Several pickpocketing incidents have been recently reported at Milk & Honey Market (4435 Baltimore Ave), prompting attention from the University City District patrols and police. At least four wallets appear to have been taken from briefly unattended coats and bags at Milk and Honey since late December.

In response to the incidents, Milk and Honey owner Annie Baum Stein wrote today:

“Please be aware that there is a pick pocket frequenting Milk & Honey. As far as we know four wallets have been stolen since the holidays. It seems in more then one instance the wallets were in coat pockets and the coats where on the back of chairs. We have contacted the police and the UCD.

We have security cameras and will be providing the police with the footage. We will do everything we can to return our store to being as safe as possible. In the mean time please look out for your personal belongings and please look out for each other.

Officers from the 18th district will now add a stop at Milk & Honey during their daily rotations and sign a log book held at our cash register. We have posted security camera signs and will post security signs provided by the UCD soon.

Please do pass it on to your friends and neighbors and any other neighborhood listserves.

Thank you to those who have already brought this to our attention and if anyone else thinks they were robbed at Milk & Honey please let us know right away.”

Nina is a friendly grey and white cat who lives near 45th & Baltimore. She is indoor/outdoor and usually approaches people at Milk & Honey. She is not wearing her collar and tags. If you live nearby, check your property – outside and in. Nina could be injured and hiding out. Contact christina.sozinho[at]gmail.com if you have or have seen Nina.

A couple of dozen pumpkins entered our 2011 Pumpkin Carving Contest. The artistic endeavor and sheer jack-o-lovliness has impressed folks far and wide. Alas, there can only be a handful of winners. And here they are:

• Reader’s Choice –  Bimal Desai‘s toothy, super-freak of a pumpkin (Pumpkin 21) topped the voting (160 votes cast). Bimal wins gift certificates from Wake Up Yoga and Dock Street Brewery.
• Kids – Wyatt Baker, 8, and his super crafty use of the stem (Pumpkin 4). Wyatt wins a tote bag and a gift card from VIX Emporium.
• Philly-themed – Katrine Lvovskaya and Becca Lausch with “Fall-o-delphia”, their homage to our lovely skyline and the love that is the Love Statue (Pumpkin 17). Katrine and Becca win a gift card from Milk & Honey Market.
• Scariest –  Terry Coleman – That “Gears of War” skull freaked the judges out a lot (Pumpkin 5). Terry wins a gift certificate from Aksum cafe/restaurant.
• Funniest/Ironic/ Wow! – Nate Johnson (Pumpkin 19). There has to be a place in our awards for a pumpkin that just blew the judges’ minds. A fitting tribute to REM and Michael Stipe a couple of weeks after the band announced the (yes, we had to do it) End of their World as We Know it. Nate wins a fall food basket from Mariposa Food Co-op.

Last but not least, we want to give a hearty shout out to everyone who entered a pumpkin and all who voted.

Editor’s note: This post may look familiar. That is because we ran it last Friday by mistake. We are definitely right this time though.

The West Philly monthly food series “Sustainable Saturdays” continues Saturday, July 16, with a program chock full of local goodness. Full details are at the University City District website here.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s in store:

• 10 a.m. – Foraging for Edible and Medicinal Plants • Woodlands Cemetery

An expedition with the Wild Phoodies of Philly.

• 11 a.m. Urban Beekeeping and West Philadelphia Honey Tasting • Woodlands Cemetery Community Apiary (near the mansion).

A great introduction to urban beekeeping and a chance to peek inside a working bee hive.

• Noon – Snacktime: Making Healthy Snacks with Local Ingredients • University of Pennsylvania’s 1920 Dining Commons(on Locust Walk on the west side of 38th St.)

Learn how to make fruit leather, granola bars and naturally fermented soda.

• 2 p.m. – Zip Code Honey, Local Cheese + PA Brews • Biba Wine Bar (3131 Walnut St.)

A seminar on West Philly honey and tastings with Annie Baum-Stein of Milk and Honey Market and Urban Apiaries. $20 admission.

• 4 p.m. – From Farm to Table: Tasting Local, Grass-fed Beef • Mid-Atlantic Restaurant and Tap Room (3711 Market St.) Free samples and $3 local beers.

Preparing local beef from Philly Cow Share.

“Local” is all the rage these days. Local food, local beer, shopping local. A celebration of the local begins Saturday in West Philly as the University City District puts on the first “Sustainable Saturday.”

