Rooted in arts and education, we are community people, community gardeners, & environmental and social justice activists. We promote the enhancement & preservation of community gardens as well as the cultivation of fallow land in New York City & State.

Nature Programs - Lower East Side, Upstate & Citiwide

17 years of community garden nature programs in the Lower East Side at Children’s Magical Garden and El Jardin del Paraiso. The South Bronx at Brook Park, Padre Plaza, La Finca del Sur, Courtland Community Garden, Rincon Criollo Cultural Center …..

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Ongoing Art in Nature Projects

Beloved friends, our fire jumping companion, Wellness and love you and all you hold dear to your heart. We are sad to say with many challenges facing us, the March 15th, 2022 Chaharshanbeh Suri fire jumping is postponed to Tuesday, March 14th, 2023. More Gardens and Aresh Javadi @areshearth @chaharshanbeh.suri.nyc

Amazing activists, JK and Jmac, 8 hours and counting, NY1 in the house, come support. They are at 126 Broadway, at Broadway and Warren, right inside the Park. Call Speaker Corey Johnson's office and tell him to allow the oversight hearing on East River Coastal Resiliency plan immediately at 212-788-7210, please! #coreyjohnson #eastriverparkaction #eastriverparknyc #chrismartenyc #sixthstreetcommunitycenter #soulfirefarm

Lockdown at City Hall Park. We are demanding the Speaker Corey Johnson to hold an oversight hearing in the hugely flawed East River Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan. FOLLOW THE SCEINCE AND OF THE COMMUNITY PLAN. Half the cost of the Mayor's ESCR #coreyjohnson #cityhallpark #saveeastriverpark #savethetrees #environmentaljustice #battleforthepark #eastriveraction #6thstreetcommunitycenter

#FromTheArchive Did you know that the sunflower is the official symbol of More Gardens! Fund? In 1998, More Gardens began to grow at the community garden Casa Del Sol (House of The Sun), so it felt right to choose the sunflower to carry us into the future. The flower is positive, sheds light into the darkness, and represents hope and longevity: all things that More Gardens hopes to share with New York City. 🌻☀️🌻 ____ 1: Party at Casa Del Sol, 1998 2: Finishing the sunflower sculpture, Winter 2001 3, 5, & 6: Protest to shut down South Bronx medical waste incinerator, May 1999 4: March/concert to protect El Jardín de la Esperanza, Fall 1999 #MoreGardens #CommunityGardens #ProtectGardens #NewYorkCity #Sunflowers

A new willow structure will soon be growing at Brook Park! Last week we planted small scale models to test the strength of different planting shapes. After some deliberation, the kids helped us decide what shape would be best: a star! 🌱⭐️🌿 Check back soon for more Brook Park updates! #MoreGardens #communitygardens #willowstructure #newyorkcity #protectgardens

Happy #nationalinternsday part 2! Today we are celebrating the second half of our interns who have been working remotely this summer. Our architecture interns, Christian, Mateo, Priyanka, and Yin To have been designing pocket parks, green outdoor dining spaces, and an eco-village. Carolyn, another art intern, has been working on a living mural design. And lastly, Andrew, our music and events intern, planned our Summer Solstice event and is working towards future events scheduled to happen next spring! ✏️🌱🧱🎶 Let’s give our second group of interns another big round of applause! 👏 Thank you all for your hard work and we look forward to the rest of the summer with you. If you are interested in interning with us or want to learn more about our current interns, visit the link in our bio! #MoreGardens #communitygardens #internship #newyorkcity

Happy #NationalInternsDay ! Today and tomorrow we will be celebrating our 11 interns who have been working tirelessly in the gardens, at home, and around the world. Our in-person art interns, Alex, Bianca, Michaela, and Nina, have spent the summer in Manhattan’s Lower East Side as well as in upstate New York planting, planning, building, and creating new life in our gardens. They helped to host the Summer Solstice event in late June, started renovating the new play space at Children’s Magical Garden, creating new garden beds at the More Gardens Farm, and much more. Our archival and documentation intern, Ruby, has also worked alongside them photographing the process and archiving negatives of late 90s More Gardens events. 🎨🌿📸🌱 Let’s give our first group of interns a big round of applause! 👏 Thank you all for your hard work and we look forward to the rest of the summer with you. If you are interested in applying for an internship or want to learn more about our current interns, visit the link in our bio! #MoreGardens #communitygardens #internship #newyorkcity

