STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sixteen-year-old Savannah St. Louis flung her arms up to the sky, twirling like Julie Andrews in the “Sound of Music” as she extolled the virtues of Bloom Community Farm.

“I love everything about it!” she exclaimed of the small patch of ground in Hailey’s Quigley Canyon.

St. Louis, a junior at Silver Creek High School, has spent the summer as a paid intern at the farm. And on Wednesday night she and her fellow interns led the public on tours through the garden as farm workers threw a party thanking the community for its support.

Savannah showed off the edible forest where youngsters gather in tipis made of willows and nibble on kale, mint, oregano and other veggies and herbs.

“This basil was a quarter of its size two weeks ago. Now it’s over a foot tall,” she exclaimed as she stepped into the greenhouse.

St. Louis related how the perennial garden is her favorite corner since humming birds and butterflies frequent it in mid-summer. But her favorite veggie patch is the cucumbers. She planted them, went away for a month and was amazed to see how much they had grown in her absence.

“I definitely eat more veggies now,” Savannah said. “I always ate junk food before. Now I snack on carrots, instead of potato chips--although I still have a chip bash once in awhile. And, instead of Twinkies and candy, I eat cherry tomatoes, although I call them ‘sun-kissed tomatoes’ because of the way the sun kisses them and turns them red.”

The garden party brought out more than a hundred people who marveled at the robust eggplant and artichokes.

They conversed over the onions and beets as they sampled gazpacho and minestrone soups that the interns had fixed with the garden vegetables. And youngsters like Reece Walther Porino and 1-year-old Beau Porino thrilled at traipsing down the veggie rows.

Hunger Coalition Director Jeanne Liston set the Bloom Farm and its Volunteer for Veggies program in motion after 46 percent of Bellevue and Hailey residents said they would never seek food assistance, even if they needed it. Developer Dave Hennessy offered to lease ground in Quigley Canyon for a dollar a year and the program started up last year in mid-summer.

Liston noted how she had started as the first paid staff member of The Hunger Coalition 10 years ago and, since, the program has grown to incorporate a number of programs, including the food bank.

Among them, Bloom Truck, which moved up and down the valley this summer providing 5,000 lunches to 276 youngsters who checked out 2,000 books provided by Community Library.

Organizers had hoped they would get 25 people to take part in Bloom Farm this year. Instead, 195 turned out, harvesting 4,000 pounds of food with more to come.

The farm provided growing lessons and community service opportunities for 19 organizations, including Blaine County Recreation District, St. Luke’s Wood River, Sage School, WOW-Project, The Advocates, Blaine County Probation Office and the Blaine County Drug Coalition.

And it offered seven-month paid internships to 10 teenagers, including St. Louis, who learned job and life skills, including how to develop a business program. This week the interns will put together a plan for selling inexpensive but healthy grab-and-go meals at Balmoral Apartments.

“It’s been rewarding to watch these youth bloom and grow,” said Liston. “Some couldn’t even look us in the eye. Now, they’re giving tours of the garden.”

Volunteer coordinator Rachel Shinn noted that the volunteers are so committed she’s barely had to lift a finger. And the force has contributed 9,700 hours as it’s grown from 300 last year to 420 this year.

Elaine Redman, one of those volunteers, taught at Hemingway School for 25 years. She started volunteering with the Food Bank a year ago as a way of giving back.

“I get more from distributing food than the people I help—they’re so grateful. And it’s quality food they get--not just cans, but fresh food,” she said. “Not only are we keeping them from being hungry, but we’re helping them be healthy.”

St. Louis in particular enjoyed selling deeply discounted veggies to the senior citizens living at Summit Apartments in Hailey.

“Seeing their faces light up at the fresh food, seeing them get the opportunity to buy their own produce…That’s why I come here to Bloom.”

Savannah said the program has taught her to set goals. She set a goal of saving $1,000 and managed $950 before spending about $350 of it for school clothes.

And it taught her how to set her anger aside to work with people her own age—something she’s grateful for since her fellow interns feel like family now.

“I ‘m a pretty greedy kid and I’ve always taken things for granted,” she said. “But I learned this summer that there are so many people in need. It’s sad to see first-hand, and it’s taught me to never take things for granted.”