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Mrs. Griggs’ garden is the loveliest ever seen, and it’s a garden with a secret.

To thank new subscribers to the newsletter, I have a new eBook to share. It’s a 21-page illustrated poem called The Mystery Garden. I wrote it decades ago, but knowing it would never work as a children’s book, I've let it sit idle, taking it out every so often to savor it. Now, it's time to share it with the world.

This poem gives me great comfort whenever I read it. The inspiration for it came from a community garden that literally took my breath away.

It was 1985 in Reno, Nevada, a high elevation town that is not known as a gardener’s paradise because of the short growing season and the average annual precipitation of only 7 inches. In an empty lot on a drab, sandy street, there it was—a lush garden, its green stunningly vibrant. I went home and wrote the poem.

Ever since, community gardens have been magical places for me, and here in Seattle, there are many, one just blocks from my home. All the gorgeous vegetables in this eBook grew in several of these community gardens. I thank the gardeners for their tender labors that allowed me to walk the garden paths this fall and peek among the leaves, looking for what I could harvest with my camera's lens.

I have always had wonderful gardeners as friends. I admire them so much, especially because I am not a gardener. I cultivate stories instead, and so, I offer this eBook to you in hopes it can nourish you as much as it nourishes me. It was such a joy for me to make it.

Hit the subscribe button and sign up now. You will receive a link in the welcome letter to download the eBook.

Thank you for joining this effort to build an audience of climate fiction readers. Let's support those creating stories to inspire climate action.