Mary St. Pierre visits her plot in a community garden in San Geronimo at least once a week to tend to her vegetables, but sometimes she is drawn to her 16-by-16-foot parcel because it calms her down. “I worry about plants instead of worrying about life,” she said. But a medicinal herb plot, which the San Geromino Valley Community Garden is hoping to fund with proceeds from a cookbook they released earlier this January, could help tend to the health of all members of the garden. Sales from the cookbook, a collection of 69 recipes from 30 member families, will go toward purchases of plants and construction of the plot—which can be quite expensive, said Ms. St. Pierre, the garden’s community liaison. But, she went on, once it’s built, members with a headache could pick some feverfew from the garden to soothe themselves—and so on. Any extra funds raised would support other projects the community garden has planned, including a toolshed and a grape arbor. The garden kicked off about three years ago when a group in the valley hunting for a sunny location secured approval from the San Geronimo Golf Course to till just under an acre of their land. Many families in the valley, Ms. St. Pierre said, live on hilly, shaded parcels not especially suitable for growing food. The cookbook, which costs $19.95, can be purchased online at sgvcommunitygarden.net or at Gathering Thyme, a store in San Anselmo.