STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
5B Resilience Gardens is offering free family cooking kits designed to teach children about growing and cooking food.
Each kit will contain everything needed to grow a cilantro plant, including seeds, a pot, and soil. Each will also contain a recipe and ingredients for making bean salsa, as well as activity guides in English and Spanish for such projects as making corn husk dolls and sprouting seeds.
The kits will be limited to 100 families and will be available for pick-up at several locations on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Thursday, Oct. 15. Families can sign up for a kit at https://forms.gle/m6S5QuvBCgzVMyKT7
The kits will provide activities for families to do together, in addition to learning about using seasonal ingredients, saving seeds and various eco-literacy lessons, said Amy Mattias, of the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience.
“We hope these kits offer a sprinkling of joy and a zest for seasonal eating during this challenging time,” she added.
The 5B Resilience Gardens initiative is a collaboration started in response to the COVID-19 pandemic between the Hailey Climate Action Coalition, Ketchum Recreation District, Local Food Alliance, Sawtooth Botanical Garden, Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, University of Idaho Extension & 4-H, Upper Big Wood River Grange, Wood River Community YMCA, Wood River Land Trust and the Wood River Seed Library.
It seeks to broaden community access to local gardening resources, enhance the visibility of existing and new gardens in the community and cultivate a vibrant garden community through resource sharing, collaborative events and educational opportunities.
Resilience gardening involves any garden producing edible and medicinal plants not sold commercially. It can include potted plants, edible landscape yard gardens and larger shared plots. The hope is that cultivating personal and community resilience through gardening will provide a tangible way for individuals to connect with nature, the food they eat and the community. The raised awareness can be a key to being resilient during the current pandemic and future impacts related to climate change and other crises.
Those providing materials for the kits include Atkinsons’ Markets, Ernie’s Organics, Lookout Farm, Wood River Seed Library Manager Manon Gaudreau, Natural Grocers, Sunset Butte Organics and Webb Nursery. Donations can be made at https://www.sunvalleyinstitute.org/donate.
To learn more, visit https://5bresiliencegardens.org or email Mattias at amy@sunvalleyinstitute.org.