Mary's Garden is the story of a little girl who wants a garden in her yard. Her garden grows so well it gives more food than her family and friends can eat. She is aware that there are poor people in her county who don't have transportation. Sometimes, they have to take two or three buses to get to a grocery store.

Mary's garden expands to become an organic produce stand, and then expands again into a building with a vegetarian kitchen and dining room. People come from miles around to eat the delicious food that is served there, grown on the land nearby.

The author is a member of the Bioneers, which stands for "biological pioneers" (www.Bioneers.org). Marika is learning about many projects to naturally restore human health and the planet. At the 2004 Bioneers Conference, LaDonna Redmond spoke about the issue of bringing organic foods and urban farms to poor local communities which have otherwise been left out of the picture.

LaDonna's son had terrible allergies, and she decided to improve her family's nutrition to help him get better. She made the shocking statement that, in her inner Chicago neighborhood, "It's easier to buy a 38 caliber pistol than to find an organic apple!" She and her husband started an inner city organic produce store as a result of this revelation. Marika decided to create an organic gardening project to blanket her county, the nation, and the world with organic, local sources of healthful food. She also formed a nonprofit organization, JOY OF LEARNING CENTERS (www.joyoflearningcenters.org) to teach about the relationship of good food to human health. The Project is called The Prosperity Project, and is described on the website. All profits from sales of "Mary's Garden" will be used to support The Prosperity Project. By buying this book, you will be investing in good health for yourself, your family and your fellow human beings world wide!

Mary's Garden is designed to appeal to "children of all ages", from the very young to the young adults and parents who might be moved to create a similar project. It's also an inspiration for people to create similar programs in their own area, with a flyer and photos showing how to get started. There's a coloring book called "Wiggle E. Worm" that all children seem to love.

INTRODUCTION:

"Mary's Garden" is the story of a little girl who wants a garden in her yard, and how that garden becomes an environmental justice project. It is told in the form of a photograph album, with photos of the author's own childhood as the garden develops.

Mary's garden grows so well it gives more food than her family and friends can eat. She is aware that there are poor people in her county who don't have transportation. Sometimes, they have to take two or three buses to get to a grocery store.

Mary's garden expands to become an organic produce stand, and then expands again into a building with a vegetarian kitchen and dining room. People come from miles around to eat the delicious food that is served there, grown on the land nearby.

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Finally, she was so busy she decided to let the garden go to weeds. This made her very sad. She just knew she was supposed to have a garden! "What shall I do?" she asked. "Wait and see," her inner voice said.

That Christmas season, she went to see Santa Claus. She whispered into his ear, "Oh, Santa Claus! I used to have a beautiful garden, and now I just don't have time for it! Please give me a garden this year!"

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One day, her father came out in the yard where the garden had been. He had lost his job and he had decided to work part time so he could be with his family. He saw all the weeds, and called Mary. "You know, Mary," he said, "I liked your garden out here. I will help you bring it back to life." Mary was very happy! Her father was big and strong, and he loved hard work. He picked up a pickaxe and started digging.

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By the end of summer, the garden was like a cornucopia, overflowing with fruits, flowers and vegetables. All the people got together to make a plan for what to do with it. "You know, there are some people who don't even have a grocery store in their community," Mary said. "Let's make an organic food stand for them!" Everyone thought that was a good idea.

Mary knew it was important for the community to be involved in the project. She asked her friend Ricardo to give a talk to the people Ricardo's work is called "Isoji" - a Nigerian word that means "rebirth". What better person could there be to speak about rebirthing health by eating healthy, organic foods? Ricardo said, "Eating lots of fruits and vegetables can prevent diseases. Wouldn't you want to buy good food for your health insurance?" Everyone agreed that they wanted good food to be available in their area.

The people got together and made a plan for the organic produce stand. When their design was ready, they asked the city if they could put it on a vacant lot nearby, where there was no grocery store. The city said, "Yes!"

And soon, awnings were raised and outdoor tables were set up to hold the food. There were even some simple, cooked meals that people could eat while they were at the stand.

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She knew how important compost is for the earth. Composting is like giving back part of what the earth gives us. Mary remembered the very first time she put a banana peel onto a compost pile. She felt very good about giving the peel back to the soil. After that, she always composted her table and yard scraps, no matter where she lived.

"Composting" means putting things like food scraps and grass clippings into a pile, a bin or a can and mixing them with earth, dried leaves, grass clippings and twigs. All these things break down and become humus (new, rich soil). Worms are great at making castings that become what Mary likes to call "Black Gold" - rich earth with lots of organic matter in it that will give plenty of minerals to the plants. And so, here is a coloring book about Wiggle E. Worm for you to color as you learn about composting.

Marika , MA, CMT, and Registered Polarity Practitioner, envisions a patchwork quilt of organic gardens spreading across the county, the nation, and the world! She sees gardening as a healthful activity families can do together and a great outlet for youthful energies.

When learned that the average morsel of food travels 1300 miles to get to our tables and our supply of gas and oil is being depleted- she created a way to build a local organic food supply, right in her yard. She started a community garden. "All I ever wanted out of life was to be able to go outside and pick my dinner! "she says.

She was involved in the Green Revolution of the 60's, when she and her family moved to the country to live off the land as much as possible. They gardened, raised goats and lived without electricity. The children all drank goat's milk after they were weaned, and there was no TV. Those years were the best years of her life.

Even before that, she has gardened wherever she has lived, since she was a small child. She has woven a few pictures of her own childhood into the story to show how long she has held this vision. In 1992, she formed a nonprofit organization, JOY OF LEARNING CENTERS (www.joyoflearningcenters.org) to teach people about the relationship of good food to human health. In 2004, after attending several Bioneers Conferences (www.bioneers.org), Marika decided to create an project to bring local sources of organic, healthful food to people in her county. She offers information on how to create similar projects to groups world wide. The project is named The Prosperity Project, because our real wealth is the land and the food supply. The Cree Indians have prophesied, "You will learn you can't eat money."

She is the mother of four children, and the grandmother of eight! She claims, "I have learned more from my children, my goats and my gardens than I did in school!" She is a talented Polarity Practitioner, as well as a writer. She's a member of the AMERICAN POLARITY THERAPY ASSOCIATION, GRASSROOTS LEADERSHIP NETWORK, AMGAT (Asociacion Maya Guatemalteca Abaj Takalik), CHURCH OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCE and SCIENCE OF THE SOUL CENTER. She founded the JOY OF LEARNING CENTERS to help bring holistic health teachings and organic foods to low income communities, in settings where they can live and practice good health habits - including getting their hands in the earth and producing their own food.