STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Learn about the variety of ways you can grow food at home and what to do with it after it’s grown during a free virtual presentation tonight.
Manon Gaudreau and Amy Mattias will discuss edible landscapes, container gardening, seed saving, food sharing, food preservation and more at 5:30 tonight—Thursday, March 25—via Zoom. To see it, RSVP to Kristin.fletcher@haileypubliclibrary.org.
The presentation is the first in a series examining topics associated with gardening.
“The Wood River Valley is home to a remarkable number of gardeners, despite our short growing season,” said the library’s programs and community engagement coordinator Kristin Fletcher. “It’s not a surprise that this time of year our gardening talks are extremely popular. Growing Food at Home is the first of a series exploring the three principles of resilient gardening: food production, pollinator friendly and soil care.”
Gaudreau started gardening in 2005 when her daughter asked a question about gardening and she didn’t know the answer. She became captivated by the idea of growing her own food and herbs and has been providing the answers for those with questions about gardening ever since.
She studied seed saving with Bill McDorman, became a Master Gardener and helped established Valley Victory Gardens. She also co-directs the Wood River Seed Library and has taught countless classes over the years.
Mattias launched the 5B Resilience Gardens effort last spring in her role as program director for the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience. She also serves on the Blaine County Food Council and the board of Idaho Center for Sustainable Agriculture, in addition to serving as co-director of the Wood River Seed Library with Gaudreau.
She follows regenerative practices rooted in traditional ecological knowledge in her own garden and is currently enrolled in a permaculture design course.
The March 25 webinar will be followed by a webinar on March 31 titled “Meet Your Small Grain Farmers.”
DID YOU KNOW?
The Wood River Seed Library, housed at the Hailey Public Library, is a lending library of locally grown flower, herb and vegetable seeds. Community members may “check out” seeds for free, then consider collecting and donating seeds from the plants they grow back to the Seed Library for others to check out the following spring.