conversation about "Park in a Truck."

This is our new project, and the whole idea for "Park in a Truck" is that the community... We give them the tools to design, build, and then maintain the park themselves so they don't need us, right?

Trying to put landscape architects outta business.

One of the first things that we have to do is give the community all the tools that they need in order to do this.

So that's what we're going to do this semester.

And I see that we've got a great start here.

I'd like to see a finished site analysis that you can all speak to.

So why don't we prepare those for next time when we meet.

I'm the director of the Landscape Architecture Program at Thomas Jefferson University.

We are on the East Falls campus of Philadelphia.

We've always done design work with under-resourced neighborhoods in Philadelphia as part of the curriculum.

And so my students and I work with these neighborhoods, and we kept hearing over and over again, "We do not have enough green space, especially for our children."

So you're starting to lay out the trees and how these pieces might start to work together.

And then what about down here?

We would design the parks, try to help the communities get them implemented on the many open available lots in Philadelphia.

And either the city would not give us access to the land, we didn't have enough money for the park, or we didn't have someone to maintain the park.

So we were unable to implement a lot of these designs that were really needed in these neighborhoods.

People look at these neighborhoods as though they have no assets and strengths when there's actually a lot of really positive things going on in these neighborhoods.

And what my idea was is to get communities to coalesce around things that they need, like parks.

I developed a system where it enables communities to design, build, and then maintain parks on their own.

It's a DIY manual with step-by-step instructions for communities to do just that.

So they really could download it and follow the instructions and build a park without me.

The idea behind the build part of "Park in a Truck" is that it sits on top of the ground.

We don't excavate the lot, so you don't need permits, you don't need footers, you don't need equipment except for wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes.

And then you have to rent a plate compactor to compact the gravel, but that's it.

So it's really very easy for anyone to do.

They may want to grow food?

- Yes.

- Okay, so I think... Let's take edible, and let's put that in the edible slot.

I think the thing they liked about sanctuary was the overhead trellis and the outdoor seating.

But they also liked the nature part for the kids.

Parks take about two months to build, and that's just on Saturday mornings.

All of the tables and chairs, benches and stools that we designed are easy to build, inexpensive because the community's doing it themselves, and the parks are paid for either through grants that I'm getting through Jefferson or the community can fundraise.

So looking at different ways of funding the park is integral to what we're trying to do.

- [Gwen] It really began with the community looking at issues of the lack of green space in our particular community and working with a developer who was really thinking about inclusive kinds of community involvement.

He offered this space to us as a community organization.

And in collaboration with Jefferson University, Kim Douglas volunteered to help us convert what was literally a vacant lot into a pocket park.

There were a number of community involvement activities that went into the design of the park.

Seniors, regular residents, but I think the youth were the most excited about being able to design the space that eventually they would take some ownership of.

- [Kimberlee] One of the most important pieces is the Park Ambassador program.

This is a paid internship for youth in the community surrounding the park.

They're trained to maintain, but also program the park.

First, I just wanted to start with, "Why each of you want to be a park ambassador?"

- I wanna help out the community and not see people hanging out in random spots - For, like, kids to have somewhere to go instead of being on the streets of Philly.

Because it's really dangerous.

- Look down.

Like, be kind and think.

And the quiet.

- That's great.

We're training them not just to be park ambassadors, but to really understand civic responsibility and that they really do have a say in what happens in their neighborhood.

- It's just, like, all this trash around, and I want people to help me pick it up and clean it.

- [Student] Somewhere I could walk around.

Like, sit under a tree.

- [Kimberlee] We worked with the kids all summer so that they had the skill sets to try to implement a park on their playground, which is really a piece of asphalt.

And this is a scaled drawing.

So I could measure anything on this drawing, and then go outside and measure it and it would match.

The park is 100 feet long by 72 feet wide.

What we're gonna do is go out and make sure that the dimensions that I got are correct.

"Where is that building?

Which way is north?"

We need to know all of those things on our plan so that we can design our park.

There's a building edge here, right?

(guitar playing) I want the students to understand that if they're hot or there's not enough green space or there's too much trash around that they can make a difference by changing that in some fashion.

Through the "Park in a Truck" program, I'm trying to empower communities to make change in their neighborhood by themselves, so they understand that there's really nothing wrong with their neighborhood.

But we could improve it.

It's trying to give a positive message in some areas that may need a little help.

- [Gwen] When you think about what our young men or young kids do today, most of them have spent two years in front of some gaming device.

You never thought that city kids would, like, enjoy working outdoors in a garden.

If nothing else, the sense of civic engagement, ownership, responsibility that these youth carry with them grew out of, "We built this.

This belongs to us.

We're gonna take care of it."

I hope that the "Park in the Truck" project and the inclusive development and the work with our youth ambassadors will serve as a model, particularly for urban communities across Philadelphia.

- Okay, that's our show for tonight.

Hope you'll join us again next week.

Until then, bye.

(upbeat music)