Sunday, May 22 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
At 5th St. between Ave. C & D in Manhattan

Garden-making stories with 596 Acres! Last year, we made an audio documentary in collaboration with El Jardin del Paraiso’s founding members telling the story of its start: Lower East Side neighbors created it in 1981 out of a series of abandoned lots. Gardeners convinced the city that it was perfectly situated to become a new park, and the City used eminent domain in the 1990s to condemn the abandoned private lots dividing up the space to make the park whole. Learn more and listen to the audio documentary here: http://596acres.org/news/2015/05/30/what-do-we-do-with-our-land-an-annotating-community-land-stewardship-on-the-lower-east-side-for-the-new-museum-ideas-city-festival/

For the Mudball Ball #6, 596 Acres invites El Jardin members to join in retelling the story by contributing photos, images, and other items to share alongside the audio! Send ideas and pictures for printing to mara@596acres.org.

Alongside El Jardin’s story, we also will share campaigns that neighbors have to protect gardens they created on abandoned lots in other NYC neighborhoods — spaces like Maple Street Community Garden in Prospect Lefferts Gardens (http://livinglotsnyc.org/lot/3050300072/), Imani Community Garden in Weeksville (http://livinglotsnyc.org/lot/58665/), and Roger That Garden in Crown Heights (http://livinglotsnyc.org/lot/3012330001/) that are also perfectly suited to become new public parks.

More details about the Mudball #6 are here: http://moscollective.net/WP/the-mudball-ball/