Landscapes of Change Exhibition

Back in May, artist Penny Sadubin planted a load of native bluebells on the meadow. The bulbs were left over from an sculptural installation that Penny was making using these striking little plants. And we've been itching to see the results ever since. Well, the wait is now over, because Penny's bluebell artwork will be on display at:

Landscapes of Change
27th August – 18th September
BHVU Gallery, Leswin Place, London N16 7NJ

There are great events for kids too:
Elsa Godfrey’s Willow Ball - 3rd & 4th, 17th & 18th September 12:00 noon – 5pm.
Nina Gebauer’s Paper cinema workshop - 3rd September between 1pm – 4pm, with the performance at 7:30pm on Saturday 3rd September.

For more info, email Penny on psadubin at gmail.com or check out the blog.

So head along and get stuck in - and take a look at what our bluebells were up to before they made the meadow their home. Everyone's also welcome at the private view tonight (Friday 26).

Say hello to our amazing new benches!

Sculptor Gary March has been chain-sawing, sanding, polishing and varnishing our spectacular benches over the last couple of weeks. So if you've been watching them take shape below the underpass, now you can head into the meadow for the full bench experience. Gary put all three benches in place a couple of days ago, and they look INCREDIBLE.

The official unveiling will happen at the daffodil bulb-planting on Saturday 17 September. So come along and get acquainted with our beautiful, one-of-a-kind benches - and you might even get your photo in the paper too!

Summer picnic - this Saturday!

All the seeds have been sown, all the bulbs have been planted. So now it's time to sit back and enjoy the rewards of our hard work with a picnic among the wildflowers. If that sounds like a good way to spend a Saturday, come along to the meadow tomorrow and have a day lounging, eating and chatting with your neighbours.

Then when you're picnic'd out, just head across to Mabley Green and help paint a giant mural on the grass as part of The People's Pitch.

Almost there!

The incredible Gary March has almost finished carving our equally incredible benches! Take a look at his almost-finished masterpieces!

Bench building with Gary March - Sunday 14 August

If you've been by the meadow in the last week or so, you'll have seen sculptor Gary March turning some local Ash logs into a set of beautiful, one-off benches for us. And on Sunday, we can help put the finishing touches on them, and start getting ready to put them in place.

So come to the meadow anytime from 12pm - 5pm on Sunday 14 August to get a carving lesson from Gary, and help make the meadow even more amazing!

And now on a more political note, the last week has seen the looting of London's communities - not least of all in Hackney. But while it only takes a small few to destroy, it takes an equally small (but much more powerful) few to build up our neighbourhoods and make them stronger and more cohesive, so that the riots never happen here again.

The meadow has always been about improving Hackney for the people who live here. But the last week proves that every action that we take to make our area better and our community more connected can be more than a good deed. It can be a highly political act too.

So whether you like sculpture, wildflowers, green spaces or just getting stuck in, come along on Sunday to prove that the positives in our area will always overcome the negatives. And we can all make a difference in our neighbourhood.

Our soon-to-be benches have arrived!

If you've taken a wander below the flyover next to Mabley Meadow lately, you might have spied two gigantic logs. But these aren't just any logs - they're sculptures in the making. Yes, over the next two weeks, sculptor Gary March will be carving them into incredible, one-of-a-kind benches for us. He'll be working on them below the flyover, so feel free to stop by and say hi. And if you come along on the August 14th, you can help him put the finishing touches on them before we install them among our wildflowers together.

Mabley's mushroom farmers

The mushroom farming on Sunday was a great success, and loads of fun too. Lots of people came along with itchy drill-trigger fingers and hot wax dabber thingies - and we filled a small mountain of logs with shiitake, oyster and chicken of the woods mushrooms. Now all we have to do is patiently wait by our foraging baskets for about six months. There were a lot of questions on the day about making the farm, so (technology permitting), I'll post a 'how to' video on here asap. In the meantime, here are some pics of our foray into fungi farming...

PS. a special thanks to muf for sponsoring our fungi spores, Folly for a Flyover for lending us their drills, and Hackney Council Parks Department for the logs.



If you want check up on the farm, just look out for this unassuming pile of leaves at the back of the meadow - next to the stag beetle habitat.