BY SUN VALLEY INSTITUTE
Interest in backyard food production is soaring. With empty supermarket shelves and an ongoing economic crisis, it’s no surprise that people everywhere planted their first garden this season.
Edible gardening is an important way to increase personal and community resilience. That is why we have initiated a collaboration with Wood River Seed Library, University of Idaho Extension & 4-H, Sawtooth Botanical Garden, Wood River Community YMCA, Wood River Land Trust, Upper Big Wood River Grange and gardeners throughout our Valley to start 5B Resilience Gardens!
This collaboration increases awareness of, involvement in, and accessible space for gardening as a means to cultivating personal and community resilience. The 5B Resilience Gardens initiative seeks to broaden access to local gardening resources and provide accessible gardening spaces for all members of our community. A 5B Resilience Garden can be any level of edible (culinary and medicinal) plant production not sold on a commercial scale. This may include potted plants, edible landscape, gardens in yards or larger shared plots.
Be on the lookout for handcrafted garden flags denoting resilience gardens throughout the community, including at the Wood River YMCA, The Hope Garden and the Sawtooth Botanical Garden. Upcoming educational events include a composting class via Zoom, hosted by the Hailey Public Library on Sept. 24, a Grange Garden Fall Workshop & Harvest Share event on Oct. 10, and the first seed cleaning workday on Oct. 24. Visit localfoodalliance.org/5bresiliencegardens.org to learn more. We encourage you to join the 5B Resilience Garden movement today!