Mary's Garden

This is the SECOND EDITION of Mary's Garden - bigger, brighter and less expensive. It is the story of how Mary's Garden grows into an environmental justice project. Colorfully illustrated with original drawings and photographs. The author, Marika Love, has woven stories and photos of her own childhood into the story.All profits from sales of Mary's Garden will be donated to the JOY OF LEARNING CENTER'S Prosperity Project, which is creating local, organic gardens in Marin County, CA, and sharing how-to information with groups in other locations. So if you buy the book, you'll be supporting local, organic gardens in Marin, and in your own area. Mary, a little girl, loves gardening and wants a garden in her yard. But she is just too busy to spend time growing flowers and vegetables. This makes her very sad. She visits Santa Claus and asks him for a garden. Her father decides to help her bring the garden back to life. Mary realizes that she can invite her neighbors and friends to participate too. Soon, the garden is producing more food than they can eat!Mary decides to offer some of the extra food to people who live in a poor area of her county. She organizes presentations to show them the health benefits and satisfactions of having a community garden.Soon, the community gets permission to use vacant land nearby. They create a garden, and a kitchen where the food is cooked and offered for sale. This evolves into a crafts store too.The story ends with a wonderful coloring book about composting: Wiggle E. Worm. There are also a few tips on how to get started; and a sample flyer so that people can start their own community or backyard gardens.A Spanish translation of the story is available separately at www.joyoflearningcenters.org.