Beloved friends, our fire jumping companion,

Wellness and love you and all you hold dear to your heart. We are sad to say with many challenges facing us, the March 15th, 2022 Chaharshanbeh Suri fire jumping is postponed to Tuesday, March 14th, 2023.

Lockdown at City Hall Park. We are demanding the Speaker Corey Johnson to hold an oversight hearing in the hugely flawed East River Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan. FOLLOW THE SCEINCE AND OF THE COMMUNITY PLAN. Half the cost of the Mayor's ESCR
#corey

Update: The Next More Gardens’ NYC Chaharshanbe Suri Festival will be held on March 18th, 2025

Please Read on for important information and the closest location to NYC for Chaharshanbe Suri this year/2024.

Why is the Next Chaharshanbe Suri NYC, in 2025?

Thanks to your participation, donations, and unwavering support, our beloved festival has massively grown in number of attendants and blossomed into something exceptional. However, our beloved community gardens venues can’t accommodate our growing enthusiasm! To keep the event free and open to all, we need a bigger space – think parks or outdoor areas, which means a big jump in funding and support!

Here’s how you can make 2025 burn brightly! :

Imagine a larger venue, more festivities, and an even deeper connection with our community – that’s our vision for March 18th, 2025. But we need YOU to make it a reality.

Your contribution today will be securing a large venue right here in NYC, free and accessible to large crowds, Fire Jumping, Fire Performances, Community Theater, Live Music, Food, Fire Arts, Community and Culture!

Bring back Chaharshanbe Suri with your Donation at this Secure Link!

Share your ideas and help us shape the 2025 festival by joining our volunteer planning team now.

Join the Volunteer Team Now!

Spread the word and encourage your loved ones to join our festival.

Mailing List

We believe Chaharshanbeh Suri is more than just a festival; it’s a celebration of our communities, culture, and hope. With your continued support, we can make the 2025 festival an inspirational experience for everyone.Together, let’s raise the flames of joy and create a brighter future for our community.

Warmly,

The More Gardens! Team & Aresh Javadi @areshearth

call/text Aresh at 917-518-9987

Closest Location to NYC for 2024 Chaharshanbe Suri:

The closest Chaharshanbe Suri Event in 2024 to NYC which is put together by the lovely folks at the Iranian American Society of NY, is on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024, 6PM-8PM, Brookville Reformed Church, 2 Brookville Road, Glen Head, NY Link to Event Website

Breakfast Press Conference for Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens and individual NYC community gardeners’ civil rights lawsuit against real estate developer David Marom who sued us (all the above) for $20 million Dollars!

At: Children’s Magical Garden, 129 Stanton Street, New York, New York 10002

On: Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:15 AM

Contact: Children’s Magical Garden Director Kate Temple-West at 917-702-4171

Dear Friends and Community,

Please join More Gardens, Children’s Magical Garden and the Lower East Side Community for coffee, breakfast and urgently holding the line for gardener’s rights this Tuesday morning. Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens, and concerned community members are speaking on Tuesday, November 23rd at 7:15 AM about their civil rights lawsuit filing Monday.

Real Estate developer David Marom sued individual gardeners, including parents of young children, for 20 million dollars as well as Children’s Magical Garden and More Gardens Fund for defamation simply for speaking up on behalf of the garden. This lawsuit on behalf of the garden, stating that this was a civil rights violation, will make any developer think again about trying blatant intimidation tactics against our community.

Bring your children and your inner children to illuminate how showing up for justice can be fun and life-affirming!

