Art on the menu: A North Philly garden cooks up community

💌 Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Tucked in an abandoned North Philly lot lies a not-so-secret oasis, filled with trees, plants, recycled art and a working kitchen. Recycled benches, tables, bikes and planters sit among mosaics, windchimes, sculptures and endless knickknacks. “I wanted to create a community gathering space, but I wanted it to be something very different than just a community garden,” said artist Pedro Ospina, founder of the Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden. “The project itself is based on people — not an organization, not something set up, something more grassroots.” Ospina’s garden is a space where community members can cook, participate in wood workshops, create art and more. It’s been going strong for over a decade. “The reason it s called the Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden is because food is a big part of the project,” he said. “Everything we do has to do with food, because it s based on something