This Saturday’s theme is “Grow it Yourself” and features a self-guided tour of community gardens in West Philly and a “farm-to-table” trolley tour includes stops at Walnut Hill Community Farm, Milk & Honey Market, and Farm 51, chats with local growers and sellers and a dinner made with local ingredients.

The day kicks off, of course, with the Clark Park Farmers ‘ Market, which will be back to normal now that the “A” section of the park is open again.

Here are some details on the rest of the day:

Noon – 1 p.m. • Foraging for Edible Plants

USciences Lower Mill Creek Garden (43rd and Chester). A few folks from Wild Foodies from Philly will talk about foraging for edible and medicinal plants.

Noon to 1 p.m. • Creating an Urban Homestead

Farm 51 (51st and Chester). Learn about what you can and can’t do in your backyard as well as the basics of keeping vegetables and animals in the city.

Noon to 1 p.m. • Irrigating With Stormwater

Walnut Hill Community Farm (Ludlow Street between 46th and Farragut – near the 46th Street El stop). The farm has an innovative solar-powered stormwater irrigation system. Come hear how you can rig up a stormwater system in your yard.

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. • Sustainable Landscaping

Chester Avenue Community Garden (on Chester between 47th and 48th). A workshop on edible landscaping with Phil Forsyth of Forsyth Gardens and the Philadelphia Orchard Project.

2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. • Ice Cream Tour and Tasting at Bartram’s Garden

Bartram’s Garden (54th and Lindbergh). This one is a no-brainer. You get to forage around Bartram’s Garden for a little while and then make ice cream with what you have found. This also includes a tour. Tickets are $10 for adults/$8 for students and seniors/Free with a Bartram Pass. You pay when you get there. But you still need to RSVP here.

3 p.m. to 7 p.m. • Philly Homegrown West Philadelphia Farm to Trolley Tour

Paul Steinke of the Reading Terminal Market will host the tour. Participants will get a chance to see urban farming and beekeeping in action and sample locally grown foods. The tour concludes at the MidAtlantic Tap Room and Restaurant (3711 Market St.) for a dinner made with locally grown ingredients. Tickets are $45. RSVP here.

Other Sustainable Saturdays will be held July 16, August 20 and September 17.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there is nowhere in Philadelphia where you can get a whole, free-range, herb-roasted chicken delivered to your door complete with sides.

Until now.

West Philly’s newest chicken joint, Roost, isn’t really a joint at all. It’s a hole in the wall with a stainless steel metal counter, a chalkboard menu and just enough room to salivate.

Owned by the Milk and Honey Market duo of Annie Baum-Stein and Mau Daigle, Roost is located at 4529 Springfield Ave., a couple of doors up from Wayne’s Garage. They’re using the adjacent kitchen of the recently dissolved Kitchen at Penn, which has gone on hiatus with the graduation of its general manager. The Kitchen’s chef, Jordan Miller, is the mastermind behind Roost, which offers fried chicken and chicken tenders along with the rotisserie, and a selection of sides that includes coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy, greens and mac ‘n cheese. Oh, and by the way, some amazingly good homemade buttermilk biscuits.

Whenever possible Roost uses locally grown ingredients, including the chickens.

“The farmers we use are up the road,” said Miller.

That means that the chickens, which are from Bell and Evans, are organic and a little smaller, like chickens used to be. These have no hormones or antibiotics like the factory-raised chickens with the Dolly Partonesque breasts available in the grocery store now. It also means that they are, pound-for-pound, more expensive.

Roost is also putting together a vegan menu for the herbivores out there.

A half rotisserie ($9.50), which includes a biscuit, and a side is just about right for two adults. Altogether we paid $12.50 for a half chicken and a small container of red cabbage coleslaw. We were in and out in 5 minutes. The “out” part is important – it’s take out, delivery or eat standing on the sidewalk. No tables and no chairs here.

It’s not Popeye’s prices for sure and if you stop by in person and order fried chicken you will have to wait a few minutes while it is actually fried. Thankfully, there are no heat lamps.

Our only criticism was that our biscuit was not quite done and a little gooey inside. But we chalked that up to the newness of the operation. They are still finetuning things. Roost has been unofficially open for about a week. The official opening is pending and the current hours are 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. They are closed on Tuesdays. The delivery range is Woodland to Market and 38th to 50th.

The complete menu is here. They accept major credit cards and cash.