We will have hot beverages and breakfast (donuts and bialies and fresh fruit) and share good energy to show how important our precious garden is to the community.

Your presence will make it so special.

Below are all the details.

Looking forward to seeing you Tuesday at 7:15 AM!

Gratefully,

Kate, Tiffany, Lissette, George, and members of Children’s Magical Garden

Aresh Javadi, Director and JK Canepa President of More Gardens Fund

The details:

Monday Children’s Magical Garden, More Gardens and individual community gardeners will file a civil rights lawsuit against real estate developer David Marom for his unlawful attempts to intimidate and silence community members defending and preserving our beloved Garden. Below is a summary of our claim.

For nearly forty years, Children’s Magical Garden has provided a safe haven for children to play and learn about nature across the street from P.S. 20 elementary school. Yet, since 2013, David Marom has tried to seize a piece of our Garden and bulldoze it so he can build his own private residence. We have vigorously been defending our rights to preserve the Garden in court. When the Garden and community members spoke the truth to the media about egregious attacks and the Garden’s rights, David Marom tried to silence us by bringing a $20 million defamation lawsuit.

In many cases, the burden and enormous expense to defend against such suits are too much for community gardeners and working-class people. We stood our ground, and thanks to securing pro bono lawyers from Sidley Austin LLP and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, we successfully defended ourselves. New York Supreme Court ruled that Marom’s claims against the community violated New York Civil Rights Law protections for individuals and community groups exercising their constitutional rights to speak out on issues of public importance.

With today’s lawsuit, the Garden, More Gardens Fund along with volunteers and neighbors, are sending a strong message: if you try to intimidate, harass, or harm our community, especially the children in our community, there will be consequences. We are asking the Court to impose fees and damages on Marom for his, civil rights violations.

EAST RIVER PARK PRESERVATION STANCE

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New Yorkers and beyond:

TO DO:

Please Contact New York State’s Governor Katherine Hochul and ask her to put a hold on the deeply faulty so-called “East River Resiliency Plan“ and investigate why the original community Blueway Plan was removed and under darkness replaced by a plan twice as expensive with the majority of its own research redacted from the public. Call 1-518-474-8390 | Office hours: 9:00am to 5:00pm or Web Form (https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form)

State Attorney General Letitia James

Resources:

News Article: The Sun: Johnson silent on pleas for an emergency hearing on East River Park resiliency plan

Compare: More Gardens compares: Open Community Plan vs Mayors Closed ESCR Plan

Informative Video: Check out 6th Street Community Center’s clear explanations of what is at stake!

East River Park Action has been at the forefront of preserve the East River Park, and protect the diverse communities that it serves

Nature Programs - Rise Up & Green the Bronx Family Nature Program 2021

We are at Brook Park our beloved community garden we started in 1998, for a two-week Family camp and Living Tree Cabana building residency! As it is with the Covid-19 pandemic, our Summer Nature Programs in the Catskills this Summer is spread out in multiple sessions with smaller groups. Sign Up Here Ended

Past Events

GreenThumb License Agreements 2020

More Gardens’ assessment and suggested course of action - link

Our 2019 Annual Report

20th Year Memorial - In the late Summer of 1999 More Gardens! joined with Esperanza's founder, Dona Alicia Torres, her family and block association on East 7th street, to defend ...

More Gardens’ 20th Year Celebrations - Growing Art & Justice in the Community Gardens, Saturday May 25th, Magical Butterfly Portal.

Thank you all for creating an amazing day at Children's Magical Garden, growing community and art. Thank you garden members, Kate for her leadership, Lissette and Tiffany for their leadership, Carmen, George, Walter, Lola, Rosemary, Ralph, Jordan, Eli and Raman, Yelena, Malcolm, Hendrix, Micaela, and Rodney, Joanie and Jemma, Annie and Rose, Erin, Sidney, Wallace, and Ruben, Naomi, Lila and Leo, and all who helped create the magical butterflies and spread the word. Thank you, Sylvain Leroux, of Fula Flute for bringing such magical music. More coming!